The actual Doping control apres Race procedure

[Kerbdog]

Hello folks, im just wondering if anyone on here knows the EXACT protocol for the Doping control at a race? What I mean by this is once the guy crosses the finish line what is the exact timeframes & where are the controllers? Does the cyclist have to be watched from when he dismounts until he gives urine or blood? How many people are involved & what does each do? Also if you have to give a urine sample what is the EXACT procedure? Can the person be watched passing the water in any way? Since ive heard of cyclists hiding things up their backside to add or pass off or contaminate the urine then surely they must be scrutinised doing this? What exactly are the cyclists rights in this whole procedure directly after crossing the line?
Thanks in advance.

 

[Mongol_Waaijer]

for the surprise blood tests from the "vampires" at the team hotel standard procedure is to send the token clean riders first, and instruct them to stall as much as possible.

Then the others quickly hook themselves into saline IV lines and make sure they get back into the range on their bio-passport.

This was perfected with Festina and Bassons in the late 90's.

Or, if you are Astana you send the testers to the cafe over the road, and everybody does whatever is necessary to pass the tests.

 

[blackcat]

did not Leon Van Bon urinate in his knicks in the shower when he won Philly?

 

[Jonathan]

for the surprise blood tests from the "vampires" at the team hotel standard procedure is to send the token clean riders first, and instruct them to stall as much as possible.

Interesting, does every team have those?

 

[Bala Verde]

Interesting, does every team have those?

I don't know if every team has them, probably only the teams that organise something malevolent. It's that one rider, due to his poor results compared to his team mates, you never understood why he was on that amazing team...

Do we know of any currently with AST, CSC etc?

These guys should have fat contracts according to the laws of Economics. They are a scarce product, and in high demand, hence worth a high price?

 

[Mongol_Waaijer]

some more than others

I'd love to know if the teams can choose the order in which riders have blood samples taken, and if so a breakdown of who got tested and when....

There is no way they have the budget or resources to test all 9 riders at the same time.

Apparently the tests are done in one hotel room, and the riders are called when it is their turn.

I doubt they are supervised beforehand.

I am also sceptical if the tests are remotely "surprising".

 

[Jonathan]

I am also sceptical if the tests are remotely "surprising".

Rightly so; in the Netherlands there have been reports of athletes receiving a phonecall about their next 'suprise test'. There was a feature a few years ago on 2Vandaag (I think) which followed the doping testers during such visits. The program later called the people tested, who admitted they had been informed beforehand. Some more research uncovered that this was a regular procedure.

 

[Mongol_Waaijer]

yes i saw that feature too. Something about privacy regulations overriding the "surprise" element meant they were virtually making an appointment.

Having ridden as an elite amateur here myself and never coming within 100 miles of a dope test I sort of understand the way it works.

Even with a real surprise test, as Dwain Chambers in the UK proved, not answering the phone / door is a simple and effective way of avoiding a test.

This is depressingly common, especially in smaller countries, for whom olympic success is a great way to get the country on the map and rally patriotism among the populace.

 

[acoggan]

Hello folks, im just wondering if anyone on here knows the EXACT protocol for the Doping control at a race? What I mean by this is once the guy crosses the finish line what is the exact timeframes & where are the controllers? Does the cyclist have to be watched from when he dismounts until he gives urine or blood? How many people are involved & what does each do? Also if you have to give a urine sample what is the EXACT procedure? Can the person be watched passing the water in any way? Since ive heard of cyclists hiding things up their backside to add or pass off or contaminate the urine then surely they must be scrutinised doing this? What exactly are the cyclists rights in this whole procedure directly after crossing the line?
Thanks in advance.

When my wife was "controlled" at races here in the US, a chaperone always accompanied her every second from when she got off her bike until the testing was over. That included observing her while she provided the urine sample.

 

[acoggan]

Even with a real surprise test, as Dwain Chambers in the UK proved, not answering the phone / door is a simple and effective way of avoiding a test.

Not being available for testing counts as a positive.

