Tour de France Drug Cheats Opt for Low Doses to Avoid Detection
Floyd Landis who was stripped of his 2006 Tour win for doping. Photographer: Andrew Harrer/Bloomberg
Cyclists are transfusing less blood and injecting smaller doses of stamina-building drugs to try to get around more intensive doping tests, according to four scientists who analyze exam results.
With the Tour de France, the sport’s premier event, ready to start this weekend, scientists say cheating remains a major problem in cycling.
Last year’s Tour was hailed as a breakthrough when one drug case was detected, down from 11 in 2007 and 2008. Some riders are using new methods rather than playing by the rules, said Michael Ashenden, an anti-doping researcher on Australia’s Gold Coast.
“I’m afraid things are as bad as they’ve ever been,” Ashenden said. “I’m not saying they’re using the same degree of doping. What I see is the incidence of riders trying to dope and avoid detection isn’t very different to how it has been throughout history.”
Ashenden; Michel Audran of Montpellier University in France; Robin Parisotto, a former Australian Institute of Sport scientist; and Yorck Olaf Schumacher of Freiburg University in Germany were interviewed by phone and e-mail. Schumacher said they are among nine experts who get about “10 to 20” abnormal readings a month from about 800 riders’ blood and urine samples. Their review is done for the International Cycling Union, the sport’s governing body, which goes by the French acronym UCI.
The new methods can improve a rider’s stamina by 2 percent, compared with 8 percent for previous doping, and enough to have a “large impact” on his ranking, Schumacher said. Over several weeks, it can be just as effective in improving performance, according to Ashenden.
Floyd Landis
Tour de France spokesman Matthieu Desplats declined to comment.
Cyclists have long used transfusions and erythropoietin, or EPO, to boost the number of oxygen-carrying red blood cells. Floyd Landis, stripped of his 2006 Tour win for doping, detailed what he said was the subterfuge in e-mails in May that accused seven-time champion and fellow American Lance Armstrong of transfusing blood in 2003 and 2004. Armstrong, who has said this will be his last Tour, rejected the claims.
Riders used to employ a cocktail of drugs, including repeated doses of EPO, during winter training, said Jesus Manzano, who raced in the Tour in 2003 and confessed to doping the next year. Such abuse is no longer possible because of a database of riders’ urine and blood readings started in 2008, Schumacher said. By examining a rider’s “biological passport,” scientists can spot abnormal swings that point to wrongdoing.
Encrypted Tests
They say they can also detect when riders have transfused their own blood, an infraction for which there is no doping test in place. The level of hemoglobin, the iron-containing respiratory pigment in red blood cells, drops when blood is extracted and the number of immature blood cells, or reticulocytes, rises when it’s re-infused.
The scientists employed by the UCI are sent an encrypted e- mail with details of abnormal readings, without being told which riders they come from, Ashenden said. They send their opinion back on whether the swings can be explained by biological reasons, he added.
Since 2008, eight riders have been punished or face disciplinary proceedings because of irregular readings, while others have had “unusual” changes in blood and urine that weren’t extreme enough to press doping charges, Ashenden said.
“You can escape,” Audran said in an e-mail. “Cheats adapt quickly to doping detection methods.”
Dopers can mask a decline in hemoglobin by injecting a small quantity of EPO, which would disperse into the bloodstream within hours and minimize the risk of testing positive, Parisotto said. Landis told ESPN.com in May that there was “virtually no chance” of getting caught a few hours later if the EPO is injected intravenously.
Armstrong Accused
In a May 1 e-mail seen by Bloomberg News, Landis wrote that he saw Armstrong have transfusions on the 2003 Tour and on his team’s bus in 2004. The statement sent to USA Cycling Chief Executive Steve Johnson is among several sent by Landis that are being investigated by the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency. Armstrong, 38, said May 20 he has “nothing to hide,” adding that Landis “lost his credibility a long time ago.”
Landis, 34, spent more than $1 million on his legal defense after testing positive in winning the 2006 Tour for synthetic testosterone, which can help overcome muscle fatigue. He disclosed years of doping in the e-mails released two months ago. Landis, who is among six top-three Tour finishers who were caught or confessed since 1996, didn’t return an e-mail seeking comment.
As cycling battles a “deep culture of cheating,” at least the scale is declining, Schumacher said.
‘Right Direction’
“You will never catch all the cheats for sure but the door is narrowing,” he said. “It’s becoming more and more difficult to squeeze through.”
Pat McQuaid, president of the Aigle, Switzerland-based UCI, said in an interview that cycling is “going in the right direction.” He said he would concur with whatever the scientists say but couldn’t comment in detail because he lacks scientific expertise.
Before 2008, cheats would have been able to keep within doping rules with a standard check-up at a family doctor telling them their hematocrit, the percentage of packed red blood cells, