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The Massimo (Max) Testa Thread

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Oct 16, 2010
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sniper said:
what i don't see mentioned here is that Testa was Hampsten's doc and coach his entire carreer.
http://nyvelocity.com/articles/interviews/andy-hampsten-interview/
I had the same doctor who was my trainer, Max Testa, my entire career

hampsten clean(s)?

you couldn't make this stuff up!
“We had a good culture on that team,” says Hampsten, “and it came from the top down. Mike Neel, our director at the beginning, had previously trained racehorses, and he kind of coaxed us in the same way. He would say, ‘Don’t eat crap after the race, it’s going to damage your engine.’ That was just one of his philosophies, and he was totally against any kind of doping.” Hampsten also points to the influence of Dr. Max Testa at the time. “Max was also very good with us; he understood stress and illness very well. If we ever needed IVs, it was with sugar and vitamins only. We always raced 100 percent believing that we could do it without drugs. I can tell you that I was always really reluctant to take anything; I read every single line on every single vial or bag.”
http://velonews.competitor.com/2015/06/news/andy-hampsten-americas-only-giro-champion-looks-back-and-forward_372462#6CmP0cKtLuzee0o8.99
:D
 
May 14, 2010
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. . . the doping process was overseen by Max Testa, an Italian doctor who is still working in the sport and running a sports medicine clinic in Utah. In 2006, Testa told me that he gave his riders the instructions to use EPO but never administered drugs to those riders. In 2014, he said he didn’t want to discuss anything about the cyclists he had worked with, to protect the privacy of his patients. Still, if drug use was not mandated by the team, it appeared to be at least quasi-official. Hendershot trusted Testa to make sure the riders were staying safe, believing that Testa — unlike other doctors in cycling — actually cared for the riders’ health, and cared less about winning or money.

Hendershot, however, put it this way: A doctor who refused to give riders drugs wouldn’t last in the sport.

Armstrong liked Testa so much that he moved to Italy to be near the doctor’s office in Como, north of Milan. Not long after joining Motorola, Armstrong began living in Como during the racing season. He brought along his close friend Frankie Andreu, and in time several other riders joined them, including George Hincapie, a New Yorker, and Kevin Livingston, a Midwesterner. All became patients of Testa. All later became riders on Armstrong’s Tour de France-winning United States Postal Service teams.

End of the Ride for Lance Armstrong
 
May 14, 2010
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Testa said the banned substances were so prevalent it created a culture where cheating was seen as a necessary part of competition.

"In those years in which doping was very prevalent, and I would say not just in cycling, those were years in which there were products on the market that would improve performances and were not detectable. A kind of wrong culture developed. … The phenomenon was so widespread that you were just putting yourself on the same starting line as other people."

Levi Leipheimer, doctor expand on Lance Armstrong, doping in cycling
 
May 14, 2010
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In 1985, for the first time in history, an American team called 7-11 came to race in Italy. They were the only team in Europe without a physician and this was against UCI rules, so I was assigned to them because of my research interest. They were very grateful and only expected me to come to the race and fix them up if they got injured. This is not how I trained or how things were done.

I watched the team warm up, race, and saw them through the recovery, giving advice or medical help as needed. They liked this so they asked me to be their team doctor, the first one they had. I visited the US that year, started to understand how American teams operated. In Italy, many times the physician is also the team coach. This has advantages and as you can imagine some serious draw backs as that balance between medical help and medical manipulation gets shaky. I never agreed with that.

So for the next 6 years, I was the physician for Team 7-11, then the team became Motorolla and I was again with them for another 5 years. After that I took a short break from American teams and was the team physician for Mapei, the largest European team during the late 1990s.


Interview with BMCProTeam’s Dr. Massimo “Max” Testa on cycling team physicians, staying healthy and sports medicine
 
Oct 16, 2010
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beat me to it! :)
a most informative interview.


Note that where he says "I never agreed with that", is directly contradicted by Hampsten who said Testa was both his trainer and his doctor.
 
May 14, 2010
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sniper said:
beat me to it! :)
a most informative interview.


Note that where he says "I never agreed with that", is directly contradicted by Hampsten who said Testa was both his trainer and his doctor.

Yeah, wouldn't do to come under suspicion by not making the right noises.
 
May 14, 2010
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Testa . . . has worked closely with (Levi) Leipheimer as well as 2011 Tour de France champion Cadel Evans and other top names in cycling in his two-plus decades in the sport. "There was the availability of the product on the market that can make you faster," (said Testa). "People were pushing this because they were making money. These (riders) are young men in their 20s, and they want to make sure they start at the same start line as everyone else."

