UCI helped Froome with illegal(?) TUE at Romandie

[GreasyMonkey]

Ulissi pinged at the Giro. He's on an MPCC team.

But they're not hypocrites like Sky of course.

But NOT for cortisone......

 

[Zam_Olyas]

Ulissi pinged at the Giro. He's on an MPCC team.

But they're not hypocrites like Sky of course.

The hog???

 

[DirtyWorks]

Ulissi pinged at the Giro. He's on an MPCC team.

But they're not hypocrites like Sky of course.

Can you explain why being on an MPCC squad makes some kind of difference? It's an honest question.

 

[thehog]

Tee hee..

 

[Sciocco]

Tee hee..

awesome! great to see non pr BS

 

[JimmyFingers]

I've always liked Oleg Tinkov ever since he turned up to that DS/owners meeting at the Giro in full kit w@anker mode. He's bonkers

 

[jens_attacks]

bwahahaha oleg. excellent !

 

[Fzotrlool]

Tee hee..

Michelle's comeback is almost given now.

 

[SundayRider]

Michelle's comeback is almost given now.

that is too funny.

 

[del1962]

Tee hee..

In light of other events today this is kindof ironic

 

[More Strides than Rides]

In light of other events today this is kindof ironic

Especially, given that he knew the whole time there would be a press release the next day.

 

[thehog]

From Digger's Twitter.

Cound sat in on the interview

 

[thehog]

Little bit more... wind tunnel?

 

[thehog]

Last one...

 

[TailWindHome]

From Digger's Twitter.

Be a good chap and post up the rest.

Digger has blocked me.



In a peculiar turn of events I'm now blocked by both my crazy Irish friend and Cound.....The Bold Digger and The Gold Digger

 

[Fzotrlool]

Good job and questions by Kimmage.

 

[red_flanders]

"I wasn't ill".

Wow, just wow. I thought the bar for getting the TUE was "acute" nee and "exceptional" circumstances. "I wasn't ill".

How is that sitting with the defenders?

WADA Angry with UCI Over Flawed TUE Approval Process

Froome and Team Sky was given a TUE to treat a chest infection and cough after the opening stage of the Swiss stage race in late April, with Zorzoli fast-tracking the TUE application due to what he considered “exceptional circumstance”.

Froome went on to win the Tour de Romandie.

The UCI insisted to Cyclingnews last week that Zorzoli had the authority to act alone and approve TUE requests for "exceptional circumstances" rather than follow the standard procedure set out in the WADA rules, where a TUE Committee of at least three sports doctors studies any request for a TUE.

So for those who want to mock people who think there is something un-toward going on, as there has been many times in the past, how exactly do you reconcile these clear, and conflicting statements?

There are other explanations that the UCI is covering something up, but that has to be a possibility you examine.

Anyway you look at it someone's not telling the truth. And what does that tell you?

 

[BYOP88]

Wow, just wow. I thought the bar for getting the TUE was "acute" nee and "exceptional" circumstances. "I wasn't ill".

How is that sitting with the defenders?



So for those who want to mock people who think there is something un-toward going on, as there has been many times in the past, how exactly do you reconcile these clear, and conflicting statements?

There are other explanations that the UCI is covering something up, but that has to be a possibility you examine.

Anyway you look at it someone's not telling the truth. And what does that tell you?

Asthma lover!!!!!

 

[the sceptic]

Wow, just wow. I thought the bar for getting the TUE was "acute" nee and "exceptional" circumstances. "I wasn't ill".

Strange. I thought we had already established Froome being sick as a fact.

 

[Hawkwood]

Wow, just wow. I thought the bar for getting the TUE was "acute" nee and "exceptional" circumstances. "I wasn't ill".

How is that sitting with the defenders?



So for those who want to mock people who think there is something un-toward going on, as there has been many times in the past, how exactly do you reconcile these clear, and conflicting statements?

There are other explanations that the UCI is covering something up, but that has to be a possibility you examine.

Anyway you look at it someone's not telling the truth. And what does that tell you?

I can see the argument you're making, but why not use the whole quotes from Froome and not bits of them. There's a longer quote above:

`I wasn’t coughing coming into the race, so I wasn’t ill in that sense but you see me after the prologue and I’m struggling to breathe. I’m at a big disadvantage because of my asthma. It’s not an illness as such, but by taking prednisone that would hopefully get me to being closer to being normal again.’

This came after a bit where he was talking about his chest infection. The bit you quoted `I wasn't ill' continued `-it was an asthmatic response - the closed airways, the continuous coughing.' He appears to regard asthma not as an illness, but a long-term thing, whereas the chest infection was an illness. This may seem odd, but I can see where he's coming from, I'm asthmatic and I don't regard it as an illness, more a long-term pain in the neck.

