Hematocrit of the most famous riders

[poulidor]

It would be interresting to find a study about the hematocrit of riders to see if there is a correlation with top performance.

Of course, only the natural value:

Armstrong around 40-41
Contador
Schleck
Sastre
Valverde
Vino
Ullrich
Mayo
...
Riis
Indurain

Does that make sense to measure today hematocrit of old riders like
Fignon
Lemond
Fignon
Roche
Hinault
Merckx ?

 

[limerickman]

It would be interresting to find a study about the hematocrit of riders to see if there is a correlation with top performance.

Of course, only the natural value:

Armstrong around 40-41
Contador
Schleck
Sastre
Valverde
Vino
Ullrich
Mayo
...
Riis
Indurain

Does that make sense to measure today hematocrit of old riders like
Fignon
Lemond
Fignon
Roche
Hinault
Merckx ?

Hematocrit levels for the older riders - while racing - are impossible to source today.
Did a quick internet search use "Merckx hematocrit" and there are no references.

 

[poulidor]

Hematocrit levels for the older riders - while racing - are impossible to source today.
Did a quick internet search use "Merckx hematocrit" and there are no references.

Yes but probably scientists must know how hematocrit changes when people get old,
so UCI could send them their vampires to build to buld a knowledge database.

 

[swampy1970]

Yes but probably scientists must know how hematocrit changes when people get old,
so UCI could send them their vampires to build to buld a knowledge database.

There's already a 'database' of how hematocrit changes in the general population with regards to age...

 

[jhuskey]

When you consider "age vs hematocrit level", age always wins in the end.

 

[jamie72]

Poor old Fignon, you're gonna measure his twice!!

 

[tonyzackery]

Would hematocrit numbers be just as inaccurate at predicting future (or in this case, past) race performance as a rider's Vo2max? I would think so. Perhaps someone more knowledgeable could comment...

 

[classic1]

Would hematocrit numbers be just as inaccurate at predicting future (or in this case, past) race performance as a rider's Vo2max? I would think so. Perhaps someone more knowledgeable could comment...

At one stage, when Charlie Walsh was head coach, the AIS would not take on endurance riders if their VO2 max level didn't reach a certain number, or sprinters if they could not attain a certain height in a vertical jump test.

It doesn't answer your question...but thought it mildly interesting in any case.

 

[tonyzackery]

At one stage, when Charlie Walsh was head coach, the AIS would not take on endurance riders if their VO2 max level didn't reach a certain number, or sprinters if they could not attain a certain height in a vertical jump test.

It doesn't answer your question...but thought it mildly interesting in any case.

Having a certain standard "to get in the door" makes sense to me - gotta keep the riff-raff out by some unbiased means. Otherwise, they'd have fat guys like me taking up their precious coaching time...Getting in the door though obviously doesn't guarantee success by any stretch of the imagination...

 

[jamie72]

I reckon Roche's haematocrit values for 1987 would make interesting reading...

 

[sopas]

For me this would be pointless.
When I was 23 years old, I was measured 50.5 once at a clinic and I have never been a profesional sportman and neither doped. I used to run 5 km every morning back then, but other than that I don't think living at 700 meters above sea level had much to do with it. So you go fiugre out.

 

[jamie72]

So you would have been over the "healthy" limit of 50% and banned then! Haha!

 

[sopas]

So you would have been over the "healthy" limit of 50% and banned then! Haha!

LOL, Yes, I suppose so!

 

[jpat]

Armstrong 40-41!?!? You're joking right?
In the recent Cycling Weekly interview it seemed to be much higher than that. Interesting talk of V02max baselines being used by the AIS - they are indeed an indicator of a rider's max potential. Which is why Lemond and others say the numbers don't lie when asking how Armstrong can possibly achieve the power output on his bike that he does

 

[JAPANic]

I've been over 50% the last 2 years...49 something the year before.
Must be something in the beer I drink.

 

[Andrija]

Maybe there's Ferrari's orange juice in the beer.

 

[daveryanwyoming]

I've been over 50% the last 2 years.......

Before ya get too excited about your natural 'crit levels, hematocrit typically drops with heavy training loads as blood plasma increases outpace RBC increases. It's not too unusual to see amateurs with higher 'crit values than full time pro's in heavy training.

Check out this link:
Hematocrit

-Dave

 

[No_Positives]

Did a quick internet search use "Merckx hematocrit" and there are no references.

I just did a search for "Merckx doping" and turned up a boatload of results!

Merckx doping = 8,180,000 results
Armstrong doping = 642,000 results

 

[steve]

I just did a search for "Merckx doping" and turned up a boatload of results!

Merckx doping = 8,180,000 results
Armstrong doping = 642,000 results

No Positives doping = 42,500,000

 

[swampy1970]

Maybe there's Ferrari's orange juice in the beer.

Putting anything other than 'more beer' into a glass of beer should result in a swift revocation of ones "man card" as it's a far worse crime than organised doping. If you're one for putting slices of lime, orange, yada yada yada in your beer it's time for a quick conversion via a **** job and a hairy clam...