Well someone who speaks French can tell me if there was anything substantial in that but I'm calling complete farking bullshit so far. Not on the technology existing but on it being used in the pro peloton. Nothing new so far. That does not mean to say I think it might not be used, I just don't think I've seen anything that proves it has been. Tin foil hat stuff. Good publicity for Stephane though.
Doping git thread
- Thread starter rich p
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Flying_Monkey
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Actually, I'm wrong - that is the right program. It is a French show that was reported on in an Italian paper. They seem to think Froome is in on it...
oldroadman
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The French and Italian press always want to find a reason why "their" riders are getting beaten. Apart from him being quite good.. Loser mentality, "I didn't win therefore it's someone else's fault/they must be cheating". Quite funny to hear that from an Italian paper.
I still don't know. I'm sure that if it works and it is available then it will be used. How to stop it in practical terms with around 200 starters and bike changes during events is another matter.
I'm sure the bike industry wouldn't like any suggestions such as putting the bikes through a giant EMP device to fry any electronics (bye bye Di2) or mandating shallow rim clinchers to reduce the space available for hidden magnets, especially following on from the suspension of the disc brakes trial.
I'm sure the bike industry wouldn't like any suggestions such as putting the bikes through a giant EMP device to fry any electronics (bye bye Di2) or mandating shallow rim clinchers to reduce the space available for hidden magnets, especially following on from the suspension of the disc brakes trial.
The little motors are proven technology - but the neodymium magnets in the rims would seem to be as @Crackle infers BS - the only thing I know about neodymium magnets is that they are the most powerful magnets that are presently available - a) in a disc are they not orientated in the wrong direction? b) if they are not in the wrong orientation would having a large diameter powerful magnet rotating at speed cause the fancy doohickey gear that the pros use for changing gear to throw a wobbley? maybe someone with a better understanding of rare earth magnets can provide a logical explanation
Strathlubnaig
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Froome has a pretty high cadence on the climbs.The French and Italian press always want to find a reason why "their" riders are getting beaten. Apart from him being quite good.. Loser mentality, "I didn't win therefore it's someone else's fault/they must be cheating". Quite funny to hear that from an Italian paper.
oldroadman
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So he does. It's his style. So what is being inferred? Others have a slow cadence and flog along, Froome just looks all over the bike but it works.
Strathlubnaig
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the newspaper just said the motor suits a rider with a high cadence style, and buddy above said Froome was mentioned, so I was going with the flow, sorry to upset you.
deptfordmarmoset
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Indirectly, the inference seems to be that the mechanical doping motor works best with a high cadence. Man cycles with unusually high cadence. But also, somewhere in the background, he doesn't quite look like a cyclist so he must be cheating....
EDIT: Ah, Strathers got the high cadence thing in before me.
oldroadman
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No upset, just interested how some journos (oddly enough usually from countries who have a lower success rate than they have been used to -welcome to the new world) get from high cadence to mechanical cheating (which is a term I prefer to doping, as there are no chemicals ingested). It's still cheating and people caught should get at least the 4 years same as for doping, plus a huge fine, plus the team investigated, because somewhere, someone fitted the thing.
oldroadman
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May not look like a bike rider, but a very effective one all the same. I've seen some odd styles over the years, but in a pro peloton, this is one of the oddest. Imagine what would happen if he had a classic style? Might even be accepted by the jealous journos!
smutchin
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Just saw @ItsSteveLovell's post in the punditry thread so had to look up the reasons for Henao's withdrawal from Flèche Wallonne...
http://www.teamsky.com/teamsky/home/article/77343#zG6Fyrsvh7PeBKUA.97
Hmmm. So is this a result of new findings or just a follow-up from last year's investigation into blood passport irregularities? Either way, it doesn't look good. On the plus side, the team are apparently being open about the reasons for his withdrawal rather than churning out the usual vague stories of 'illness'.
I'm not inclined to be suspicious of Henao but I am slightly sceptical of the notion of 'altitude natives' having different physiology. Although it seems to be a well-documented phenomenon, so maybe it's a plausible explanation after all:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/High-altitude_adaptation_in_humans#Physiological_basis
http://www.teamsky.com/teamsky/home/article/77343#zG6Fyrsvh7PeBKUA.97
Hmmm. So is this a result of new findings or just a follow-up from last year's investigation into blood passport irregularities? Either way, it doesn't look good. On the plus side, the team are apparently being open about the reasons for his withdrawal rather than churning out the usual vague stories of 'illness'.
I'm not inclined to be suspicious of Henao but I am slightly sceptical of the notion of 'altitude natives' having different physiology. Although it seems to be a well-documented phenomenon, so maybe it's a plausible explanation after all:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/High-altitude_adaptation_in_humans#Physiological_basis
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Flying_Monkey
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The thing is that this is a biological passport issue. The biological passport is unique to each rider and constitutes the baseline for judging significant departures from that. So it should already account for the fact that Henao is an 'altitude native' and that would be included in his baseline figures (say for example, an imaginary rider who had natural haemocrit levels of 45-50 as opposed to most people's 40-45 - the idea is that they wouldn't be so suspicious if their levels were found in testing to be 51, whereas the rider with a baseline 40-45 would be - it's more complex than that, but just to illustrate how it should work). We don't know exactly how Henao's results differ from his baseline figures yet.
It doesn't particularly sound good, if they already have the previous Sky tests and now want more. I did note Henao was going well this year and I can't help reading Sky's statement as a more open and sophisticated version of the usual denial. But then my default position is cynical these days so I guess I'll hold my further thoughts and wait and see.
smutchin
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Only that it's enough of a variation to arouse suspicion.
The question is whether the explanation for that variation is plausible.