Sergio Henao

[Escarabajo]

Henao hopes to be ready for the TdF?

http://road.cc/content/news/117574-...ctive-roster-altitude-tests-says-team-hope-he

Hmm riders used to have to build up racing miles in their legs before taking on a GT, but Henao can compete in July with maybe one race in months. Points to doping.

Everybody in the comments section is ignoring the fact that the lab in Bogota is new to testing for the UCI. So it looks like they are looking into some of that too. They have to. You can't just go to court to sanction somebody with values from a new lab in South America. Even if it is aproved that would give fuel to Henao's defense to plea his case.

 

[slosada]

It also comes to my attention that the CN article mentions "remote areas" in Colombia while Sergio Henao lives in Rionegro and that's where Medellin's international airport is located. You can be in Europe in less than 12-13 hours any day (or 7-8 hours to Salt Lake City).
On the other hand, we are speculating on Henao's hematocrit levels over 50%, and reference values for healthy males 18-49 in Rionegro and surroundings can be close or over cutoff value from UCI http://www.actamedicacolombiana.com/anexo/articulos/02-2003-03.htm

 

[DirtyWorks]

Everybody in the comments section is ignoring the fact that the lab in Bogota is new to testing for the UCI. So it looks like they are looking into some of that too. They have to. You can't just go to court to sanction somebody with values from a new lab in South America. Even if it is aproved that would give fuel to Henao's defense to plea his case.

Except, the lab is WADA certified. A new lab can issue a sanction because they jumped through all the hoops and have all the processes setup/documented to get WADA certified. Moreover, this is the whole point behind b samples and the documentation generated with each sample. The B sample should return the same results using the same process. Every bit of the testing is exhaustively analyzed before a case is opened because everyone knows the tests themselves will be critically examined for flaws by the sanctioned athlete.

All of this is moot though. There appears to be no sanction and the UCI is not interested in making it so despite some very off score on some unspecified test. Yet another example of the UCI's wildly inconsistent anti-doping.

 

[20SecondsToComply]

Except, the lab is WADA certified. A new lab can issue a sanction because they jumped through all the hoops and have all the processes setup/documented to get WADA certified. Moreover, this is the whole point behind b samples and the documentation generated with each sample. The B sample should return the same results using the same process. Every bit of the testing is exhaustively analyzed before a case is opened because everyone knows the tests themselves will be critically examined for flaws by the sanctioned athlete.

All of this is moot though. There appears to be no sanction and the UCI is not interested in making it so despite some very off score on some unspecified test. Yet another example of the UCI's wildly inconsistent anti-doping.

There's never been talk of any sanction has there? I thought I read (some pages back) that the parameters surprised Sky but not the UCI.

 

[DirtyWorks]

There's never been talk of any sanction has there? I thought I read (some pages back) that the parameters surprised Sky but not the UCI.

My recollection of events are that we still don't know anything about the test the UCI ordered. We know the UCI's story still doesn't fit with the story Sky is using.

To be ridiculously clear, even if there are alarms going off for red-hot positives, the UCI is not required to open a case. They tried not to open a case on Contador. It gets worse. See the last clen positive vs. FuYu Li's situation. Numerous athletes at this point were never sanctioned yet confessed to doping the breadth of their careers. So, no sanctions doesn't mean much.

 

[20SecondsToComply]

My recollection of events are that we still don't know anything about the test the UCI ordered. We know the UCI's story still doesn't fit with the story Sky is using.

To be ridiculously clear, even if there are alarms going off for red-hot positives, the UCI is not required to open a case. They tried not to open a case on Contador. It gets worse. See the last clen positive vs. FuYu Li's situation. Numerous athletes at this point were never sanctioned yet confessed to doping the breadth of their careers. So, no sanctions doesn't mean much.

Well I thought I read that it was an OOC blood test that Sky also see the results of. ABP I assume? The parameters surprised Sky and not UCI. Not sure that necessarily points to anything untoward or a cover up.

