Alpe d'Huez said:
As I said before, one tactic the UCI or ASO could use is to simply announce the week the Tour starts that at some point during the Tour or just after it, the CO test for hemoglobin mass is planned to be used on several riders; race leaders, stage winners, and random riders.
They don't even have to use the test, just the statement alone would possibly scare quite a few riders out of their shorts and considerably cut into blood doping. After the Tour was over and no testing done, they can simply say they chose not to use it at this time, but will in the future, so be ready.
Growing weary of doping talk here. This is the last doping thread I'll post in before the Tour starts, and I'll only make a few more posts. Hope others will join me.
Dude! It's a thread about a doping test!
I think we've had a lot of good information come through this thread but that we fell short of actually describing something that would work at this time.
Maybe a way to do it now exists but it hasn't come close to being proven here.
My impression of passport is that you can build a current profile with which you can sanction a rider without going back and changing the results of races run.
If you test someone during a race then test again later for your baseline then you'd have to take the result away.
Still other questions too.
If you are reading this thread for the first time don't let my little tiff with the resident juvenile delinquent bother you.
Go back and you'll see that it stay pretty much on topic.
At this point, I don't think it would be correct for anyone to talk about the total hemoglobin mass test as the pie in the sky cure for doping in the sport if just someone would snap their fingers and make it happen. Or to think there's some conspiracy afoot because it's not being done.
The science behind the test is cutting edge and cool but there are many practical matters not resolved. Not here anyway.