Tour de France rider tests positive for blood doping

[Bobblehead]

Tour de France rider Alexandre Vinokourov tested positive for a banned blood transfusion after winning last weekend's time trial, prompting his Astana team to pull out of the race.

link

[Lurch]

I think this is the saddest I've ever been to hear someone is a cheat. Vino is my favorite rider, and despite this he's been amazing to watch. He's been riding with somewhere between 40 and 60 stitches in his knees, which were sutured while bent so that he could still ride. He's had bandages bleed through while riding, and had to have them changed while on the bike. His pain tolerance must be absolutely off the charts. Anyway, this was shocking to me, especially as he had to know he would be caught - testing the winner of a stage is automatic and using someone elses blood pretty much guarantees you'll be busted.

[troutman]

http://www.tdfblog.com/doping/

[simmer2]

Oh boy. Man, I love the sport of cycling but this just gets more and more depressing.

[Knut]

Cycling has become a race of who can cheat best....

winner is the one that doesnt get caught.

[HOOT]

Well I heard the guy wearing hte yellow jersey right now - Rasmussen(sp?) ) - is being investigated. I guess an old team member came out to say about 5 years ago he smuggled blood samples to events for him.

Cycling is a bit of a joke and they will never stop it unless they make them piss in a cup after every day.

[habernac]

they do make them piss in a cup everyday. That's why the cheaters are getting caught. If other sports tested like cycling does, we'd have a lot of disappointed hockey fans out there.

[HOOT]

Originally Posted by habernac

they do make them piss in a cup everyday. That's why the cheaters are getting caught. If other sports tested like cycling does, we'd have a lot of disappointed hockey fans out there.

As a huge hockey fan I would not be pissed off. I would be happy they are getting rid of the cheaters, because thats all it is, its cheating!

However I don't think this will ever stop, in any sport. There is always someone trying to find a way around the system and the athletes know the leagues can only spend so much on testing them every year.

I am actually never even suprised anymore when I watch TSN and they talk about another person being caught for this. Everyone wants to win and some people do whatever it takes to do so.

[Bobblehead]

Originally Posted by HOOT

Cycling is a bit of a joke and they will never stop it unless they make them piss in a cup after every day.

Urine testing doesn't catch most of these issues anymore. It requires blood samples. In this case:

It said two distinctive types of red blood cells were found in the A sample and showed that Vinokourov received a blood transfusion from a compatible donor shortly before the time trial.

HGH can only be caught by blood tests. That is why testing programs that only test urine are pretty much a joke. It will only catch people who are careless.

[cSpooge]

Originally Posted by HOOT

Well I heard the guy wearing hte yellow jersey right now - Rasmussen(sp?) ) - is being investigated. I guess an old team member came out to say about 5 years ago he smuggled blood samples to events for him.

Cycling is a bit of a joke and they will never stop it unless they make them piss in a cup after every day.

He missed two scheduled drugs tests because he was on vacation and didn't tell the Danish cycling federation where he was. 3 missed tests amount to positive test. Its not a big deal a lot of riders go through it. It just made to be big news because he's wearing the yellow jersey.

[habernac]

Originally Posted by Bobblehead

Urine testing doesn't catch most of these issues anymore. It requires blood samples. In this case:

HGH can only be caught by blood tests. That is why testing programs that only test urine are pretty much a joke. It will only catch people who are careless.

That's the other thing. There need to be blood tests. I don't think HGH is even detectable by that, they're still working on a test for that.

[Bobblehead]

Originally Posted by habernac

That's the other thing. There need to be blood tests. I don't think HGH is even detectable by that, they're still working on a test for that.

I thought they did have a test (or at least an indicator).
HGH they can detect, it is THG ("the clear") that is the one developed at Balco. And they do have a test for it, it was developed from the anonymous sample the US Anti-Doping agency received.

From Wikipedia:

The same coach subsequently provided the USADA with a syringe containing THG, which the USADA then used to develop a test for the substance.

[FanIn80]

"Next week on World Cycling Entertainment's WCE: Breakdown..."

[ricoFlame]

there seem to be few clean cyclists, apparently it is just a part of the sport at the highest levels.

[habernac]

one of my cycling pals says it much better than I ever could:

http://rant-your-head-off.com/WordPress/?p=337

[troutman]

Interesting development - riders refuse to start TDF today:

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/200....ap/index.html

Dozens of Tour de France riders demonstrated their anger over repeated doping scandals by not starting the 16th stage at the scheduled time Wednesday.

The protest came a day after star rider Alexandre Vinokourov and his Astana team were sent home after he tested positive for a banned blood transfusion.

Many of the riders involved in the symbolic protest were from French teams that have long complained that doping is ruining the sport. They simply let Rasmussen, star sprinter Tom Boonen and others ride away -- but caught up with them further down the road.

"We're fed up," French rider Ludovic Turpin told Eurosport television.

Fans booed Rasmussen at the start. The Dane is under a cloud of suspicion because he skipped doping tests before the Tour began.

Vinokourov did manage a joke about his situation.

"I heard that I made a transfusion with my father's blood," Vinokourov said. "That's absurd, I can tell you that with his blood, I would have tested positive for vodka."

[troutman]

This sucks. I love this event. I love France. But, another day, another positive test:

http://www.tdfblog.com/doping/

Cristian Moreni of the Cofidis squad has tested positive for exogenous testosterone, according to L'Equipe.

Moreni apparently tested positive in a random test after Stage 11, where he finished 102nd. Adding a cruel twist to the story, Moreni and his Cofidis teammates were among those who delayed the start of the stage to call attention to their “Movement for a Credible Cycling.”

[Dr GonZo]

A dark evening during at the eve of the finish for this year's Tour.

Rabobank just released a statement that they suspended Mallot Jaune wearer Rasmussen and pulled him out of the Tour for lying about his whereabouts this June.

That means the leader of the Tour has been taken out by his team. This year's Tour is one of the biggest jokes and a shame for such a grand sports event.

What a Tour de Farce.

[habernac]

http://www.cyclingnews.com/road/2007...ul07/jul26news

[Dr GonZo]

Thanks Habernac.

The news hit us pretty hard here on Holland, as the Rabobank team is pretty much our national team. It's sad that Rasmussen felt the need to lie about his whereabouts, be it through intense pressure or secretive tactics, but the fact of the matter is, he's never been caught using performance enhancing drugs or doping, so I don't really understand how this move by Rabobank will at all aid at increasing the trust and credability fans and viewers have on both the Tour and cycling as a professional sport.

I truly enjoyed this Tour very much up untill now; even the smaller dopings kind of put a twist on the story, but now that the leader of the pack, the king of the mountains, the current favorite for the finish has had his opportunity to become immortal taken away from him due to a administrative detail, I'm just no longer interested in following it anymore.

What a farce.