AN IMMODEST PROPOSAL
by DeathBredon on Apr 29, 2009 1:48 PM EDT
Email
PrintREVERSE THE BURDEN OF PROOF
EMPHASIZE POLICING OF RACE ENTRY, NOT POST RACE CONTROLS
I believe that history and contemporary scene in professional cycling is so tainted with doping that a whole new paradigm must be instituted: (1) a cyclist is presumed guilty until proven innocent; (2) only riders who can reasonably prove they are clean gain entry to races.
IOTWs, to gain entry into any race, a cyclist would have to present a sound blood-values portfolio dating back 6 months to a year and certification of regular negative tox screens preformed by independent UCI sanctioned labs. Should a rider have any suspicious data, then he would be excluded from entry until he could prove his innocence. He would not be labelled a cheat or a doper -- just "unfit" for racing.
I realize these are drastic measures, but pro cycling has brought it upon itself. The game of "catch me if you can" needs to stop. We catch a few, others slip through, and a few are falsely convicted and stigmatized for life. Rather than throwing out cheats, let's just limit entry to those above suspicion without labeling anyone a doper. In this way, I think the image and integrity of procycling can be rehabilitated.
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I'd argue
that the bio-passports are intended to do just that. The flaw in your proposal, aside from the riders probably going on strike at the mere suggestion, is that doing controls beforehand requires a lot of analysis, therefore time, and the job won’t get done on time for riders to start. Doing them after allows the labs to act without unnecessarily rushing.
CQRanking.com, you complete me.
by Chris Fontecchio on Apr 29, 2009 1:57 PM EDT reply actions
Riders? Going on strike?
Ohh… wait, wait… you mean “delaying the start of the stage by 15 minutes so they can throw their toys out of the crib… and then blow kisses to their sponsors as they clean up their toys, toe the line and race as usual”…
I wouldn’t object to the Rider’s showing a bit of collective spine for once… I just don’t think it would be likely.
Respect the Shit List; it respects you.
Would encourage cheating
aside from agreeing with Chris, this would would be a policy that encourages cheating, and would end up just like we are now – testing after. The proposed policy assumes we know all drugs and that no new drugs or methods will be discovered. Cheating teams or riders would find something new that a good test is not made for, use 6 mo. of moderate use so it looks like a training peak and then they get to be extraterrestrial. This is exactly what the CERA users thought would be the case. After the fact screening caught them. How would the pre-race screening have worked? Now find a doping scheme where the drug companies aren’t making the drugs easy to detect and voila, systemic doping and we are back to the 1990’s.
Still there HAS to be
a way to deliver testing results in a timely fashion.
The labeling them "unfit" to race is something that they did back in the 90's
when your hematocrit was over 50% and you got slapped with a little fine. You shouldn’t have to retool the system so you make the “image” clean like nothing happened. Though the system should just be “one and done” it will never be because of the riders thinking it is so unfair.
Before you know it the dirty riders and DS’s would be coming together to try to develop more drugs and the circle would just keep going on and on.
The dopers are always one step ahead of the testers…
They should just try to make more jobs in the drug testing field for faster return…
Hey, a(nother) Lord Peter fan!
Welcome!
On some level, I’d say that your proposal is sort of gaining traction by default. Teams get ruled out of races based on past acts unless they submit to passportization…
The 60% ban did work in two very important ways—fewer truly insane breakaways by people with crazy hematocrit levels (not a level playing field, but sorta semi-rolling landscape) and fewer young riders died while trying to juice themselves. Both good things.
Rider deaths
The dark secret that only the cycling uber-fans know is just how many young riders have self-dosed themselves to death trying to break into the dope riddle pro ranks. Something has to be done. And I say the industry has blood on its hands and blood money in its pockets — including some high-profile darlings of the industry.
I suppose I am advocating a hard-core Pass Port System — with complete public transparency. That way, even if the UCI and race organizers are too gutless to pull the trigger on close cases, the general public will know have a more realistic idea who the dopers are.
Any one else noticed how Lance reniged on his promise for frequent independent and publicly posted testing? Well, this should be mandatory for all PROs
Transparency would be sweet.
We could all become anti-doping experts after years of studying blood values in our spare time. I’m all for it.
Irregularities in blood values would be obvious to anyone. For instance, that rider whose hemocrit levels hit 39 every July but otherwise are much lower . . . .
by DeathBredon on Apr 30, 2009 11:36 PM EDT up reply actions
I doubt that their hematocrit would be much lower than 39 outside of racing...
Their hematocrits get much lower during racing and training and then go back up after rest and recovery so it isn’t a suprise when you see Lance’s Hematocrit around 43 right before the Tour because he just went through a huge block of training and rest and he is at a peak
by Vlaanderen90 on Apr 30, 2009 11:48 PM EDT up reply actions
It would be quite nice...
but I think a lot of the riders would quit before this could be implemented.
by Vlaanderen90 on Apr 30, 2009 7:22 PM EDT up reply actions
Good! Those who have something to hide in their blood values should be gone. I fail to see what legitimate privacy interest a rider, who ultimately derives his income from performing for the general public, has in his blood values.
by DeathBredon on Apr 30, 2009 11:35 PM EDT up reply actions
And then you don't have enough riders to have a sport...
Plus the vast majority of us are definitely not experts on blood values so we would have no idea what the hell it means. I don’t care if I can look up Damiano Cunego’s blood values on a website.
Cycling should just spend their monies on getting to the cutting edge of doping technology and building bridges with the pharmaceutical industry
If we catch them, just throw them out. Period. All their results are expunged and they are exiled from the cycling world.Their should be no loopholes in the system. That would scare them enough to stop.
Track and Field has seemed to stay popular even though like the last 4 100m world record holders were on the clear. So I have hope for cycling…with or without a bio-passport.
by Vlaanderen90 on May 1, 2009 12:01 AM EDT up reply actions
As a rule, in general society, severity of the punishment isn’t nearly as effective a detractor as chance of getting caught. Theft still exists in sharia law countries, in US states with the death penalty the murder rate is just as high as in others. However, increasing the chance of getting caught implies much more and more effective anti-doping controls. That costs a LOT of money. Cycling doesn’t, not even the IOC does, have that kind of money.
Peer pressure is definitely the way to go, in my opinion. No more cost than today, much more effective deterrent. For example, in stage races give the whole team a time penalty if one rider gets caught. In one-day races, relegate the whole team. Prevent any team manager from ever working in the business after 3 of his riders have been caught.
Maybe the most pragmatic and realistic thing I've read on solving the doping-problem
Create incentives for teammates and leaders not to turn a blind eye at what is going on around them and perhaps you can change the unhealthy sub-culture that reigns in lots of teams and the sport as a whole?
Swift title, man.
Is this title a subtle suggestion that riders would stay clean if we threatened to eat their babies? That might do it.
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