"To be ridiculously clear, even if there are alarms going off for red-hot positives, the UCI is not required to open a case" - whilst this may be true it doesn't mean the same as "we'll ignore all issues".

 

[gospina]

I don't understand how you make the leap from "I'm planning to make it back in time for the TDF" to mean "I'll be very competitive in the TDF".

In case you were not aware, Froome is the leader for the TDF.
In case you were not aware, looks like Porte will be his #2.
In case you were not aware, looks like Wiggo my be there to help as well.

Sergio was already scheduled to be in the TDF. He doesn't have to be competitive at all. All he has to do is help Froome in a few mountain stages.

 

[Benotti69]

I don't understand how you make the leap from "I'm planning to make it back in time for the TDF" to mean "I'll be very competitive in the TDF".

In case you were not aware, Froome is the leader for the TDF.
In case you were not aware, looks like Porte will be his #2.
In case you were not aware, looks like Wiggo my be there to help as well.

Sergio was already scheduled to be in the TDF. He doesn't have to be competitive at all. All he has to do is help Froome in a few mountain stages.

TdF teams dont have places for dead weight. Why do you expect a team to pick a guy who would not have form as he will not have what used to be expected of a rider, ie a certain amount of racing in their legs. In the not so distant past, riders at this time of the year would rider an extra 50kms after a stage of Romandie and TdS to get the miles into their legs in prep for a GT.

 

[BYOP88]

Saw this on twitter and found it interesting, can anyone one answer it:

"What's the point in monitoring one Colombian rider for a few weeks? That's not a proper study on altitude natives, is it?"

 

[Dear Wiggo]

Saw this on twitter and found it interesting, can anyone one answer it:

"What's the point in monitoring one Colombian rider for a few weeks? That's not a proper study on altitude natives, is it?"

When you are trying to determine something, via a study, you are looking at extrapolating data from a small subset of data points from a larger population.

Sky's hypothesis: Henao's strange blood paramters are due to him being an "altitude native" Colombian training at altitude in Colombia over Winter.

Brailsford said the team was also commissioning independent scientific research into the effects of prolonged periods at altitude on those returning from sea level, with specific reference to "altitude natives".

When it comes to hematological parameters, there are differences between riders, and differences within riders over a racing season (off vs on and start vs end of season). There are also differences between seasons (summer, winter, etc). Further, there are differences between early morning and evening readings, thanks to diurnal rhythms, etc, as well as "at altitude" and "at sea level".

It would be exorbitantly expensive to monitor a large number of athletes all year, so statistical methods seek to hone in on the pertinent variables through a large enough sample size (data points).

A nice sample size that allowed comfortable extrapolation could be (for eg) 30 riders being tracked for 12 weeks, tested twice a day. This gives us 30 x 12 x 7 x 2 (daily samples) = 5040 data points / 30 riders.

What Sky are doing is one rider, for 8 weeks. No information (for a change) is being provided regarding the testing protocol, but I would hazard a guess that it's daily testing. So 1 x 8 x 7 = 56 data points / 1 rider.

The biggest variable (between riders) however, has a sample size of 1. It's impossible to extrapolate from that one rider to other riders. This single sample is not useful for proving that Henao's anomalies (the thing trying to be explained) are in fact specific to Colombian natives Wintering in Colombia, or still specific to Henao himself (and any potential doping protocol).

 

[hrotha]

Assuming they're testing him at all and this isn't like the time they promised to release Froome's VO2 max, or the time Brailsford invited everyone to come over to England and ask them any questions.

 

[Dear Wiggo]

Assuming they're testing him at all and this isn't like the time they promised to release Froome's VO2 max, or the time Brailsford invited everyone to come over to England and ask them any questions.

or the time Mr "50%" Hayles was tested for 2 weeks and proclaimed clean coz his Hct dropped back to 45-48 in that space of time, despite the retics not being mentioned at any stage and allegedly always having tested high.

or the time there were test equipment anomalies used to explain blood parameter anomalies in released BP data. Oh wait that's every time.

