Doping to slow you down; and pot belge

From today's Le Monde, two articles of interest:
http://www.lemonde.fr/article/0,5987,3242--319733-,00.html and
http://www.lemonde.fr/article/0,5987,3242--319734-,00.html

The first article is an interview with admitted doper Thierry Laurent of RMO, Castorama, Festina,
and Lotto. One of the more fascinating quotes:

"Un bon équipier, on n'a pas envie qu'il monte trop. Pour éviter à des coureurs de gagner trop de
points et donc de bénéficier de hausses de salaires importantes, on leur injectait en fin de saison
des produits pour brider leurs performances."

 

Robert Chung wrote:
>
> "Un bon équipier, on n'a pas envie qu'il monte trop. Pour éviter à des coureurs de gagner trop de
> points et donc de bénéficier de hausses de salaires importantes, on leur injectait en fin de
> saison des produits pour brider leurs performances."
>
That surprises me also. It seems to me that the most effective method for slowing a domestique would
be to lay off the doing products, rather than dope them to the gills, than try to counter the
effects of improvement.

 

"Kyle Legate" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
> Robert Chung wrote:
> >
> > "Un bon équipier, on n'a pas envie qu'il monte trop. Pour éviter à des coureurs de gagner trop
> > de points et donc de bénéficier de hausses de salaires importantes, on leur injectait en fin de
> > saison des produits pour brider leurs performances."
> >
> That surprises me also. It seems to me that the most effective method for slowing a domestique
> would be to lay off the doing products, rather than dope them to the gills, than try to counter
> the effects of improvement.

I'd imagine the domestiques were told the stuff they were being injected with would help them, or
they'd refuse it and scream about unfairness; similarly if they weren't given anything they'd start
complaining.

Isn't sport fun when you've got cheats being cheated by cheap team managers?

Peter

 

"Peter Allen" <[email protected]> wrote
>
> Isn't sport fun when you've got cheats being cheated by cheap team
managers?

I think it's almost as amusing as the guy who paid $800 for two vials of "hemassist" that turned out
to be saline solution.

 

"Peter Allen" <[email protected]> wrote in message

> > That surprises me also. It seems to me that the most effective method
for
> > slowing a domestique would be to lay off the doing products, rather than dope them to the gills,
> > than try to counter the effects of improvement.
>
> I'd imagine the domestiques were told the stuff they were being injected with would help them, or
> they'd refuse it and scream about unfairness; similarly if they weren't given anything they'd
> start complaining.
>
> Isn't sport fun when you've got cheats being cheated by cheap team
managers?
>

I find great irony that part of the reason Laurent ended his career was due to the expense of the
doping products, some of which were, as he claimed, used to hinder his performance.

 

Robert Chung wrote:
> "Peter Allen" <[email protected]> wrote
>>
>> Isn't sport fun when you've got cheats being cheated by cheap team managers?
>
> I think it's almost as amusing as the guy who paid $800 for two vials of "hemassist" that turned
> out to be saline solution.
>
That's a great model for keeping a domestique in his place (not implying that Frigo is a
domestique-cut rider). If the team managers truely were cheap, they'd give diluted doping products
to their domestiques, and tell them it was full-strength. It costs more money to jack them up then
cut them down, though not as much as increasing their salary would cost if they didn't get cut down.

 

If you read what he said, his "evidence" was that he did poorly after "taking something the team
gave me". Gimme a break man. If you really want to slow them down, you said them for water bottles,
etc. or simply leave them off the team for some key races. It does not do anyone any good at all to
sabotage your own team. It makes no sense at all.

"Kyle Legate" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
> Robert Chung wrote:
> >
> > "Un bon équipier, on n'a pas envie qu'il monte trop. Pour éviter à des coureurs de gagner trop
> > de points et donc de bénéficier de hausses de salaires importantes, on leur injectait en fin de
> > saison des produits pour brider leurs performances."
> >
> That surprises me also. It seems to me that the most effective method for slowing a domestique
> would be to lay off the doing products, rather than dope them to the gills, than try to counter
> the effects of improvement.

 

Nick Burns wrote:
> If you read what he said, his "evidence" was that he did poorly after "taking something the team
> gave me". Gimme a break man. If you really want to slow them down, you said them for water
> bottles, etc. or simply leave them off the team for some key races. It does not do anyone any good
> at all to sabotage your own team. It makes no sense at all.
>
Do you think he's making it up?

 

I think that he believes it, but I think he is wrong.

"Kyle Legate" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
> Nick Burns wrote:
> > If you read what he said, his "evidence" was that he did poorly after "taking something the team
> > gave me". Gimme a break man. If you really want to slow them down, you said them for water
> > bottles, etc. or simply leave them off the team for some key races. It does not do anyone any
> > good at all to sabotage your own team. It makes no sense at all.
> >
> Do you think he's making it up?

 

Nick Burns wrote:
> I think that he believes it, but I think he is wrong.
>
On a similar note, what would constitute anti-dope? I think any chemical/drug that stimulates muscle
catabolism or decreases aerobic or anaerobic capacity but my brain is cramping and I can't think of
any. I can't imagine any director administering chemotherapy drugs because all domestiques would
start to resemble Pantani.

 

Exactly. There is no benefit and the risk is huge. Can you imagine the consequences of being caught
doing something like that? Furthermore, the chances of getting caught are higher when you victimize
someone because the athlete would be motivated to expose the incident. It sounds like another kook
athlete that can't believe he did not win more races. "All the others doped, and my director gave me
Beta-blockers".

"Kyle Legate" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
> Nick Burns wrote:
> > I think that he believes it, but I think he is wrong.
> >
> On a similar note, what would constitute anti-dope? I think any chemical/drug that stimulates
> muscle catabolism or decreases aerobic or anaerobic capacity but my brain is cramping and I can't
> think of any. I can't imagine any director administering chemotherapy drugs because all
> domestiques would start to resemble Pantani.