Why my hero? Because he done told all. (pay attention cyclist who rhymes with Byler Bamilton, i still loves you, but would love ya more if.. well you know.)
Notably, from cyclingnews article here Jesus Manzano details blood doping by a doctor named Emiliano Fuentes, the very same doctor in the center of operation puerto scandal that threatens to wipe the sport clean of Ulrich, Basso and other cycling heros of late.
In the same article they summarize a list of products, in addition to blood doping, that manzano said he took as a pro rider, here it is:
Actovegin (extract of calves blood which supposedly improves oxygen carrying capacity)
Albumina H. (protein in blood plasma)
Androgel (testosterone)
Aranesp (Darbepoetin alfa = super EPO)
Celestote (corticosteroid)
Eprex (EPO)
Genotorm (growth hormone)
Hemoce (plasma)
Deca durabolin (anabolic steroid)
Humatrope (growth hormone)
IgF1 (insulin growth factor 1)
Neofertinon (hormone to stimulate ovulation and estrogen production)
Neorecormon (hormone that regulates red blood cell production)
Norditropin (growth hormone)
Nuvacten (corticosteroid)
Trigon (asthma drug)
Urbason (corticosteroid)
Ventolin (bronchial dilator)
Oxandrolona (anabolic agent)
Vitamin B12 (essential B vitamin)
Triamcinolona (corticosteroid)
Testoviron (testosterone)
Aspirina (analgesic, anti-inflammatory)
Oxyglobin (artificial haemoglobin intended for anaemic dogs)
Hemopure (artificial haemoglobin)
Ferlixit (iron)
Caffeine (stimulant)
Hemassist (artificial haemoglobin)
Prozac (antidepressant)
Why am I telling you this?
1: Despite being completely written off as a crank, his allegations against Fuentes have proven accurate with respect to blood doping, and we are in the midst of the fallout of the investigation. I think this pretty much vinidcates him showing he is no crank.
2: In a velonews article over the weekend (here) Manzano is quoted as saying of Testosterone: Its effects are felt almost immediately, It gives you a lot of force and produces a sort of euphoria." He goes on to detail how riders use testosterone for immediate, short term and long term effects.
So what does that mean for Floyd? Despite lots of conventional wisdom saying that Landis would not have been able to gain any benefit from application of testosterone the day of his miraculous breakaway,it seems that at least one experienced doper thinks that it may have been exactly what one would need for a 130 mile tt in the alps. If you want to feel good about Floyd, read my previous post here, or surf on over to cyclingnews or velonews to see the wellspring of "couldn't be Floyd, he is such a good guy" testimony.
On the off chance anyone is still reading, I recommend checking out Breaking the Chain
by Willie Voet or A Rough Ride by Paul Kimmage for two insiders views on doping in the peleton. Kimmage, much like Manzano today, was widely regarded as a crank. The practices detailed in these books are childsplay compared to the impressive pharmacutical assault described by Jesus Manzano, but it is interesting to see doping practices of the 80's and nineties. I think if the UCI offered some sort of limited amnesty in exchange for detailing doping practices at the level of manzano, we would be able to clean the sport of Fuentes like organized doping practices via criminal investigation. I am much more impressed with Manzano who told all as opposed to David Millar who lied repeatedly when confronted with allegations of his doping and then finally came clean in the face of overwhelming evidence. Millar is now regarded as a clean cycling hero. Which is fine, but I would love to have seen him roll over on his network of suppliers and supervising doctors in exchange for a 1 year ban.
Other interesting things that come up when people admit all in exchange for some leniency is when Laurent Roux spilled his guts to try to avoid criminal sentence in france. Read about it here in an article by the always excellent Samuel Abt. He used and sold "Pot Belge" which is a stimulant with at least 20 years of use in the peleton, consisting of a spectacularly insane mixture of amphetamines, caffeine, cocaine and heroin. Significantly he admitted using EPO, growth hormone and cortisoids, but not synthetic haemoglobin and blood transfusions because they were too expensive for his meagre salary. So are the French a victim of a two speed peleton, with foreign dopers vs. clean french cyclists as they claim? Or are they the victim of a two speed peleton with rich foreign dopers vs. poor french half assed dopers?
Woo, the good news is that it is almost cross season where the races are short and the Belgies are doped to the gills. Go Franken-Nijs!
Finally if anyone is still enjoying this doping reporting let me know via comment or email (tsaleh at rocketmail dot com). Readership is way up lately, and I assume it is not because of cat vomit stories. I spend a fair bit of time and an unreasonable amount of brain space storing cycle racing and doping stories in my brain and would love to hear from all of you in e-net land if it is worth summarizing it as conditions develop. I will continue with riding and cat stories for the rest of you. Lots of stuff to post when I get around to it.
More Doping musings:
5 comments:
keep it coming..this is better than cycling news..
Tarik, yes please keep distilling down the scandalous news into a 200-proof brew of info! I enjoy it along with the cat-vomit stories, big bug photos, and chinese-bike essays!
Hell yeah. I love this doping dope.
Does anyone know what the performance gain is from doing this stuff? Is it like 1% or like 20%? Cuz if it's like 20%, the whole damn peleton has to be doing it, no?
Keep it up! This is a huge can of worms that has hints of cracks in it, with comments like Boonen's parting words after his withdrawal (couldn't find them, or would have included them). And great bug pics too.
Cool, thanks for the input, I will keep it coming. I think the EPO has a huge performance advantage. I will post a bit later on that. Look for a new post later this week on floydtosterone, ethics and the like.
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