devashish_paul wrote:
Andrewmc wrote:
accepting that it is a continuum of performance enhancing substances, we've accepted that caffeine up to a given point in spite of being a stimulant is permissable and that specific medications to treat specific conditions - insulin for diabetics - would be morally acceptable but when you have to go out and find a physician to sign off a TUE for a drug that speciailists in that area say they would not and should not prescribe its just pushing the legal boundaries of the sport to its very limit To do it once, would be one thing - he had the symptoms pre the tour in 2012 - but to go and subsequently do it again, and then again...........we can all draw our own conclusions
Brad and Dave have made it their raison d'etre to profess the cleanliness of their programs to all and sundry but it turns out when you can find a sympathetic doctor and a drug that may (not one agrees it does) offer some relief to and underlying condition but has massive other benefits they have no problems saying thats ok..........
I have had such low expectations of sports for so long that I am not surprised but I did think that they were all about the spirit and the ethics of the sport. It turns out that this may not have been the case
Coming back to the gaming of the system, they (Sir Wiggo and Brailford) can technically stand up there with a straight face and say they did everything clean, because they have followed the rules (albeit very loose and easily hijacked) to the letter even though you and I consider them to be doped to the gills, but just like legally using caffeinated gels that none of us need a TUE for, they have taken the step of taking a drug legally that you need a TUE for. All playing inside the rules.
Rules need to be tightened if you don't want the players to get away with this stuff. This is what Dumoulin was kind of implying in his cyclingnew.com interview. There is always be someone who takes full advantage of the rules, playing completely legally if the rules allow for it. It's like the pro triathlete who sits at 12.01 m of the draft zone forever and they when he enters he takes 14.99 seconds to get through every times. He sits right on the boundary of what he is allowed to do. If we don't like it, make it 20 m and 7.5 seconds to pass once you enter.
I am certain that if you had Vino participate in this thread, he'd basically tell us that every team NOT doing what Sky is doing are idiots for leaving time on the table. Do you see how this ends up. Everyone ends up using every armament that the current arms race allows.
Wiggo still "performance enhanced" but totally legally...basically legally approved doping. Technically same deal as a 2.99 second sticky bottle hand off. (I assume they allow 3 seconds, but I might have that number wrong).
I don't think it's legal if the TUE was prescribed without legitimate reason. I highly doubt Wiggins would have gotten any of those TUE's had he seen any regular "unattached" doctor so it's not really legal doping, it's just doping. The problem is proving a TUE is not legit and that's how they're gaming the system.
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