This either sucks for the sport in that a champion doped, or sucks for WADA if the test is unreliable (ie Rutger Beke scenario ???)

HI err ... Cowtipper ... how's Houston?

Too bad about Heras. Just saw a report on Velonews myself. The 'B' tests sounded pretty fishy though so I suspect there will be massive appeals going on here.

rmur

I have no idea if he doped or not - BUT - I think that the WADA organization and Dick Pound in particular are becoming more and more of a joke. Look at the totally unfounded statements he made about 30% of hockey players being on drugs. This guy is just throwing shots all over and seeing what sticks. (LA, Beke ....) Its too bad really - if they had a decent person running the show over there at WADA they might be doing more good. I want clean sports as much as everyone else, and WADA has done a lot of good things, but this clown is tainting their image by the day.

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http://j-motrilife.blogspot.com/

A 50 kilogram climber with no notable performances in 11 months and with a history of middle-of-the road time trials lays down the second fastest time trial in the history of cycling stage races, and you question the WADA and Dick Pound? Don't shoot the messenger, buddy. Heras looks just as dirty as all the other cycling "greats" that have tested positive these past couple of years. I'm really bummed about this because Heras and David Millar were two of my favorite riders, but I'm still convinced Heras is dirty.

The first thing every athlete will do is question the testing protocol. Tons of athletes have been caught lately, and all of them are questioning WADA and Dick Pound as a part of their plan to avoid consequences of getting caught, but this is a natural defense for them. Besides confessing, what else could they do? Just because a bunch of crooks say that something is true, does not make it true.

I know there have been some real mistakes in EPO urine testing, which are unfortunate, but I doubt this one was a mistake. Heras' time trial performance in the Vuelta was too good to be true.

I am getting less and less interested in watching professional bike racing every day.

-Marc

I'm not shooting the messenger. There is no place for drugs in sports. Period. As I stated, I have no idea if he doped or not. What I am saying, if you read it through, is that more cheats might get caught, and the message might be better recieved from everyone else if it wasn't coming from the loud mouth, arrogant, cocky lawyer that Dick Pound is.

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http://j-motrilife.blogspot.com/

If you do not realize and understand that the ENTIRE Pro-Tour peloton is hoped up, You my friend are as high as they are.

Sigis

Yes, but the course was short and there was a massive tail-wind the entire time; however, I'm not saying he is clean. Who knows, maybe they are all doping (still)?

Dave in VA

That he did so much better in time trials this year in the Vuelta than earlier this year or is years past is strong evidence to me that he did use EPO or some other PED. Of course, it could also mean that he workled hard on time trials or that the field wasn't that good. But, the fact that he always tested clean before, even a number of times in the same race, would seem to indicate that he is clean. How would it be possible for him to test clean so many times earlier in the race, but be using EPO? I just don't know enough about the drug, how professional cyclists would use it to cheat and the testing to know whether or not it is possible for him to be using EPO and only get caught on tests done on this sample.

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http://j-motrilife.blogspot.com/

Maybe he knows something you don't know. I don't know who you are, because you are anonymous on your profile, but the likelihood is that he has more connections in the athletic world than you. After the revelations in pro baseball, I don't think anyone would be too surprised at the number of 30% - I'm not sure why it would be less likely in a pro sport where size and strength are a huge advantage.

Deke

It was short and tail-wind for the whole peloton, not just Heras. His performance was like that of Pantani and Veranque (sp?) in 1998 (ie. dope aided).

I was talking about this to a good friend of mine that raced in Holland. I said either the tests are bad or theres a LOT of doping going on in the sport. He replied the problem wasn't the tests...

I still have a hard time believing it, I'm gullible I guess

<<How would it be possible for him to test clean so many times earlier in the race, but be using EPO? I just don't know enough about the drug, how professional cyclists would use it to cheat and the testing to know whether or not it is possible for him to be using EPO and only get caught on tests done on this sample. >>

It's been pretty well publicized that the latest strategy the athletes are using is daily micro dosing to maintain high heomatocrit levels. It would seem pretty logical that a simple 'more than micro' dose on any one day could cause a positive test, but still allow him to have tested negative throughout the rest of the Vuelta.

