What ever happened to the Tyler hearings?

[patch70]

Once again, fans tell us not to believe science b/c their hero is just too cool to have doped.

Tyler's haematocrit level of 49.7 percent wasn't reckless for a doper -- it was perfect. Nearly as high as possible without hitting the limit. Just what he would want.

Tyler turned three positives for blood doping and throughout the year showed, on multiple occasions, strong evidence of blood tampering. I honestly can't believe that people are still defending him at this point. Is there any evidence of doping that you would accept? Of course there isn't.

There was also the possibility that the homologous transfusion was a stuff up by Phonak's doctors. Maybe they were doing autologous transfusions - hence the "perfect" haematocrit and suspicious reticulocyte counts - and then accidentally gave Hamilton and Perez the other one's blood. Thus they both get caught for homologous transfusion (as long as they have the same blood type).

 

[DV1976]

Once again, fans tell us not to believe science b/c their hero is just too cool to have doped.

Tyler's haematocrit level of 49.7 percent wasn't reckless for a doper -- it was perfect. Nearly as high as possible without hitting the limit. Just what he would want.

.

If the guy wants to prove his innocence he should do what his buddy LA should have done long time ago. Publish his medical records. I would love to see how his crit fluctuated over the summer of 2004.
49.7%? Come on Tyler. Let us know what you real crit is...

 

[barnstorm]

Tyler is that All American guy who battles through broken bones, grinds his teeth down, loves his dog (well, I will forgive him for going so far with that). I really really did not want to believe it. I still have trouble stomaching the whole thing. But I finally brought myself to the place where I could read all of the science explanations and have to say that there is no explanation for his blood tests throughout 2004 except for cheating. IF, he was not cheating and had the early season warnings, he should have come forward with a truckload of medical evidence for his weird readings before getting busted at the olympics and the vuelta. What makes me crazy is that these guys cheat so much, so regularly, that they seem to actually believe they are not cheating. The Raphael Palmeiro thing is baseball is the most ridiculous I have seen where he pounded his fist at the US congress with a blood system full of the stuff and actually believed he wouldn't be caught. Tyler has pledged to spend his last dime proving his innocence. He would be better off investing what he did make and leaving quietly before someone comes looking for that money back.


WHAT THE HELL IS WRONG WITH THESE GUYS???????? I am a local hack runner and triathlete. I know I am not any good but I have a heck of a lot of fun improving my performances compared against myself and I know that the only way to do it is to work hard. Even if there were money and fame in it, I can't begin to see why it would feel worth doing if you had to cheat to do it. The argument that everyone cheats so you need to cheat to stay even is preposterous. If you are in a business, and everyone is cheating, and you would have cheat in order to compete...then quit and find an ethical job. You have to live with yourself and I can't understand how these guys in sports live with their whole existence being such a lie that they begin to believe their own bullsh!t. ARGGGHHHH

On the other hand, and some may disagree. I like David Millar. Yes, he cheated, yes he lied about it. But when the gig was up, he came clean, took his punishment, and is coming back now to show what he can do without cheating. Assuming he does play fair from now on, which I want to believe, we will see whether he is any good without cheating. Either he will and that's great, or he will suck, but at least such cleanly.

It's a heck of a time loving sports so much and not knowing what the heck you are really watching. Sorry for the rant.

 

[bobke]

There was also the possibility that the homologous transfusion was a stuff up by Phonak's doctors. Maybe they were doing autologous transfusions - hence the "perfect" haematocrit and suspicious reticulocyte counts - and then accidentally gave Hamilton and Perez the other one's blood. Thus they both get caught for homologous transfusion (as long as they have the same blood type).

I thought of that one too, sorry to agree with you and all.

But to the other poster above, UCI warned Phonak and Tyler in a letter and in person that he was having funny and bordeline readings on the tests.
It was in one of the long exhaustive cyclingnews.com articles a long time ago.
That was my point that since they had warning, they should have shut down the practice.
Of course if it were autologous blood doping then there was no test.
But that requires a lot of effort and expense to correctly donate and retransfuse blood. It is not something one or even two guys do alone.
I mean it would be quite involved and where are the other guilty parties?

 

[barnstorm]

I thought of that one too, sorry to agree with you and all.

But to the other poster above, UCI warned Phonak and Tyler in a letter and in person that he was having funny and bordeline readings on the tests.
It was in one of the long exhaustive cyclingnews.com articles a long time ago.
That was my point that since they had warning, they should have shut down the practice.
Of course if it were autologous blood doping then there was no test.
But that requires a lot of effort and expense to correctly donate and retransfuse blood. It is not something one or even two guys do alone.
I mean it would be quite involved and where are the other guilty parties?

exactly, who else was involved? The answer must be, the team? Then we start to consider someone like Santiago Botero who was fantastic at Kelme (now a proven cheating team), terrible at Tmobile, then back to form at Phonak. Is that why he is back to form. Then we move on to my other fantasy about Tmobile, that they have been and are a clean team. Riders that are successful elsewhere have consistently been awful at Tmo... maybe it's not that they are a bad team that ruins riders, maybe they are clean and hardly any other team is. Salvodelli - great at Saeco, awful at Tmo, great at Disco. Julich - great at Cofidis, awful at Tmo, great at CSC. Ullrich's best TDF since 1997 - on Bianchi, not Tmo.

Maybe this is all ridiculous conspiracy theorizing and maybe it's not. The problem is that it's the cheaters that leave me with these thoughts when I want to be thinking about the sport in a purer sense.