What are these mysterious pills found on the roadside at Paris-Roubaix?

[Benotti69]

I still think he's a bit thick bringing this vial back into the UK, he may well have ended up having to bend over for HM Revenue and Customs to do an `inspection'.

I think he will be stupid to hand it all over to UKAD without keeping some to get a second opinion.

 

[Hawkwood]

I think he will be stupid to hand it all over to UKAD without keeping some to get a second opinion.

He's got a medical background, he should know how to identify these tablets. As you know with many tabs you don't need to get them analysed, the info is contained within the tablet's shape, and more info is sometimes printed on them. The idea being that if you od they can find out what you took quickly.

 

[Benotti69]

He's got a medical background, he should know how to identify these tablets. As you know with many tabs you don't need to get them analysed, the info is contained within the tablet's shape, and more info is sometimes printed on them. The idea being that if you od they can find out what you took quickly.

If they are standard tablets, but it did say 'test product' on the outside of the vial so......just have to wait and probably hear nothing again and see the guy riding a team issue bike......

 

[JimmyFingers]

It might not be illegal, like tramadol is not yet banned. It may be painkillers which will have effect 20mins after taking them.

The vial could have fallen out of a soigneurs pocket if they are pills for finish bottles.

I agree, a finish bottle cocktail is most likely, not very ethical but not illegal either. I would be most interested if the analysis revealed something hither-to unknown, but it could also be tampering from the students. The fact veterinian students found a vial doesn't exactly fill me with confidence.

 

[Benotti69]

I agree, a finish bottle cocktail is most likely, not very ethical but not illegal either. I would be most interested if the analysis revealed something hither-to unknown, but it could also be tampering from the students. The fact veterinian students found a vial doesn't exactly fill me with confidence.

Thames Medical is a company is it not? Didn't think the guy was a student. Is he not Mike Brampton Managing Director of Thames Medical.

So less likely that this is anything but legit. If a hoax he risks bringing disrepute and negativity on his business.

 

[Hawkwood]

I agree, a finish bottle cocktail is most likely, not very ethical but not illegal either. I would be most interested if the analysis revealed something hither-to unknown, but it could also be tampering from the students. The fact veterinian students found a vial doesn't exactly fill me with confidence.

I can't imagine any pro now putting any sort of finish bottle cocktail in a vial marked `Test', for heaven's sake they were more circumspect in the 1970s!

We used to have a college near us that did veterinary sciences and such-like, its students were responsible for most of the crop circles in south-east England.

 

[Hawkwood]

Thames Medical is a company is it not? Didn't think the guy was a student. Is he not Mike Brampton Managing Director of Thames Medical.

So less likely that this is anything but legit. If a hoax he risks bringing disrepute and negativity on his business.

There would be even more disrepute and negativity if HM Customs had stopped him and found the vial. I go through the Channel Tunnel regularly and you really don't want to be stopped by them. HM Customs can dismantle your vehicle completely and then leave you to put it back together again!

 

[Dazed and Confused]

There would be even more disrepute and negativity if HM Customs had stopped him and found the vial. I go through the Channel Tunnel regularly and you really don't want to be stopped by them. HM Customs can dismantle your vehicle completely and then leave you to put it back together again!

Must have been going through customs in UK about a hundred times. Not once stopped. Can't really say if I traveled with something they didn't like, but I was never bothered by the process. It was just a another day at the supermarket.

 

[Benotti69]

There would be even more disrepute and negativity if HM Customs had stopped him and found the vial. I go through the Channel Tunnel regularly and you really don't want to be stopped by them. HM Customs can dismantle your vehicle completely and then leave you to put it back together again!

i really hope HMC give all the TdF vehicles a good thorough search....

 

[HSNHSN]

He's got a medical background, he should know how to identify these tablets. As you know with many tabs you don't need to get them analysed, the info is contained within the tablet's shape, and more info is sometimes printed on them. The idea being that if you od they can find out what you took quickly.

I don't think there's much shape or info left, after a car rode over a vial of pills. The vial may be intact still, but the pictures we've seen show shattered contents, mainly.

 

[fowlyetti]

Theres a photo on facebook which has caption 'Photo by Mike Brampton' and show a rider on the floor. I suspect this is the rider in question.

 

[martinvickers]

Theres a photo on facebook which has caption 'Photo by Mike Brampton' and show a rider on the floor. I suspect this is the rider in question.

Link, please?

 

[fowlyetti]

Link, please?

just search "Photo by Mike Brampton" on twitter.. it wasnt very difficult to find! Im suprised its taken this long. Might i say i have not much interest in this news story but as you lot do, make up your own minds etc!

 

[Race Radio]

 

[yespatterns]

I'm not on twitter, so any rider would be nice ;-)

 

[zlev11]

whew, all the Skybots can take a deep breath now!

 

[DirtyWorks]

If it's going to UKAD, that seems it would be because the rider is British, not just the guy who found the pills, right?

