Doping

The Kaykov Case: Black Market Drug Detected

When the news came out about Valery Kaykov this morning I couldn’t be bothered to mention it in a tweet. Doping news can crowd out other stories to the point where if one rider tests positive then it can be the only mention they get. Kaykov’s had some success as a track racer but I’d not covered his success in the velodrome nor his wins on the road either so why mentioned he’d tested positive?

Only this has changed because the substance he’s been caught with is GW501516, a drug so dangerous that WADA issued an unprecedented alert last month.

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Should Performance-Enhancing Drugs be Legalised?

EPOEvery now and then I get an email from a reader asking whether all the anti-doping hand-wringing is necessary. Why go through so much trouble to hunt down picograms of banned molecules in the Contador “steak” case when the quantities involved don’t alter the racing? Some see a bigger picture where dopers are more than just a step ahead of the testers. Why not just let adults decide what to do? It’s not just a question for curious newcomers. Julian Savulescu is a professor of ethics at the University of Oxford and he says prohibition is only helping organised crime and that doping should be allowed for the good of sport. This is an argument worth exploring. I think the basic premise is so wrong it needs shooting down with a hail of bullet points. Professor Savulescu’s thoughts are interesting and stimulate debate but away from theory, cycling’s own past suggests it can’t work.

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Doping in Sport, Lessons from Pro Cycling

Going by Twitter, yesterday’s story in AS, the Spanish newspaper, that Dr Fuentes was working for a Spanish soccer club seems to have delighted some cycling fans keen to see the scandal shared beyond our sport.

Twitter’s an imperfect judge of opinion at the best of times. Even if it’s a minority activity there’s something unnerving when cyclists point out other sports have doping problems: they might be right but there’s the sound of glasshouses shattering when calling for footballers and tennis players to be outed.

Still, with football being forced to confront some problems are there lessons other sports can learn from cycling’s dodgy past?

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Operation Puerto: 2006, A Judicial Odyssey

The thing’s hollow—it goes on forever—and—oh my God—it’s full of stars!

So says Dr David Bowman in Stanley Kubrick’s film 2001 A Space Odyssey as he gazes into the mysterious black monolith. Spanish police must have had a similar feeling in 2006 as they reached into the special refrigerator humming in Madrid that belonged to Doctor Eufemiano Fuentes and found it full of bloodbags belonging to star names of sport.

Six years later the trial has finally started. What will happen?

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Frank Schleck’s Expert Problems

Frank Schleck case

This week a leaked expert report suggest that Frank Schleck’s positive test in the Tour de France probably didn’t result from doping. Luxembourg newspaper Tageblatt got a copy of the work done by Dr. Hans Geyer, deputy director of the WADA-approved laboratory in Cologne.

The report seems fine – although I’ll add one point to it below – but the rules don’t care for hypotheses. no matter how expert. If the molecule is there a two year ban awaits unless the athlete can demonstrate it was an accident, for example proof he was poisoned. Without this, Frank Schleck will be banned until July 2014.

This is the principle of strict liability, a cornerstone of the anti-doping rules. It’s all reminiscent the Contador case when the Spaniard too tested positive during the 2010 Tour de France. Similarly, it might take time, there might be speculation, it could go to appeal but all the signs point to a two year ban.

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USADA, WADA, UCIIC vs UCI

Acronymn soup

Too many acronyms? Yes but no matter which way you arrange the letters this spells trouble for the UCI.

In the past 24 hours two anti-doping agencies, USADA and WADA, have gone public with criticism of cycling’s governing body. Now they’ve been joined by the Independent Commission created by the UCI which has itself turned against the governing body to create a power struggle over its remit and capabilities.

There’s even talk cycling could be thrown out of the Olympics but don’t believe the hype. But this is a battle for the truth and the UCI is going to lose.

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Sunday Shorts

Tropicale Amissa Bongo

AICAR test in place – Dutch doping amnesty – Steven de Jongh passes go – Europcar to quit? – Big teams for Bongo – Grand Tours and breakaway cities – ASO vs RCS

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Were The UCI’s Anti-Doping Policies Inadequate?

UCIIC

Having been away for two glorious weeks without internet I missed the news of the UCI’s independent commission, UCIIC, being set up to investigate issues and allegations arising out USADA’s verdict on Lance Armstrong.

Now this body is seeking evidence here some evidence to suggest the UCI publicly rejected an obvious and easy method to catch cheats.

Here’s a story to chew on.

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DIY Dracula

Leonardo Bertagnolli

It’s Halloween so what better day to cover the story of self-administered blood transfusions in the pro peloton? It’s more sinister than the tale of Britons burning a giant effigy of Lance Armstrong.

But if the tale is ghoulish and rightly frightening, there’s no fancy dress costumes or children’s games. Hell, there’s not even team doctor on hand. It’s real.

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The Tour de France And The Road Ahead

Christian Prudhomme Tour de France

It should be one of the best jobs in cycling but Tour director Christian Prudhomme keeps finding his efforts to promote the world’s biggest race thwarted by its past. As much as he wants to promote next summer’s route he’ll also have to look back to the Armstrong years. These days no preview seems complete without a moment of retrospective regret.

A former journalist and broadcaster, Prudhomme is skilled with words and presentation so expect a good show – it’ll be streamed live on the web. The 2013 Tour will be unveiled with a message of hope for the future and a nod to the past, especially as the next Tour will be the 100th edition, le Tour du centenaire.

Only perhaps it’s time for the Tour de France to announce more than route planning? It won’t happen tomorrow but the race and its parent company dominate the sport like no other and hold the keys and the purse-strings to help clean up the sport. Nobody else has as much power.

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