This has gone too far. Real reason for raid on hotel.

donrhummy

From Cyclingnews.com

http://www.cyclingnews.com/news.php?id= ... sep29news3

The Italian police raid on the hotel of the Luxembourg team Friday night was not related to stories associating Fränk Schleck to Dr. Eufemiano Fuentes, but had to do with Benoit Joachim. On his antidoping control, Joachim had indicated that he slept in an oxygen tent, which is not allowed in Italy, according to RTL Luxembourg and sportweek.nl.

It was not immediately clear whether the Astana rider had the tent with him at the World Championships or not. However, the sid press agency claimed that the police removed "several bags" of material from the team's hotel. Twenty policemen were said to be involved in the raid, which lasted eight hours.(SW)

You can't even use an oxygen tent now?! What's next, you can't weightlift? You can't use vitamins or supplements? Trainers are out? You can't train between races?! (Chariots of Fire anyone?)

And does it really require a police raid?! Nice use of tax payer money.

micron

Whatever you think of them, those are the rules when competing in Italy.

Love your final sentence - so Daily Heil

micron

double post

Kléber

On a technical point, if you are training at altitude or using one of these tents to simulate this, don't the benefits stay with you for days and weeks. So why did Joachim travel to Varese with the tent, there was no point. Especially since it's illegal in Italy. Doh!

ddraver

Well I must admit I'm slightly relieved vis a vis Mr Schleck......

claudb

This is not a new issue. There was a similar incident during the Giro a few years ago.
That one involved the Lotto team. I remember from then that Italy is the only country in Europe for which their use is illegal. I know, it sounds daft to me too !!!

GroupOfOne MkII

Yeah the raid during the Giro caught out Robbie McEwen for using a tent I'm sure.

Seem to remember that year (possibly '05) that 2 or 3 non-Italian teams were 'caught' with oxygen tents.

derby

These have been illegal in Italy for years. Nothing to see here. Keep moving.

donrhummy

BTW, does anyone know why they're illegal in Italy? And are they illegal for everyone or just athletes?

aurelio_-_banned

I had thought that one major reason these have been banned is that they are generally used to provide a convenient cover story for the otherwise inexplicable increases in a riders haemocrit level which come about as a result of Epo use or blood doping.

In the run up to an important race the rider will take Epo or blood dope, boost their haemocrit up to the max, and then after only a couple of days their use of Epo will be undetectable in tests. If anyone queries the increase in haemocrit the rider will then say `Oh I have been using a hyperbaric tent` and no one will be able to prove otherwise.

I`m not even sure that such an excuse even holds water given that hyperbaric tents are intended to allow a rider to train at altitude and then sleep at what is effectively sea level, so increasing the speed of acclimatisation. Of course `altitude training` is itself yet another convenient cover for Epo use and blood doping!

It is also worth noting that a number of studies have questioned whether altitude training does actually lead to an increase in sea level performance. One thing is for sure `800 ml of packed cells` blood doping and the use of Epo certainly do!

Kléber

Actually Aurelio, the literature I've seen says altitude training might not be effective as the gains from having more red blood cells are negated by having thicker blood, which is harder to pump. Nice research in theory but the practice suggests otherwise, riders have used EPO to make their blood like ketchup and managed to drop the field in the Tour de France, so I think the research has some catching up to do.

Like I say, why did Joachim have to take the tent with him, there are no gains. Unless it's some decoy tool, "look, here's why my haematocrit is so high" or maybe the guy is just stupid and doesn't understand why and how he trains and uses these things?

richard wants a baum

I imagine alot of techniques riders use are more placebo than anything else this may be one, certainly not proof of hiding epo use