 

[Race Radio]

According to Sebastian his cousin Sergio will be flying to Europe tomorrow and riding the Tour

 

[Escarabajo]

According to Sebastian his cousin Sergio will be flying to Europe tomorrow and riding the Tour

Nothing official from his team.

http://www.cyclingnews.com/news/henao-still-in-line-to-ride-tour-de-france

 

[doolols]

It was mentioned in the Eurosport commentary (Sunday), and as having come from "respected Colombian journalists".

 

[hfer07]

Officially CLEARED TO RACE

http://www.cyclingnews.com/news/henao-could-be-cleared-to-race-in-the-next-two-weeks

because SKY undeniably concluded that Sergio's htc levels raised "naturally" caused by his time length in altitude....

oh wait- they didn't say that-did they??

 

[the sceptic]

I take it the "study" found that colombians dont dope and that it was a mistake?

 

[Catwhoorg]

Henao confirmed as back for Suisse

http://www.teamsky.com/article/0,27290,17546_9345254,00.html

The research programme - conducted by a team from the University of Sheffield with the cooperation of the Colombian anti-doping authorities - started in Europe [from 31/3], continued for 6-weeks at altitude in Colombia [12/4-25/5], and finished last week with final base-level tests in Nice [26/5-3/6].

The findings have been given to WADA, the UCI and CADF and all urine tests are in the rider’s Biological Passport. The experts will also seek to publish a full scientific research paper in the coming months.


The bold will be very interesting to read assuming it comes to fruition.

 

[Dear Wiggo]

Henao confirmed as back for Suisse

http://www.teamsky.com/article/0,27290,17546_9345254,00.html

The research programme - conducted by a team from the University of Sheffield with the cooperation of the Colombian anti-doping authorities - started in Europe [from 31/3], continued for 6-weeks at altitude in Colombia [12/4-25/5], and finished last week with final base-level tests in Nice [26/5-3/6].

The findings have been given to WADA, the UCI and CADF and all urine tests are in the rider’s Biological Passport. The experts will also seek to publish a full scientific research paper in the coming months.


The bold will be very interesting to read assuming it comes to fruition.

All urine tests - why stipulate urine vs blood unless there were no blood. And therefore it sounds like it was a steroidal issue, not a blood parameter issue?

 

[Catwhoorg]

All urine tests - why stipulate urine vs blood unless there were no blood. And therefore it sounds like it was a steroidal issue, not a blood parameter issue?

I'm going to wait for the paper to come out and see what the actual findings are. Could have just been sloppy language by the press release folks.

 

[Dear Wiggo]

I'm going to wait for the paper to come out and see what the actual findings are. Could have just been sloppy language by the press release folks.

Fair enough - but somewhat ironic given the owner of the team, etc. And that it's written as such on the team website. And that they have left it there and felt no need to correct something potentially giving the incorrect impression.

etc.

Attention to detail and all that.

 

[Dear Wiggo]

I'm going to wait for the paper to come out and see what the actual findings are. Could have just been sloppy language by the press release folks.

They are going to seek to publish it. I wouldn't hold your breath, however.

There was meant to be a Manchester velodrome meeting where Brailsford was going to answer questions late 2012 that never happened too.

 

[Catwhoorg]

I won't, thought I conveyed that little bit of scepticism that this will be published in my first post today.

I am scientifically curious though, this has piqued my interest every since I first heard of it.

 

[GJB123]

It remains baffling in itself that Sky have no clue what living and training at altitude does with all kinds of blood and hormone parameters, yet they send their A-team to Mallorca's Mount Teide to live and train there for sis weeks at a time. It's all about marginal gains. :roll eyes:

It's the same with saying that they haven't tested Froome's VO2-max or never had him in the wind tunnel before last year. You couldn't make this stuff up if you wanted to.

 

[veganrob]

Cleared just in time, lucky for Sky. Who would have guessed? Especially since Porte blows right now.