 

[blackcat]

three strikes coggan

 

[Mongol_Waaijer]

Not if you stuff your voicemail full of messages so no more can be left, and then make up some story about an emergency, or a misunderstanding. If you lie hard enough you can get away with it, although some sports are stricter than others, and it all depends on how strict your national authority is.

In Holland the "surprise" out of competition controls from the Olympic commitee are communicated to the athletes 2 weeks in advance, and even if you then disappear on a training camp or are out somewhere it isn't a problem.


British Gold medallist and world champion womens 400m runner Christina Ohoruoga missed a string of controls that should have resulted in a suspension and for many were a clear sign of something suspicious but managed to get away with it on excuses that didn't really make sense. I believe a journalist caught her out on a car journey that she claimed took a lot longer than he managed to complete it in.

My favourite dope test anecdote is Oscar Camendzind. The controllers were on the way to meet him for an out of competition control and saw him out training. They stopped and told him to ride home to get tested, and he replied that there was no need, he had just taken EPO and would test positive.

Rules required that the test was conducted, it was indeed positive at which point Oscar retired and went back to being a postman.

 

[Bala Verde]

In Holland the "surprise" out of competition controls from the Olympic commitee are communicated to the athletes 2 weeks in advance, and even if you then disappear on a training camp or are out somewhere it isn't a problem.

But the dutch don't use doping anyway, so those controls don't really matter. They are just a formality to comply with sports regulations

 

[acoggan]

Not if you stuff your voicemail full of messages so no more can be left, and then make up some story about an emergency, or a misunderstanding. If you lie hard enough you can get away with it, although some sports are stricter than others, and it all depends on how strict your national authority is.

Well in that case USADA must be stricter than most, because as I said if you are on their "hit list" for out-of-competition testing then you must be available for it on demand.* That is why, e.g., such athletes have to file quarterly reports indicating precisely where they will be when, why they have to provide back-up contacts who always know where they are should they deviate from that plan, etc. I suppose if someone were sufficiently inventive they could figure out a way to dodge the testers for a while, but you only have a 2 h window before being declared positive, so odds are quite low that you could milk this allowance to routinely avoid detection of drug use.

*On one occasion the USADA testers showed up at our house when my wife was breast-feeding our infant son. She had to interrupt his meal to go pee in a cup, for which he gave them an earful...

 

[acoggan]

three strikes coggan

And your personal experience with the issue at hand is...?

 

[Jonathan]

And your personal experience with the issue at hand is...?

Those are just the rules, right? I think Rasmussen got two strikes, formally.

 

[El Imbatido]

Before the athens olympics, didn't two of their track and field riders fake a motorbike(?) accident so they wouldnt have to give a sample for their control? IIRC i think theywere moved to different hospitals several times to delay the testing. I can only think that it was so their values would come back into the appropriate ranges ie. saline IV, masking agents etc.

 

[acoggan]

Those are just the rules, right?

The rules and my (my wife's, actually) experience with them. Of course, since she never attempted to avoid being tested, I can't speak to what is possible; only what is expected.

 

[Eva Maria]

the rules are different for in competition testing and OOC testing.If you avoid a control at a race you get a positive. Of course there are exceptions, Jonathan Page for example. Astana was given an hour after the TTT this year at the Tour while the chaperon waited outside their bus.

OOC testing is different. For years the first two missed tests resulted in a warning and the third a positive. I think this was changed last year to only one missed OOC test.

In addition the UCI had a rule that if a rider missed two OCC's in the 6 weeks prior to a GT he was not allowed to start the GT. This rule was in place during the 2007 Tour when Rass missed two OOC tests prior to the Tour. The UCI chose not to tell the ASO as they were fighting (As Usual) and preferred to announce it during the Tour in order to embarrass the ASO.....Classy

 

[dienekes88]

Hello folks, im just wondering if anyone on here knows the EXACT protocol for the Doping control at a race? What I mean by this is once the guy crosses the finish line what is the exact timeframes & where are the controllers? Does the cyclist have to be watched from when he dismounts until he gives urine or blood? How many people are involved & what does each do? Also if you have to give a urine sample what is the EXACT procedure? Can the person be watched passing the water in any way? Since ive heard of cyclists hiding things up their backside to add or pass off or contaminate the urine then surely they must be scrutinised doing this? What exactly are the cyclists rights in this whole procedure directly after crossing the line?
Thanks in advance.

