Saturday, September 29, 2007
More Strict Drug Testing in the Tour de France?
How could someone in the Tour de France not be banned by the Tour de France for having traces of Dynepo in their blood? That would have been the case for Danish cyclist Michael Rasmussen who was in the Tour de France when he tested positive for showing signs of having traces of Dynepo in him. http://sports.espn.go.com/oly/cycling/news/story?id=3040786 In fact, Michael Rasmussen was even in the lead of the Tour de France before he was kicked out. The fact that he was caught with a product like this in his body, could provide some evidence to why he was in the lead of the Tour de France. But luckily his team made the most ethically correct move and was kicked out of the Tour de France by his team. But since Dynepo is not banned under World Anti-Doping Agency, his case would not be considered as a positive test and would not get in trouble. Dynepo is an EPO like substance made from human cells which makes it a synthetic product. Riders shouldn’t have loop holes like this, it seems too unfair. I think that the World Anti-Doping Agency needs to have a more strict testing policy and needs to finally clarify what is legal and what is not. If the drug or product seems to give the Rider any kind of competitive advantage, it should be banned, no question. At least this should send a message to other Riders thinking that they have found a loop hole since these allegations will be sent to the UCI who heads the Tour de France. Hopefully the World Anti-Doping Agency will make a change about Dynepo and other “loop-hole” drugs or products.
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2 comments:
I agree with your general idea that the World Ante-Doping Agency should be stricter in their enforcing of the rules, and there should be more limitations on what cyclists can use. I absolutely agree that any substance that gives you an unfair advantage over your competition should not be allowed. It makes perfect sense that the rider in the lead was cheating and this should cause a little light-bulb to go off in the heads of Tour de France officials. They should realize that there will be cheating in any sport, and it is not an anomaly for one of the ‘top” athletes of any particular sport to turn out being not quite as good as advertised. Perhaps they will begin performing more frequent drug tests; especially on many of the “top” riders.
I agree that the tour needs stricter drug testing policy because what they have now is not working because there are riders that are still cheating. I agree that WADA needs to be clearer in what is legal and what is not so the public will get the right message about there stance on the issue. Also in my thinking the tour should be stopped for a year or two till they get the cheating taking care of so everybody will know that the riders are clean. I think that anybody that is in pro cycling cheats because of what I’ve seen on TV with the tour.
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