Teams doping riders without their knowledge

[Bianchi928]

The obvious abuse of this as an excuse aside the Varjas interview about bluetooth motor activation without rider knowledge leads to the question of riders being doped (mechanically or otherwise) without their knowledge.

if i were a team principle it is the ultimate approach. No riders who talk (omertà by default) and convincing innocence as riders truly believe their own ability.

Technically it seems achievable that modern doping (peptides/aicar) as well as testosterone etc can be slipped into a salad dressing or pineapple juice. If someone slipped me aicar in my pineapple juice and i knocked back a couple of kg's without any impact on power i would be singing the marginal gain thesis from the rooftops - none the wiser and putting it down to my own raw talent.

Obviously it would be more difficult to manage glow times etc. it would have to be far more marginal than traditional programs.

maybe this is the reason the current peleton truly believe in a cleaner generation powered by fluffy pillows and juicing.

 

[Bianchi928]

dumb, gullible and desperate to show the world your potential would be the new "good responder"

 

[noddy69]

The obvious abuse of this as an excuse aside the Varjas interview about bluetooth motor activation without rider knowledge leads to the question of riders being doped (mechanically or otherwise) without their knowledge.

if i were a team principle it is the ultimate approach. No riders who talk (omertà by default) and convincing innocence as riders truly believe their own ability.

Technically it seems achievable that modern doping (peptides/aicar) as well as testosterone etc can be slipped into a salad dressing or pineapple juice. If someone slipped me aicar in my pineapple juice and i knocked back a couple of kg's without any impact on power i would be singing the marginal gain thesis from the rooftops - none the wiser and putting it down to my own raw talent.

Obviously it would be more difficult to manage glow times etc. it would have to be far more marginal than traditional programs.

maybe this is the reason the current peleton truly believe in a cleaner generation powered by fluffy pillows and juicing.

C'mon Bradley stick to the Flumicil story, have you been on the phone to misses Froome again ?

Yours sincerely,

Sir Dave

 

[sniper]

This is a very real thing.
We know the stories from soccer, guys taking vitamin shots and drips not knowing or even asking whats really in it.
Plenty of similar anecdotes also from cycling and, if one would look, probably also from most other (team) sports.

Good point about the motors. Although I doubt that (unknowingly having a motor in ones bike) happens in road cycling. I can see it happening in track cycling more easily.

 

[noddy69]

Re:

This is a very real thing.
We know the stories from soccer, guys taking vitamin shots and drips not knowing or even asking whats really in it.
Plenty of similar anecdotes also from cycling and, if one would look, probably also from most other (team) sports.

I can believe that from years gone by but not now.
I certainly can't believe no matter how you operate it that a pro cyclist wouldn't notice the boost from a motor. I've been on a bike with a motor and its clear as day even if only a minor boost that you're getting assistance.

 

[sniper]

Fair point.
Perhaps in track cycling there is scope for such a scheme, maybe using magnetic wheels or something. But it's clutching at straws and indeed you'd always expect a rider to notice.

 

[doperhopper]

This was pretty much how the communist doping worked - athletes were selected to enter the state supervised ( secret services and military often involved) training progam, but they were not aware of all the details... just trained, took the pills, injections, etc and had to believe whatever the doctors/supervisors told them

and then... they began to feel the difference, but not always in the positive sense (especially female athletes, but that's another story)

It was quite some issue in the Eastern countries when they studied their communist past (e.g. GDR, Poland, Czechoslovakia) there are whole archives of documents, books written based on real stories, even films.

And there's nothing that cannot be repeated, white pill on MONday, yellow injection on TUEsday... which would be actually "good" for riders when caught, from the PR point of view: rider can keep the aura of "innocent victim", while the guilt falls on the virtual entity such as team name (DSes will get rid of the doctor, exactly as SKY did, and claim they are clean... at worst they can always rename the team, disband/recreate, shuffle DSes so that it looks "new")

 

[proffate]

testosterone etc can be slipped into a salad dressing or pineapple juice

perhaps it could, but oral testosterone is bad for you which is why prescribed preparations are transdermal or injected. Coming into contact with testosterone is also very unhealthy for women and children, meaning it would be pretty damn reckless to try to spike the punch like this. Besides which, you couldn't control the (micro) dosage very well.

It seems a lot more likely to slip something into a "B12 shot" or in the case of T some "massage oil".