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Tour De France Showcases Multitude Of Tech
whoda writes "When you think of a bicycle, you most likely think of 2 tires, a chain, some gearing of some sort, and other assorted mechanical bits. However, when Lance Armstrong, Jan Ullrich, and over 180 other riders get together to compete at the Tour de France every year, there is a lot of technology that comes along for the ride too. From Lance's Sunglass'/MP3 Player to the advanced use of composites seen on Tyler Hamilton's
time trial bike, there are many examples of
high technology making the racers faster through better training, materials and
aerodynamics."
"....making the racers faster through better training, materials and aerodynamics"
and drugs.
Cycling also has a "proud" history of "bio-tech" and using the very latest in chemical enhancements. And even on the legal side of the fence the training exercises and regimes are defined down to the last millimetre and measured even more precisely.
I used to like cycling, and the last day of the Tour is still fantastic. But the passion has been replaced by automaton.
An Eye for an Eye will make the whole world blind - Gandhi
Sorry, but the lawsuits against LA Confidential are being thrown out of court.
Not that that proves anything either, but if you actually read the link, there is an exerpt from the book that details Lance's not passing a UCI drug test until the lawyers stepped in.
Cyclists don't test positive mostly because they do their steroids in the off season and they know how to cheat, or they have lawyers who do. Lance's long term relationship with Ferrari shows he has the ways and means to cheat.
And yes you can beat the EPO test with an IV. Here is an exerpt from a website appropriately called:
http://www.how-to-pass-a-drug-test.net/2004/drug-d etection-time-urine.htm
since you don't like to check out links, here is the meat of it:
Another team, Kelme of Spain, already has been prohibited from this year's Tour because of the charges leveled by Manzano, one of its former riders. In a five-part series in the Spanish newspaper AS (for which he was paid), Manzano described how team doctors pressured him to take banned drugs; how he collapsed and nearly died during last year's Tour after taking an unknown substance; and how it's like "an open bar" for cyclists to receive growth hormones and EPO.
Kelme officials and the Spanish cycling federation have denied Manzano's claims, much as Cofidis officials have with Gaumont's accusations.
Manzano even detailed how riders evade detection on the blood test that measures hematocrit levels, the proportion of blood consisting of red blood cells. When testing officials show up, Manzano said, team doctors first send down riders with low levels. That gives the other riders time to dilute their blood -- with blood plasma or saline solution, for example -- and lower their hematocrit level.
These blood tests are more common than the EPO test (which requires a urine sample) because they cost less. They can indicate high suspicion, though not absolute proof, of doping.
Most talk of drug use in cycling centers on EPO, because of the way it helps on those taxing rides up the mountain. EPO is a hormone produced naturally by the kidneys, but its recombinant form can increase the number of oxygen-carrying red blood cells and therefore boost endurance.
Still, even the EPO test has loopholes: It can reach back and detect the drug for only three or four days, according to Olivier Rabin, science director at the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA). But an athlete could reap benefits for as long as two weeks, Rabin and other experts said.
There is thus a lengthy period when users enjoy athletic advantage without risking detection. Rabin suspects some cyclists take a high dose of EPO and stop at least three days before the race begins, a strategy mirrored in other sports and a prime illustration of how the cheaters stay one step ahead of the testers.
Cycling union officials acknowledged the need to increase unannounced tests in the weeks preceding a major race. Most testing now occurs during the events; at the Tour de France, for instance, the stage winner, three leaders and three or four randomly chosen riders are tested each day.
Doping experts such as University of Texas professor John Hoberman still criticize the cycling union for being more interested in public relations than the athletes' health.
sorry I am not as much of a Lance fan as you apparantly are and I am not as sure as you are that the French courts received all of his records. There is just too much money involved and the people involved are professional cheaters who are cheating an institution that condones cheating. If it hadn't been for that little mishap with the customs agents, no one would be aware of the level of doping that goes on in races like the tour. Even a cynic like myself was shocked to learn they were shooting heroin, coke a and steroids!
That said, I think the doping part is cool. Those guys are insanely dedicated to what they do. I hate getting shots at the the doctors. Injecting myself with greasy