I'm pretty sure that the current protocol is that the shirt has to be up to the chest, pants down to the knees, and the tester has to see it happen.

I think it was Pollentier who was pinched for trying to do the hidden bladder/catheter trick... in the 70's.

 

[bkbkbk]

Hello folks, im just wondering if anyone on here knows the EXACT protocol for the Doping control at a race? What I mean by this is once the guy crosses the finish line what is the exact timeframes & where are the controllers? Does the cyclist have to be watched from when he dismounts until he gives urine or blood? How many people are involved & what does each do? Also if you have to give a urine sample what is the EXACT procedure? Can the person be watched passing the water in any way? Since ive heard of cyclists hiding things up their backside to add or pass off or contaminate the urine then surely they must be scrutinised doing this? What exactly are the cyclists rights in this whole procedure directly after crossing the line?
Thanks in advance.

I was tested by USADA at the 2008 US mtb national championships. I was the random and basically what happened was a chaperon confronted me and told me I was the random and so on. They then followed me around and escorted my to a hotel lobby where the testing was set up. I had to fill out paper work and they offered me water and gatoraid to make sure I could pee. The chaperon then followed me to a bathroom where I had to pick out a testing cup. They make you lift up your jersey and pull your shorts down and then they watch you give the sample. you then take the sample, pick out a USADA kit thing and then an usada official does some preliminary tests on the urine to make sure its not too diluted. You then have to pour the **** into an A and B sample jar that can only be opened at the lab. Thats about it. I think it would be hard to cheat or add something. They made sure that I washed my hands really good before I gave the sample and so on.

 

[beroepsrenner]

I was tested by USADA at the 2008 US mtb national championships. I was the random and basically what happened was a chaperon confronted me and told me I was the random and so on. They then followed me around and escorted my to a hotel lobby where the testing was set up. I had to fill out paper work and they offered me water and gatoraid to make sure I could pee. The chaperon then followed me to a bathroom where I had to pick out a testing cup. They make you lift up your jersey and pull your shorts down and then they watch you give the sample. you then take the sample, pick out a USADA kit thing and then an usada official does some preliminary tests on the urine to make sure its not too diluted. You then have to pour the **** into an A and B sample jar that can only be opened at the lab. Thats about it. I think it would be hard to cheat or add something. They made sure that I washed my hands really good before I gave the sample and so on.

Dont know what the current situation is in Australia but in 1992 when I was last tested, I was given 24hrs notice for an out of competition test. The sample collector followed the same procedure as described above. I always found it to be a humiliating experience and always wondered what kind of person would enjoy collecting samples. I guess someone has to do it

 

[Susan Westemeyer]

http://www.uci.ch/templates/UCI/UCI1/layout.asp?MenuId=MTI1NzE&LangId=1

Check out some of those links.

I remember reading the procedure from the German federation. As I recall, it said the athlete had to bare him/herself from the shoulders to the knees, and the urine sample had to be given in full sight of the tester.

Also, under German regulations, an athlete can only be controlled by someone of the same sex.

Susan

 

[beroepsrenner]

http://www.uci.ch/templates/UCI/UCI1/layout.asp?MenuId=MTI1NzE&LangId=1

Check out some of those links.

I remember reading the procedure from the German federation. As I recall, it said the athlete had to bare him/herself from the shoulders to the knees, and the urine sample had to be given in full sight of the tester.

Also, under German regulations, an athlete can only be controlled by someone of the same sex.

Susan

That last point is the one I could never understand

 

[Susan Westemeyer]

And comments like that are one of the reasons for the rule.

Susan