Sergio Henao

[RobbieCanuck]

The month of the test is not totally clear, the statement says after he returned to Colombia in October.

The Guardian says the tests were "last year" If they are correct sometime after he returned to Columbia in October and the end of 2013

"Colombian did out-of-competition Wada testing last year"

http://www.theguardian.com/sport/2014/mar/19/team-sky-sergio-henao-anti-doping

 

[bewildered]

they are supportive of testing him and investigating him. not about benching him. btu benching happens in all layers of society if a person gets ivnestigated. like a teacher getting investigated after a child claims the teacher abused him/her

"we're supportive of their programme AND the approach to it AND to suspend the rider."

The UCI are supportive of Sky's decision to suspend Henao. I pointed this out to you 2 days ago but you ignored it.

 

[Arnout]

"we're supportive of their programme AND the approach to it AND to suspend the rider."

The UCI are supportive of Sky's decision to suspend Henao. I pointed this out to you 2 days ago but you ignored it.

That in itself means nothing though, it just means they won't discourage Sky from suspending a rider if Sky thinks something's wrong.

Which I think is an issue in itself in general (obviously in this case it's hard to say since we don't know what is going on), there is no strong voice to defend riders rights.

 

[Mellow Velo]

My hunch is that La Gazzetta Della Sport noticed Henoa wasn't racing and went to the agent for an explanation. You are right, why would an agent leak damaging information? I suspect the agent probably simply confirmed why Henao was not racing and then LGDS went to Sky who then realized they had to get something out in the public domain. All speculation of course, but logical.

The story in the Guardian (19th) says the following,

"The investigation into Henao was made public on Wednesday morning after La Gazzetta dello Sport reported the story through Henao's agent ..."

Hard to know what "through Henao's agent" means. Confirmation or a leak by the agent.

As Martin pointed out, this is the bit of the puzzle that seems to have everyone struggling to explain.
Not sure that Gazzetta would have chased this story, given that Henao had only been out of comp for just a couple of weeks.

The simplest scenario is that Henao's agent did indeed approach Gazzetta, because Sky made the unilateral decision to sideline his man, based upon their discovery.

Oh and as for when Henao arrive in Colombia. Not before October 21st, since he was in Pamplona, on the 19th.
.

 

[JimmyFingers]

So Sky sideline a rider based on anomalous test findings, his agent leaks to the press presumably because the Henao camp is angry about the decision, and Sky are forced to go public?

Seems to paint Sky is a positive light to me, particularly if it their unilateral decision to suspend him.

 

[SundayRider]

So Sky sideline a rider based on anomalous test findings, his agent leaks to the press presumably because the Henao camp is angry about the decision, and Sky are forced to go public?

Seems to paint Sky is a positive light to me, particularly if it their unilateral decision to suspend him.

Thats what thier PR wants you to think.

 

[TailWindHome]

Thats what thier PR wants you to think.

So they didn't make a unilateral decision to suspend him?


If the suspension isn't due to Sky's own analysis of a WADA test (which in itself didn't set off any alarms) - firstly what do you believe to be the true story and secondly the why would the agency who administered the test not contradict Sky's version of events?

 

[zigmeister]

The Columbians are really starting to set the bar for getting caught doping in this past year.

 

[neineinei]

It's been two days now since Sky gave their statement. Still no one is quite sure what they said. Where would we be without transparency?

 

[JimmyFingers]

My take it on is Sky pick up some strange readings on these tests and suspend the rider, Henao isn't happy at all, goes home to Columbia in a fit of pique while his agent leaks the story to the press. Sky issue a statement after being contacted by the Gazetta.

So it sounds like Sky didn't have to suspend him but choose to anyway, because of their own concern over his tests. Presumably they would have liked to have kept in house until the 'research' had occurred, but it isn't an official sanction. Henao storms back home, agent leaks the story....and the clinic turns on Sky. Quel surprise.

So maybe it is PR, or just maybe Sky suspended a core member of their squad because they were concerned over his figures despite the lack of any action from the governing body, or any official sanction.

But I forgot: Sky are the dark side of the force, and Brailsford the devil incarnate. Lets not bother even giving them the benefit of the doubt, shoot first and ask questions later.

 

[thehog]

So Sky sideline a rider based on anomalous test findings, his agent leaks to the press presumably because the Henao camp is angry about the decision, and Sky are forced to go public?

Seems to paint Sky is a positive light to me, particularly if it their unilateral decision to suspend him.

You got all that from the press release? I'm still trying to figure out what it actually said!

 

[thehog]

But I forgot: Sky are the dark side of the force, and Brailsford the devil incarnate. Lets not bother even giving them the benefit of the doubt, shoot first and ask questions later.

I don't see anyone accusing a Sky or calling them the devil.

I see a lot of people asking questions trying to work out what happened.

Why act so sensitively?

 

[Netserk]

My take it on is Sky pick up some strange readings on these tests and suspend the rider, Henao isn't happy at all, goes home to Columbia in a fit of pique while his agent leaks the story to the press. Sky issue a statement after being contacted by the Gazetta.

So it sounds like Sky didn't have to suspend him but choose to anyway, because of their own concern over his tests. Presumably they would have liked to have kept in house until the 'research' had occurred, but it isn't an official sanction. Henao storms back home, agent leaks the story....and the clinic turns on Sky. Quel surprise.

So maybe it is PR, or just maybe Sky suspended a core member of their squad because they were concerned over his figures despite the lack of any action from the governing body, or any official sanction.

But I forgot: Sky are the dark side of the force, and Brailsford the devil incarnate. Lets not bother even giving them the benefit of the doubt, shoot first and ask questions later.

It certainly does seem like the press release worked on their target audience.

