Most tested rider?

AndyRubio

There's a discussion about Landis at Slashdot, and of course things descend into anti-Lance bashing. One of the Lance fanboys reiterates that Lance is the most tested athlete in history.

Is there any truth in that? I'm sure I read *somewhere* that it's bollox.

RichN95.

He's probably not, but he'll be quite high on the list. Cyclists may very well be at the top of the list as the compete on a lot of days in the year and seem to be tested more than other sports. And Armstrong was around for a long time and won a lot.

However, I'd fancy some veteran sprinters will have been tested a lot more - the likes of Zabel, McEwen and Petacchi.

Rodrego Hernandez

Definitely wasn't.

UK sport has details of UK tests done, as I think does USADA.

sherer

Anyone know what is the sport that does the most tests ?

I would say football, tennis, golf etc all do less than cycling. Not sure about Athletics but I think they have more of a drug problem then cycling so assume they do less.

Anyless WADA actually log this information no one will really know for sure.

iainf72

As I recall, when the numbers were looked at, Lance wasn't even the most tested American cyclist. He seemed to fall somewhere outside of the top 20 overall.

Athletics and Swimming test a lot.

cougie

I think you get tested if you're leading the tour, or if you win a stage on the tour - so just from those two factors - he'll be right up there for tests in competition.

Out of competition - well i think its meant to be random - so all pros should be about the same, but i think they introduced targetting testing fairly recently too - so he'd probably be high up on that.

As to football - when the Ferdinand missed test came out - there were some reports that you could have played for years and not been tested - at a time when cyclists were - so I'd say Lance probably was among the most tested.

Its pretty rare for testing to catch people though - its usually other means. Eh Millar and Festina ?

CYCLESPORT1

I think Lance was the most tested rider, but if you tested all the footbalers round my area many would fail

andyp

iainf72 wrote:

As I recall, when the numbers were looked at, Lance wasn't even the most tested American cyclist. He seemed to fall somewhere outside of the top 20 overall.

Athletics and Swimming test a lot.

As I recall, he wasn't even the most tested cyclist called Armstrong, as Kristin Armstrong had been tested more.

Monty Dog

Doesn't matter if you're the most tested or not when you've been tipped off that they're coming and you've got your mates Hein and Pat to make sure that anything suspicious goes away? This "most tested" statement is straight out the PR-puffery handbook like Marion Jones' "never tested positive". Walsh effectively deconstructs this argument in Lance to Landis which I believe is where Andy P's Kirstin Armstrong info comes from.

shinyhelmut

It's much like me arguing I never speed because I've driven past more speed cameras than anyone else. You have to be stupid or careless to get caught by a positive test and whatever you think of Lance he is neither of those!

shinyhelmut

I seem to recall that one of the athletes Walsh & Ballister found to have been tested more than Armstrong was Marion Jones, and we all know what happened to her....

BikingBernie

Not testing positive is of no relevance when, for the whole of the Armstrong era, there was no way of detecting homologous blood doping, which became the pro's 'method of choice' after Epo testing was introduced...

iainf72

BikingBernie wrote:

Not testing positive is of no relevance when, for the whole of the Armstrong era, there was no way of detecting homologous blood doping, which became the pro's 'method of choice' after Epo testing was introduced...

Except when Lance allegedly tested + for EPO in 2001, eh?

They used blood tranfusions and EPO - You just had to be stupid / unlucky to fall foul of an EPO test.

cajun_cyclist

Lance Armstrong is not the most tested rider, he's a high school dropout.

BikingBernie

iainf72 wrote:

BikingBernie wrote:

Not testing positive is of no relevance when, for the whole of the Armstrong era, there was no way of detecting homologous blood doping, which became the pro's 'method of choice' after Epo testing was introduced...

Except when Lance allegedly tested + for EPO in 2001, eh?

They used blood tranfusions and EPO - You just had to be stupid / unlucky to fall foul of an EPO test.

Didn't Landis say that Ferrari had warned Armstrong not to use Epo anymore as there was now a test for it, but that Armstrong (perhaps due to his arrogance or because he believed that after his 1999 corticosteroid positive the UCI was now in his pocket) went ahead anyway?

Sure Epo was (and is) still in use but they way it was used changed. For example, using micro doses to keep the production of red cells up and so fool the passport data and using it out of competition in order to produce the extra cells needed for later transfusion.

The Epo test did appear to have the effect of 'forcing' riders - or at least those who had the logistical ability to do so - to shift over to autologous blood doping when taking part in the major stage races.

jimmythecuckoo

Where the hell has slashdot come from ? (sorry a bit off topic)

Monty Dog

Just spend a few minutes browsing that slashdot thread and makes me glad I'm on the right side of the pond - "who needs enemies?" is all I can say.

deejay

BikingBernie wrote:

Didn't Landis say that Ferrari had warned Armstrong not to use Epo anymore as there was now a test for it, but that Armstrong (perhaps due to his arrogance or because he believed that after his 1999 corticosteroid positive the UCI was now in his pocket) went ahead anyway?

Arrogance knowing where the money had settled and the comfort of his TUE made him untouchable. :roll:

takethehighroad

Adrian Lewis had a drug test after his darts semi final finished at half 1 in the morning

Monty Dog

TakeTheHighRoad wrote:

Adrian Lewis had a drug test after his darts semi final finished at half 1 in the morning

What, to see if he'd taken enough?