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Mont-Sainte-Frenchie 2022

Oz_Goose

Chimp
Jun 15, 2022
2
6
Re the PEDs stuff, whilst I love love to think that DH will remain clean PEDs are inevitable as humans are involved. Where PEDs can assist greatly is the ability to train hard and recover faster, therefore building a bigger engine for race day which will help with power and fatigue. Peptides are also the go these days as they are essentially a key which unlock and natural hormone response and really hard to detect.

Anyone getting popped in sport these days for the traditional PEDs is either dumb, on a really low budget or both.

Look at the endurance cycling and the riders these days, they have stripped weight but maintained power. But's it's about 'marginal gains' according to Team Sky.

The other one is taking the piss of Theraputic Use Exemptions (TUEs), where for example, a doctor might prescribe a steriod to help get over an injury. The rider then lodges a TUE with the governing body and if tested they'll be glowing but a TUE is in place and it's all good. Read up about Brad Wiggins and the timing of his TUEs just before the grand cycling races. The incidence of asthma amongst pro road cycling bunch is massive, once again a TUE will be in place.

Unfortunately humans are humans, they love winning and some will cheat to win. In the early days of the Tour de France they use to cheat by catching trains with their bikes to get ahead in the race.
 

norbar

KESSLER PROBLEM. Just cause
Jun 7, 2007
11,346
1,587
Warsaw :/
Amphetamines are super obvious in a test though. There's no way you could race with them in your system and not get done for it.

If anyone was dirty, I'd imagine it'd be a training/off-season course of something they'd do to get dem gainzzzz and then they'd clean up prior to coming into the season. Racing on gear is daft with the UCI testing regime in place.
This. Also Amphetamines raise your resting heart rate so they could have negative effects here too. Not everyone reacts "well" to ADHD medication for that reason.

I'd say for DH what would make the most sense is as someone mentioned off season stuff that helps you recover faster and train more. Usually that's some form of steroids.

Do we know if top DH riders get random off season Wada visits like top athletes in other sports? I know those can be gamed too because of the dumb 3 strike rule but I'm not sure I've heard of Wada requiring top DH people to send their location to them.
 

buckoW

Turbo Monkey
Mar 1, 2007
3,777
4,697
Champery, Switzerland
This. Also Amphetamines raise your resting heart rate so they could have negative effects here too. Not everyone reacts "well" to ADHD medication for that reason.

I'd say for DH what would make the most sense is as someone mentioned off season stuff that helps you recover faster and train more. Usually that's some form of steroids.

Do we know if top DH riders get random off season Wada visits like top athletes in other sports? I know those can be gamed too because of the dumb 3 strike rule but I'm not sure I've heard of Wada requiring top DH people to send their location to them.
Top DH athletes who are winning, have to let them know where they will be in the coming weeks/months so if they want to show up they know where to find you.
 

norbar

KESSLER PROBLEM. Just cause
Jun 7, 2007
11,346
1,587
Warsaw :/
Top DH athletes who are winning, have to let them know where they will be in the coming weeks/months so if they want to show up they know where to find you.
Thanks. Didn't know WADA is following DH. Have a friend who was EX Wada so I know a bit from his side but he never spoke about MTB as he was a road guy.

Tbh the social norms and how tight most riders are in our sport probably prevents doping better than any chasing can. Especially since Wada is easy to avoid if you are not on gear during comp just during training.