I don't want this thread to go down the doping rabbit hole. But it was interesting reading about Mauro Gianetti. He was alleged in this 1998 NY Times article to have possibly used a form of synthetic blood when he passed out during a race, and ended up in the hospital with intravascular coagulation (among other issues). And now Operation Aderlass is allegedly looking into another form of synthetic hemoglobin. And Slovenian cycling regularly pops up in articles about Operation Aderlass. It's hard to stay optimistic.