http://velonews.com/article/90070/bernhard-kohl-admits-to-blood-doping-and-taking-cera-faces
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“He (Matschiner) supplied me doping products. I did blood-doping three or four times,” Kohl said.
I love it… when any sports person admits to doping- it’s ONLY 2 or 3 OR 3 or 4 times… uhhhhh, yeah, riggghhhht…
http://velonews.com/...nd-taking-cera-faces
So in the absence of the CERA revelations his blood doping would have gone undetected (or at least unpunished). Real confidence builder that UCI/WADA is on top of the drug problem in cycling.
When exactly is that Biopassport program going to start?
I think it is ridiculous to give the athletes the prison sentence…give it to the “support infrastructure around them”…managers, doctors, pushers etc…without all these guys “supporting it”, none of it every gets to the athletes. I’m not removing the blame from the athletes, but you have to weed the “system” by giving them the threat of prison…then it ends quickly. Just give the athletes a suspension from the sport…put the rest of the dudes in the background in the slammer.
Dev
The potential fame and income from winning outweighs any thought of getting caught.
The potential fame and income from winning outweighs any thought of getting caught.
Especially when up to a couple of years ago you had to be an “idiot” to get caught, and it’s probably still the case that the vast majority of doping goes undetected.
And CONI has just asked for 2 year suspension against Valverde. Sample #18 is his and contains also traces of rhEPO.
I think it is ridiculous to give the athletes the prison sentence…give it to the “support infrastructure around them”…managers, doctors, pushers etc…without all these guys “supporting it”, none of it every gets to the athletes. I’m not removing the blame from the athletes, but you have to weed the “system” by giving them the threat of prison…then it ends quickly. Just give the athletes a suspension from the sport…put the rest of the dudes in the background in the slammer.
Dev
I agree that the support infrastructure contributes to the problem, but it’s the athletes that stand to gain the most, so why shouldn’t they also face the highest punishment? If you make the consequences of getting caught greater than the benefit of not getting caught, then athletes might reconsider their choices. Clearly a 2 year ban alone is not enough of a deterrent. If demand from the athletes were to go away, the infrastructure would also go away.
if the penalty was death, people would still do it.
I’m not so sure…you can’t really dope without proper infrastructure, in the sense that athletes are likely too dumb to be able to actually dope and not get caught. They need the docs/infrastructure to “beat the testers”, so without the infrastructure there is no doping. Also, historically, many athletes have received pressure from the “infrastructure” to dope.
“Either dope and perform and keep your pro contract, or if you don’t dope and can’t bring bottles from the team car up to Miguel halfway up Galibier, then you’re going back to being a bricklayer in Belgium…your choice”.
I realize that we can look at this from the perspective of the rich north american business exec who rides his P4 on the weekend, but the reality is that in Europe cycling is a very blue collar sport. Aside from the odd Axel Merckx type who grew up in cycling royalty, most of the athletes have fairly modest backgrounds and a pro contract is truly like winning a lotto ticket.
Dev
I think it is ridiculous to give the athletes the prison sentence…give it to the “support infrastructure around them”…managers, doctors, pushers etc…without all these guys “supporting it”, none of it every gets to the athletes. I’m not removing the blame from the athletes, but you have to weed the “system” by giving them the threat of prison…then it ends quickly. Just give the athletes a suspension from the sport…put the rest of the dudes in the background in the slammer.
Dev
+1, but i would put the athlete in jail too.
if the penalty was death, people would still do it.
Darwin is proven right yet again.
I’m not so sure…you can’t really dope without proper infrastructure, in the sense that athletes are likely too dumb to be able to actually dope and not get caught. They need the docs/infrastructure to “beat the testers”, so without the infrastructure there is no doping. Also, historically, many athletes have received pressure from the “infrastructure” to dope.
“Either dope and perform and keep your pro contract, or if you don’t dope and can’t bring bottles from the team car up to Miguel halfway up Galibier, then you’re going back to being a bricklayer in Belgium…your choice”.
I realize that we can look at this from the perspective of the rich north american business exec who rides his P4 on the weekend, but the reality is that in Europe cycling is a very blue collar sport. Aside from the odd Axel Merckx type who grew up in cycling royalty, most of the athletes have fairly modest backgrounds and a pro contract is truly like winning a lotto ticket.
Dev
I’m not looking at this from the ‘rich exec’ standpoint, as I don’t even know what that perspective looks like 
I’m looking at this from the ‘personal accountability’ perspective. I’m sick and tired of hearing the “the system made me do it” BS. Ultimately it’s the riders’ choice. The choice may be a hard one- some are. Ride clean or don’t ride, may end up being the choice, but if enough riders had more integrity and were accountable for their own actions this problem would not be what it is today.
If I rob a bank because I lost my job and have to feed my family, do you think my former employer will go to jail instead of me? After all, they’re the ones that fired me and forced me to rob the bank.
That is the only point being made, that it is a VERY hard choice. Blue collar dudes do not live in near an idealistic world as many slowtwitchers, and they may actually be racing to EAT. Why not dope when you live in a world full of bullshit and your refusal to take part changes nothing in the big picture?
Hell I have almost convinced myself!
The choice may be a hard one- some are. Ride clean or don’t ride, may end up being the choice, but if enough riders had more integrity and were accountable for their own actions this problem would not be what it is today.
Why not dope when you live in a world full of bullshit and your refusal to take part changes nothing in the big picture?
This is exactly how greed and lack of accountability, morals, and ethics are rationalized.
I think we can fix it through genetic engineering…
lol
Seriously though…you’re 20 years old, the entire team is doping the docs are pushing it on ya, and your choice is perform and keep your dream pro contract as a div 1 cyclist, or go back to being a bricklayer.
You think this is any different than all the kids going through Div1 college football juicing up for a shot at the NFL, or the guy coming to Miami Dolphin’s camp with a chance to make special teams and enhancing his chances by juicing up and gaining than final 10% of strength?
I really don’t think that most North Americans appreciate what div 1 UCI cycling is like. No different than NFL/MLB…
I’m not saying I support doping, but the fastest way to kill it is to target the infrastructure. At least with teams like Slipstream and others with higher codes of ethics, riders are starting to believe that they can compete clean, so the pressure is much less than “1992-1998”…just ask Mr 60% Bjarne Riis…
I’m not so sure…you can’t really dope without proper infrastructure, in the sense that athletes are likely too dumb to be able to actually dope and not get caught. They need the docs/infrastructure to “beat the testers”,
Dev
I’m not that sure Dev. Actually, it’s not that complicated with a ‘good’ doctor. And lately, it seems that the folks that got caught did get caught because the infrastructure are big enough that there are too many folks involved and more chances to get caught.
Seriously though…you’re 20 years old, the entire team is doping the docs are pushing it on ya, and your choice is perform and keep your dream pro contract as a div 1 cyclist, or go back to being a bricklayer.
Furthermore, I think it’s become pretty clear that doping was what was expected in cycling and choosing not simply demonstrated you were not committed to your profession.
If there is one doctor, then he is “the infrastructure”. Typically athletes aren’t smart enough or even if smart enough cannot devote enough time to understand pharmaceuticals, impact on the human body and how traces may or may not show up in testing…the athlete usually spends his mental and physical bandwidth on getting faster in racing…he needs a doc to do the support work mentioned above 