The guy went home and gave it to his home NADO makes the most sense to me.
Otherwise he has to roam around France for a NADO office and the difficulties just multiply from there.

Could be nothing. Could be legal. Could be another doping scandal. All three are possible. I just hope UKAD publicly identifies the contents.

And yeah, pulling 'la bomba' out of your pocket for the run-in to the finish is at least 50 years old at this point.

 

[Microchip]

cant be very effective if it came from a rider just in front of the broom wagon at half way through the race

lolol!!!

 

[DirtyWorks]

The fact veterinian students found a vial doesn't exactly fill me with confidence.

Could the personal attack be any more subtle than this?

What if the guy was a software developer? Grave doubts, no medical training.
What if the guy was a gastroenterologist? Grave doubts, pharmacology isn't his specialty?
What if the guy was a biologist of some kind? Grave doubts, no medical training.
What if the guy was a lorry driver? VERY grave doubts.

It is reasonable to say there's not much to work with without impugning the guy who found the mysterious contents.

 

[Granville57]

Theres a photo on facebook which has caption 'Photo by Mike Brampton' and show a rider on the floor. I suspect this is the rider in question.

whew, all the Skybots can take a deep breath now!

No so fast.

Brampton claims that there was a crash of multiple riders, not just one.

Basically the crash happened and then they all got up and the soigneur pushed the rider [in question] away.

No one gets to drink the champagne quite yet.

 

[RobbieCanuck]

I haven't seen any discussion about what PED is fast acting to the extent that if the vial contains a PED it would have any performance enhancing effect with 82kms to go.

IF the vial contains PEDs it may be some were consumed at the start of the race or at some time later.

The only PED I can think of is synthetic testosterone which is relatively fast acting. Normal T has a 1/2 life to 10 to 30 minutes but I am not sure about synthetic T. Furthermore I understand T takes a little less than a day to be eliminated but if the rider in question was tested at the end of the P-R one would think a test would pick it up, IF it is T.

Any thoughts about what other PED would have a fast acting effect that would enhance performance if it were to be taken shortly before the race or during as opposed to the vial containing something like aspirin?

 

[red_flanders]

I haven't seen any discussion about what PED is fast acting to the extent that if the vial contains a PED it would have any performance enhancing effect with 82kms to go.

IF the vial contains PEDs it may be some were consumed at the start of the race or at some time later.

The only PED I can think of is synthetic testosterone which is relatively fast acting. Normal T has a 1/2 life to 10 to 30 minutes but I am not sure about synthetic T. Furthermore I understand T takes a little less than a day to be eliminated but if the rider in question was tested at the end of the P-R one would think a test would pick it up, IF it is T.

Any thoughts about what other PED would have a fast acting effect that would enhance performance if it were to be taken shortly before the race or during as opposed to the vial containing something like aspirin?

It's a good question. I can't offer any recent insights, but I have read a lot of stories about drugs they used to take on the bike, which is interesting if not relevant.

In his memoir 'Prisonnier du dopage', former pro cyclist Philippe Gaumont describes using the pot belge for winter training purposes more than as aid during competition: "J'ai toujours entendu les anciens dire que prendre les amphétamines pour une grande sortie d'entraînement aide à 'débloquer le moteur'." (rough translation from French: "I've always hear from old timers that taking amphetamines before a training ride helps to 'unclog the motor'") Gaumont describes his use of pot belge during a seven-hour training ride of the Cofidis team at in the mountains at Arcalis in 1997, where he easily outdistanced the team's climbers thanks to the drug. After that, he became dependent on the pot belge for training: "Dès que j'étais mal dans ma peau, je prenais du pot belge" (translation: "I'd use pot belge as soon as I didn't feel so good").[7]

The use of Pot Belge became more widely known during the 2006 Bordeaux-based trial following 2004's "Cahors affair".[8] Several well-known professional cyclists were mentioned during the testimony of defendants.

Not that long ago, really. Certainly you'd think in 2004 they'd have picked up such drugs. But no...

 

[JimmyFingers]

Could the personal attack be any more subtle than this?

What if the guy was a software developer? Grave doubts, no medical training.
What if the guy was a gastroenterologist? Grave doubts, pharmacology isn't his specialty?
What if the guy was a biologist of some kind? Grave doubts, no medical training.
What if the guy was a lorry driver? VERY grave doubts.

It is reasonable to say there's not much to work with without impugning the guy who found the mysterious contents.

I think the emphasis should be on 'students', then their profession. Students are known for pranks, and given their subject, they would have access to certain kit, that's all.

So no personal attack, subtle or otherwise. I have no issue with this being something nefarious, however I don't hope it is, unlike you it seems since you're trying to concoct some strange motive for me to discredit this. I'm merely positing the unlikely nature of this, as others including Hitch have noted.

 

[FoxxyBrown1111]

Or maybe have sold it off in Amsterdam ...

Nice...

 

[JRanton]

Does anyone know which Lotto rider that is?