Tuesday, January 29, 2008

ATOC anti doping strategy

Joe Lindsey writes about the Amgen Tour of California doping protocol in a guest post over at Freakanomics. In case you missed the news, all cyclists will have blood drawn and tested prior to the race. 30% of riders will also provide urine samples. Lindsey compares that to Team Slipstream's anti doping strategy -- each rider on that team is tested pre-race, and anyone who shows signs of potential doping is just benched for that race. If he fails too many tests, he's fired.

It occurs to me that Slipstream's procedure could reveal whether "false positives" are actually a problem or not, especially if Slipstream's tests are well documented and audited correctly. If a Slipstream cyclist ever tests positive and Slipstream's paperwork is all in order I foresee a lot of "I told you so!" from the Trust But Verify crowd.

2 comments:

  1. ...let's just hope this all comes out a' the wash clean for a change & by that, i mean the whole system...

    ...if a critical eye is gonna be cast over the cyclist's, that is fine & good, but i think it's been proven that one needs to be cast over the lab's, processes & technicians as well...

    ...& the stupid backbiting power feud going on between the uci & the aso (etc, etc) is a calamitous as ever...these idiots all speak of 'preserving' the sport & they're strangling it slowly to defend their precious little grasps rather than co-ordinating a united effort...

    ...arghhhhh !!!...

    ReplyDelete
  2. Right you are on that "we told you so" that is in our bank account. It's inevitable.

    Linked this into today's roundup

    thanks,

    TBV

    ReplyDelete