Of course, testing "clean" does not mean you are clean. Interesting reading from an article on Cyclingnews.com, it would appear that there were indications that Tyler may have been manipulating his blood much earlier than Athens. However, because he tested below a certain threshold (even though it would seem there is no medical explanation for his "off-score" result) the wider public never hears about it. Alas, when he finally is above the line, we are all surpised by the bombshell - Tyler has been accused of blood doping! My guess is that that the UCI medical staff have seen more than one of these cases where they "know" cyclists are doping, but they can't catch them.

For interest, here is an excerpt from the referenced article, but for those who wish I strongly recommend reading the article in its entirety.

Tyler Hamilton was first publicly accused of blood doping during the 2004 Vuelta a España, where it was revealed he failed 'A sample' tests for homologous blood transfusion (mixed cell population) at the Athens Olympics and on September 13 at the Vuelta. However, leaked evidence now reveals suspicions of blood doping dating as far back as April 25, 2004, the day of Liège-Bastogne-Liège. So that is where we will begin.

The day before Hamilton was set to defend his crown at Liège, Hamilton's 'off-score' [see seperate story: 'Anti-doping measures get tougher'] measured 123.8. Normal values should be somewhere between 85 and 95, with the cut-off at 133. The then 33 year-old finished a credible ninth in the race, 12 seconds behind Italy's Davide Rebellin. On April 27, a few days later at start of the Tour de Romandie - a race where he successfully defended his title - it was up to 132.9, with a corresponding haematocrit level of 49.7 percent (the cut-off being 50). The off-score

Also known as the Stimulation Index (SI), the off-score is now by far the most important parameter used by anti-doping authorities in the sport of cycling. Here's why.

The Stimulation Index is derived by taking into account both mean (or average) levels of haemoglobin (an oxygen-carrying protein carried in red cells, the average somewhere between 14 and 18 grams per 100 ml or g/dL) and reticulocytes (percentage of new or immature blood cells, the normal range between 0.5 and 2 percent). A simple formula that combines these two readings provides the off-score; whether you are an athlete or not, the values should be within this 85-95 range.

Robin Parisotto, principal scientist involved in the development of the EPO blood test implemented at the Sydney 2000 Games and the former manager and senior scientist at the Australian Institute of Sport's (AIS) haematology and biochemistry laboratory, said of Hamilton's test results taken at the 2004 Tour de Romandie: "The off-score of 132.9 registered by Hamilton in April 2004 represented one which had a less than 1 in 10,000 probability that it was a chance finding."

You are right, of course, about testing clean not meaning being clean. I should have remembered this as a lawyer as not guilty is not necessarily the same thing as innocent.

It seems to me that taking the micro doses would really be playing with fire.

News like this does make me wonder how many world class athletes in sports where results are based solely upon your time are clean. Kind of like hearing that half the US swim team at the 1996 games had asthma. While some of them surely have the disease, half seems statistically improbable, and an asthma diagnosis would let you use otherwise banned PEDs.

"Robin Parisotto, principal scientist involved in the development of the EPO blood test implemented at the Sydney 2000 Games and the former manager and senior scientist at the Australian Institute of Sport's (AIS) haematology and biochemistry laboratory, said of Hamilton's test results taken at the 2004 Tour de Romandie: 'The off-score of 132.9 registered by Hamilton in April 2004 represented one which had a less than 1 in 10,000 probability that it was a chance finding.'

Which says nothing about the chance of systemic error. A fact the so-called expert and article's author conveniently failed to mention. The piece reads like a hatchet job from start to finish. Anyone care to count the blind quotes without any indication of the source?

"While some of them surely have the disease, half seems statistically improbable, and an asthma diagnosis would let you use otherwise banned PEDs."

How about the statistical improbability of being able to swim fast enough to qualify for the Olympics. How do you think their VO2_max compares to the general population? What about their ability to recover from training? Each of these people are genetic freaks living at the extreme edge of the bell curve. It has been documented that athletes show a higher incidence of exercise induced asthma (including non-elite athletes who would have no reason to seek the diagnosis) so why is it surprising that Olympic swimmers show a similar pattern?

It's also been shown that there is no performance benefit from these asthma drugs.

I've known a lot of hockey players... 30% is probably close. Remember how they denied drugs was a problem in baseball too? yeah right....

J-Mo

No real insult meant, and true it had nothing to do with Dick Pound, I was simply trying to awaken the world to the truth of the peloton, I love and enjoy the Pro-Tour racing for what it is, I just get annoyed when people are so surprised when guys get caught. A new option would be to legalize and formally control the drugs, perhaps this would help to lower the growing death rate of young Euro riders.

Sigis