Clouds begin to part in the world of cycling
 
May 14, 2010
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From Sniper's post in the Andrew Hampsten thread:

“There was a lot of grumbling on the team,” (Andy) Hampsten said, “and we did get technical data from team doctor Massimo Testa because he’d talk to his colleagues on other teams. He was always straight with me. ‘Sure enough,’ he said, ‘if so-and-so who you raced with for eight years and you always dropped on the climbs, if that guy’s beating you now, his hematocrit is 15 points higher, and he’s gonna kill you in the mountains.’”

"If that guy's beating you now, his hematocrit is 15 points higher and he's gonna kill you in the mountains."

What does that sound like? To me, it sounds like a team doctor trying to explain to a rider why he can't beat medical science paniagua. It sounds like a team doctor explaining the stark reality of scientific doping, and the need to dope like your adversaries dope, if you expect to have a hope in hell of winning.
 
Oct 16, 2010
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^good point.

Interview with Max Testa from 2002.
http://www.pezcyclingnews.com/interviews/exclusive-interview-dr-max-testa/#.VxNLmUcjWM8

Lots of eyebrowraisers. The selection below is mere cherrypicking:
Dr. Testa, what motivated you to become a doctor and how did you get your start in cycling?

MT – I really enjoy working with people. I grew up playing soccer and skiing and really enjoyed those sports. In 1981, as I was finishing medical school, I was testing cyclists like Giuseppe Sarronni and Moreno Argentin and did my thesis in this area of physiological testing. In 1985, I met Jim Ochowicz and Mike Neel as part of the 7-11 squads. They had come to be the first American team in the Giro and saw an opportunity to become their doctor, as they needed one. I did a lot of things for them, including coaching, team doctor, and nutrition. This is where it all truly began.
What is your most memorable moment in all the years you have been involved in the highest level of the sport?

MT – There are actually two. The first is when Andy Hampsten won the Tour of Italy. It was a small team and I was the only doctor, so I got a lot of satisfaction from them. The second is when Lance Armstrong won the World Championships in 1993. I was there – it was quite the special moment for the team.

QS: What are the major differences between cyclists here and in Europe?
MT – Athletes train harder here in the States and from a physiological standpoint, have a higher Max VO2. In Europe, cyclist have better skills because they usually start earlier in life.

QS: Perhaps the biggest problem facing cycling and all high level sports today is the use of banned or “unnatural” substances to increase performance. In your experience, is it possible to continue to reach higher levels of output and performance without using such substances?

MT – Yes it is possible, through a disciplined and dedicated training program. Unbelievable amounts of fitness can be attained by training hard and a well focused mind.
 
Mar 13, 2009
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sniper said:
^good point.

Interview with Max Testa from 2002.
http://www.pezcyclingnews.com/interviews/exclusive-interview-dr-max-testa/#.VxNLmUcjWM8

Lots of eyebrowraisers. The selection below is mere cherrypicking:
Dr. Testa, what motivated you to become a doctor and how did you get your start in cycling?

MT – I really enjoy working with people. I grew up playing soccer and skiing and really enjoyed those sports. In 1981, as I was finishing medical school, I was testing cyclists like Giuseppe Sarronni and Moreno Argentin and did my thesis in this area of physiological testing. In 1985, I met Jim Ochowicz and Mike Neel as part of the 7-11 squads. They had come to be the first American team in the Giro and saw an opportunity to become their doctor, as they needed one. I did a lot of things for them, including coaching, team doctor, and nutrition. This is where it all truly began.
What is your most memorable moment in all the years you have been involved in the highest level of the sport?

MT – There are actually two. The first is when Andy Hampsten won the Tour of Italy. It was a small team and I was the only doctor, so I got a lot of satisfaction from them. The second is when Lance Armstrong won the World Championships in 1993. I was there – it was quite the special moment for the team.

QS: What are the major differences between cyclists here and in Europe?
MT – Athletes train harder here in the States and from a physiological standpoint, have a higher Max VO2. In Europe, cyclist have better skills because they usually start earlier in life.

QS: Perhaps the biggest problem facing cycling and all high level sports today is the use of banned or “unnatural” substances to increase performance. In your experience, is it possible to continue to reach higher levels of output and performance without using such substances?

MT – Yes it is possible, through a disciplined and dedicated training program. Unbelievable amounts of fitness can be attained by training hard and a well focused mind.

was he motoman for och when och jumped on a bus or took a lift by a car in the domestic race in his "breakaway"?

Och pretty skeezy no?
 

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