Men in Black?!
ut_o_cykla
Posts: 58
From Cyclingnews.com
UCI goes after the "Men in Black"
The UCI has targeted "six or seven" top riders who are suspected of using doping products, by subjecting them to extra unannounced doping controls. Some of these riders have already produced "non-negative" results, according to Anne Gripper, director of the UCI's anti-doping program. "We have picked out six or seven riders who are considered high-risk cases because of their suspect behaviour and subsequent good performances in the Tour de France," she told the press agency Belga. Some of these riders "have already had three or four unannounced doping controls," although the UCI only requires one per rider per year.
Gripper said that "We have information that they train in strange places." The controllers refer to the riders as the "Men in Black", because they were neutral clothing on their training rides, rather than their team kit, which helps them avoid attention by the UCI controllers.
"Some of the results may well be announced before the start of the Tour de France," Gripper said. "Several abnormal results have already come in. We are busy with those results and not all of them are negative," she said, "but it will take time, because we have to respect the process, the analysis of the B samples, before we can make any announcements."<i></i>
Only one UCI test otherwise... well I'm blowed.
Groan....."train in strange places" - like countries starting with K?... groan[:(]
Certain to be a hunk or two retiring due to illness soon
[:(]
pousse moi s'il vous plait
UCI goes after the "Men in Black"
The UCI has targeted "six or seven" top riders who are suspected of using doping products, by subjecting them to extra unannounced doping controls. Some of these riders have already produced "non-negative" results, according to Anne Gripper, director of the UCI's anti-doping program. "We have picked out six or seven riders who are considered high-risk cases because of their suspect behaviour and subsequent good performances in the Tour de France," she told the press agency Belga. Some of these riders "have already had three or four unannounced doping controls," although the UCI only requires one per rider per year.
Gripper said that "We have information that they train in strange places." The controllers refer to the riders as the "Men in Black", because they were neutral clothing on their training rides, rather than their team kit, which helps them avoid attention by the UCI controllers.
"Some of the results may well be announced before the start of the Tour de France," Gripper said. "Several abnormal results have already come in. We are busy with those results and not all of them are negative," she said, "but it will take time, because we have to respect the process, the analysis of the B samples, before we can make any announcements."<i></i>
Only one UCI test otherwise... well I'm blowed.
Groan....."train in strange places" - like countries starting with K?... groan[:(]
Certain to be a hunk or two retiring due to illness soon
[:(]
pousse moi s'il vous plait
pousse moi s\'il vous plait
0
Comments
-
That is very interesting. If the UCI are deliberately targetting certain riders then isn't that a drastic new step (I know before we've had the letters written to Hamilton warning him of strange test results which is slightly similar).
Also it seems a bit strange the way it was buried down in the middle of the CyclingNews digest. I would have thought this would warrant being more 'newsworthy'.
As for a country beginning with <b>K</b>, well I'm pretty sure from interview that the rider alluded to by <i>ut_o_cykla </i>only goes home in the off season, then again I presume you wouldn't advertise that you did if you were upto something dodgy. My interpretation of strange places would be probably be just away from the usual pro training places. For example if a ride who lived in say <b>Area A</b>, suddenly went training 500 miles away in <b>Area B</b>, which had the exact same conditions, roads etc of <b>Area A</b>, but had the key advantage of not being known as his/a cyclists training area.
Oh and with 16 days to go until the Tour starts, sweepstake on when the first riders start getting barred? I reckon the Wednesday before for maximum chaos/shooting cycling in the foot again [:(]0 -
<blockquote id="quote"><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica" id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"><i>Originally posted by GroupOfOne</i>
but had the key advantage of not being known as his/a cyclists training area.
<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"></blockquote id="quote"></font id="quote">
Don't the riders have to keep the UCI informed of their whereabouts at all times so that a random test can be performed anytime?
If so, what would be the advantage of training somewhere else..........unless your "doctor" lived in that area I suppose?0 -
<blockquote id="quote"><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica" id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"><i>Originally posted by Bronzie</i>
<blockquote id="quote"><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica" id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"><i>Originally posted by GroupOfOne</i>
but had the key advantage of not being known as his/a cyclists training area.
<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"></blockquote id="quote"></font id="quote">
Don't the riders have to keep the UCI informed of their whereabouts at all times so that a random test can be performed anytime?
If so, what would be the advantage of training somewhere else..........unless your "doctor" lived in that area I suppose?
