You have to remember that when he says he's not doping. It basically means head not taking any currently banned substance. It does not mean that he is not doing anything at all which is currently permitted by the rules. Kittle has been implicated in the practice of UV light blood irradiation in 2007 and 2008 which remained legal in cycling until January 2011, no crime there then and he has been cleared of any wrong doing.
So is he complying with the rules as written, I expect so and believe so..... Is he complying with the unwritten spirit of fair competition and sportsmanship? - I dare say we all have our own views on that based on the fact that he has proven he is willing to drain his own blood.
I do support Kittels strong anti doping stance, but it should have been plain for him to see that getting mixed up with needles and blood specifically was always going to be risky business and prompt further questions in the future
All this proves imho is his PR team are at the top of their game.
Good question. Professional sport will always go to the edge of what is allowed, because just like people will in any other profession, it's their living. The Americans openly admitted to it in the 80's, using blood manipulation/analagous transfusion, to improve athletic track and field performance (and win Olympic golds). Doubtless others were doing it too. The Finnish middle distance runners of yesteryear were alleged to be doing it, Viren would appear from nowhere, run a world record, disappear again for a while, come back, repeat, etc., etc.
What was legal then was just that - legal. It's entirely wrong to look back with today's rules to yesterday's performances, the law does not apply retrospectively.
So far as the commentabout reporting for dope control is concerned, when national ADAs did the testing you always had a chaperone who followed you everywhere, and at one time had an hour to show at the control, later reduced to 30 minutes. Any other agency did not sem to do this until UCI introduced their own chaperone programme (getting something right!!).
People get round testing by having expert doctors and medical support, so that on race day it's all OK., unless they are incompetent or stupid. Out of competition testing is when you find the dirty ones.
Just let's not confuse anyone's moral agenda with regulations, any sport has "professional fouls" which are part and parcel of the work (see footy, rugby, for plenty of clear examples). Any professional sportperson who does not know what the rules allow and use that to best advantage is a fool. Marginal gains, anyone?