It would be interesting to know his normal peak flow, and what it was during this episode. I suspect that highly trained athletes will react badly to quite small decreases in peak flow. When I was doing a lot of miles a decrease of 70, down from 650 to 580 made me feel really bad. Whereas many people wouldn't have a peak flow of 580 to begin with.

 

[red_flanders]

I can see the argument you're making, but why not use the whole quotes from Froome and not bits of them. There's a longer quote above:

`I wasn’t coughing coming into the race, so I wasn’t ill in that sense but you see me after the prologue and I’m struggling to breathe. I’m at a big disadvantage because of my asthma. It’s not an illness as such, but by taking prednisone that would hopefully get me to being closer to being normal again.’

Fair question and I did it intentionally because of the burden of the symptoms needed to qualify for a TUE. The asthma has been claimed to exist since childhood. Hardly an "acute" or "exceptional" situation. Also previously claimed was a "chest infection". No way you can get around calling that being "sick". You have a chest infection and you're sick, period.

Now Froome's story is that it was simply asthma. Not only doesn't he mention the previously claimed chest infection, but says flat out that he was "not ill".

I understand what he is claiming about the asthma. My intent in cutting was not to dismiss this new story, which directly conflicts the previous story, but to highlight the key point, that I was "not sick".

The story has always been utterly suspicious to me. Come of a training block in Tenerife, pull out late from LBL then a TUE is given in what my view at the time were suspicious circumstances.

Now the previous rationale(s) for the TUE have been directly contradicted by Froome. The situation was neither acute or exceptional, and he did not have a chest infection. When the story is never the same it almost always means someone is lying. And it was, as mentioned above, suspect from the start. Now we have more evidence that it was a lie.

 

[red_flanders]

If the above explanation of my quote editing makes sense, I would definitely like to hear what you think about the situation beyond your (fair) questions about my posts.

 

[thehog]

If the above explanation of my quote editing makes sense, I would definitely like to hear what you think about the situation beyond your (fair) questions about my posts.

The theory you propose that he was "glowing" holds well with details provided in the interview.

He had a sterling Oman and was "normal-not-normal" Froome. But then he hurt his back again. Came back for Volta a Catalunya and wasn't so good. Good but not "normal-not-normal" Froome.

By then he probably felt he was behind in his preparation and hit the cortisone etc. hard. Perhaps harder then normal in training sans his TUE (not required). Probably too hard. He pulled out of LBL last minute and by then couldn't afford to miss Romandie as well but he was still glowing. Fast tracked a TUE and won Romandie gangbusters style in normal-not-normal Froome style.

It's a stretch to buy the logic that he was indeed just treating a common long term ailment and the horse steroids were mealy bringing him back to "normal". He was stomping at Romandie. Hugely so.

The more this guy speaks the more of an idiot he sounds and obviously attempting to cover the fraud he is...

I'm not sure he has the balls to keep this up.

 

[Hawkwood]

If the above explanation of my quote editing makes sense, I would definitely like to hear what you think about the situation beyond your (fair) questions about my posts.

Well the whole Froome/asthma thing is interesting. I suppose you can describe asthma as a chronic condition with acute attacks. I've been told that asthma's impact on your lungs is progressive, and some of the treatment is designed to slow this progression down. If Froome had a chest infection then it's highly likely that this caused a problem with his asthma. In the UK if you're asthmatic you're automatically on the at risk list for flu, and are offered the flu jab as are other at risk categories. In Froome's case I guess the team doctor would have done a few tests, listen for wheeziness in his chest, and do a peak flow, and check the oxygenation of the blood.

In my case I've been told that a decrease in peak flow of 10% is an attack, I forget what my `get to a hospital immediately' level is, I was told, but fortunately my asthma has been managed reasonably well. In terms of impact on cycling, a 10% decrease in peak flow for me would make it very uncomfortable cycling. I don't know how well Froome reacts to Salbutamol, but for me it isn't that effective. So possibly his peak flow went down, and the Salbutamol wasn't bringing it back up to a normal level, hence something else was needed. There are other factors, the weather, pollen levels if he's also got hay fever, dust levels in the atmosphere etc. I've always had problems in the lead up to a thunder storm which have gone once the storm has broken, my best 10 mile TT time was during a storm, I was soaked but fast.

I'm not making a case for whether or not this TUE should have been issued, but I would be interested in learning what were the details of the diagnosis.

 

[DirtyWorks]

I'm not making a case for whether or not this TUE should have been issued, but I would be interested in learning what were the details of the diagnosis.

A number of us can remember elite riders hitting the inhaler while warming up on the turbo trainer before bigger national-level events. Many of those riders were cured later on. Cured! Not kidding.

Find a doctor willing to make the diagnosis and get your asthma meds. It's as old as the discovery asthma meds improve performance for endurance athletics.