<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"></blockquote id="quote"></font id="quote">
Do cyclists have to keep the UCI informed? I'm not sure, I know athletes have to, as there have been several cases of people 'failing' tests because they've forgotten to tell the governing body about their movements. I think Tim Don falls into this category.0 -
<blockquote id="quote"><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica" id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"><i>Originally posted by GroupOfOne</i>
Do cyclists have to keep the UCI informed?
<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"></blockquote id="quote"></font id="quote">
Seem to remember an interview with Armstrong where he had to let the UCI know his meovements for the next 3 days or so............not surprisingly, he found this very intrusive.
Anyone out there know if this is still the case for pros now and how it works?0 -
Letting the doping authorities know where you're going to be is pretty common practice in athletics.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/athletics/6527271.stm
<hr noshade size="1"><font size="1">Scott Dupoy - 12PC</font id="size1">0 -
When I read it I thought about the Liquigas team, who I seem to recall heading out to places like Mexico for mountain training.
The fact is that they probably have pretty good evidence that a large number of riders are cheating, but not enough to actually charge them with doping.
Off on a tangent slightly, but I'd love to see a list of the haematocrits of riders entering big races just after the 50% limit was introduced, and compare them to 2006/2007 figures. I think it would be pretty obvious to the average person (and also to those in authority) who was probably doing dodgy things, allowing for the few who have naturally high values of course.0 -
Jan Ullrich was a big fan of South Africa. Even after his Puerto lay-off, I remember reading that he still going on training rides in SA... with Danilo Hondo as his training partner.0
-
<blockquote id="quote"><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica" id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"><i>Originally posted by afx237vi</i>
Jan Ullrich was a big fan of South Africa. Even after his Puerto lay-off, I remember reading that he still going on training rides in SA... with Danilo Hondo as his training partner.
<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"></blockquote id="quote"></font id="quote">
Yeah he used to go around Christmas didn't he. I'm sure Kloeden went with him too.
Well I suppose it's the nearest place he could get some warm weather training in [;)]0 -
There's a rider in the Giro just passed who performed far below TDF form, and has only ever produced form at the TDF...certainly in 05, as well as in spring-early summer 06, and in May-June 07, but he'll go well at the TDF. There also a classics rider I think has lost something between summer 06 to summer 07. I won't name names, but that's how I ask questions...
________Our behaviour is a function of our experience.0 -
dave...
am struggling to make sense of yr email..
can you re-type it.
thx.0 -
but i guess you're talking about the man known as the 'chicken'....0
-
I just wanted to highlight my thought process on trying to work out whose form fluctuates and what that might mean...but I have no proof.
________Our behaviour is a function of our experience.0 -
Old news. Festina used to have camps in the mountains. Most of the riders were in fact on their lounge chairs doping up. They will never stop it totally but lets catch and ban as many as we can then the sport will be 89% clean.Racing is life - everything else is just waiting0
-
I think it may be interesting for the prologue in London.
I'm not sure that teams will risk taking drugs across the channel so if they don't - will some riders fare badly ?
Or can they dope at home and fly in with benefits ?
Actually it may not make too much difference - Boardman did well in his prologues and he was clean - but a couple of weeks into the tour he was getting trounced by lesser riders who seemed able to recover a lot better....0 -
<blockquote id="quote"><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica" id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"><i>Originally posted by Down the Road</i>
Old news. Festina used to have camps in the mountains. Most of the riders were in fact on their lounge chairs doping up. They will never stop it totally but lets catch and ban as many as we can then the sport will be 89% clean.
<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"></blockquote id="quote"></font id="quote">
Surely training camps in the mountains are, well, to practice riding up them? Practically every team will have sent at least some of their squad to the Alps and/or Pyreness (in the case of the Tour) to recce the stages, even the French teams.
Also I wouldn't call training/riding in the mountains 'strange places'. Unless of course they're disappearing off to the Urals or something [:D]0 -
Remember Festina came out with that new kit that had Titanium fibres in that somehow gave their leg muscles extra strength ? When really it was all those drugs. Genius idea Festina !0
-
I guess the UCI are hinting at training camps in countries with little in the way of anti-doping legislature.
Mexico has good tar at alltitude BUT very lax laws on doping[V]0 -
<blockquote id="quote"><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica" id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"> I wouldn't say Mexico and South Africa are particularly unusual - if you wanted some pre-season altitude training, these are two places that would immediately spring to mind.<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"></blockquote id="quote"></font id="quote">
And, of course, no one would dare risk taking drugs in Mexico, would they?0 -
The other advantage of Mexico or Columbia as a training destination:
'Natural alternative performance enhancers' fresh and organically produced, can always argue that Dr x was offering you some homeopathic treatment for malaria...
(I think Vandenbrooke tried the above)0