 

[Justinr]

So what are we talking about here in terms of an odd result?

Has his haematocrit (or similar) fallen by more than expected while back home at altitude? And I assume that whatever it was is within the boundaries set for the biological passport otherwise the UCI would have raised it?

 

[thehog]

Did JTL have a passport baseline before his spike at the Worlds? I thought that the Worlds was his first test so he was investigated after his levels changed in one direction.

True but it wasn't suspect test+1. Once JTL had a baseline the first test prior to the worlds became suspect.

Heano will be different as he already should have a baseline.

 

[Sjoerdeman]

My take it on is Sky pick up some strange readings on these tests and suspend the rider, Henao isn't happy at all, goes home to Columbia in a fit of pique while his agent leaks the story to the press. Sky issue a statement after being contacted by the Gazetta.

So it sounds like Sky didn't have to suspend him but choose to anyway, because of their own concern over his tests. Presumably they would have liked to have kept in house until the 'research' had occurred, but it isn't an official sanction. Henao storms back home, agent leaks the story....and the clinic turns on Sky. Quel surprise.

So maybe it is PR, or just maybe Sky suspended a core member of their squad because they were concerned over his figures despite the lack of any action from the governing body, or any official sanction.

But I forgot: Sky are the dark side of the force, and Brailsford the devil incarnate. Lets not bother even giving them the benefit of the doubt, shoot first and ask questions later.

To the bolded; Isnt there lots of questions asked here? I think in that regard theres no problem, right?

 

[bewildered]

That in itself means nothing though, it just means they won't discourage Sky from suspending a rider if Sky thinks something's wrong.

Which I think is an issue in itself in general (obviously in this case it's hard to say since we don't know what is going on), there is no strong voice to defend riders rights.

That in itself means that the governing body are supportive of a rider being suspended when he hasn't breached any of their rules. There is no way the UCI should be taking sides between team and rider here.

 

[JimmyFingers]

It certainly does seem like the press release worked on their target audience.

Ok so why suspend a rider when they don't have to? Why does that rider leak the story to the press? As I said, people will see this way they want to, perhaps me included. easy to accuse me of bias, without giving me an alternative analysis, and one of which I can accuse you of bias in turn. see how this works? Pro-Sky or anti-Sky, there will be little or no objectivity in the digestion of this news, but the fact remains Sky suspended a core member of their team without official sanction, and his agent leaked the news to the press.

 

[thehog]

Ok so why suspend a rider when they don't have to? Why does that rider leak the story to the press? As I said, people will see this way they want to, perhaps me included. easy to accuse me of bias, without giving me an alternative analysis, and one of which I can accuse you of bias in turn. see how this works? Pro-Sky or anti-Sky, there will be little or no objectivity in the digestion of this news, but the fact remains Sky suspended a core member of their team without official sanction, and his agent leaked the news to the press.

I still think people are just asking question trying to work out what went on.

And you maybe right. Could be an innocuous test that came up with a slightly higher reading than expected and Sky took preventative action rather than experience a JTL situation down the line.

Once the report is complete and all is well, Heaneo will be riding again for Sky.

Let's see. But even in this scenario there's still a lot of questions.

 

[JimmyFingers]

Ah ok so the anti-Sky take on it is that that a rider they were doping got pinged so they are pre-empting that and sent him to Columbia to concoct a convincing cover story for someone's blood values who grew up at altitude. Gotcha

 

[TomasC]

In 2007, at age 20, his Hct was over 50% and he had to withdraw from U23 Vuelta a Columbia
http://revistamundociclistico.com/ruta/131-podio-de-corazones-en-la-vuelta-a-colombia-sub-23.html

Crazy that there were 9 racers with too high HCT in a U23 race. Well not so crazy after all, just sad.

 

[Escarabajo]

In 2007, at age 20, his Hct was over 50% and he had to withdraw from U23 Vuelta a Columbia
http://revistamundociclistico.com/ruta/131-podio-de-corazones-en-la-vuelta-a-colombia-sub-23.html

Which the team doctor blamed on altitude
http://www.eltiempo.com/archivo/documento/MAM-2467183

For some reason I always thought that the limit of hct% was 52% in Colombia.

Oh well. I need to learn more about this. It has been brought many times in the past about the high blood cell counts in Colombia. But we need to differentiate between doping and altitude living parameters.

I believe that he is talented, I just don't know how much.

 

[thehog]

Ah ok so the anti-Sky take on it is that that a rider they were doping got pinged so they are pre-empting that and sent him to Columbia to concoct a convincing cover story for someone's blood values who grew up at altitude. Gotcha

Why even draw divisions? The chip on your shoulder is large, my friend.

Just ask questions in the fruit trying to get the detail that hasn't been provided. That is all. You could be right and this is all very normal and natural. However why so little detail?

Let's see. But slow down with the finger pointing

 

[Race Radio]

Crazy that there were 9 racers with too high HCT in a U23 race. Well not so crazy after all, just sad.

Yup.....and crazy that SKY would take a chance on a rider with his history unless they fully checked him out and submitted an exception to the UCI. There is zero indication they did this.

Sky is in for a very rough few months. The JTL case is a mess. Even they think he is a doper. Add in Henao and at best they appear to have done zero due diligence on their riders. At worst......well, I am sure the folks here will point what the worst it.

 

[TailWindHome]

I still think people are just asking question trying to work out what went on.

And you maybe right. Could be an innocuous test that came up with a slightly higher reading than expected and Sky took preventative action rather than experience a JTL situation down the line.

Once the report is complete and all is well, Heaneo will be riding again for Sky.

Let's see. But even in this scenario there's still a lot of questions.

You're entirely correct.

Luckily Sky have done exactly the right thing here.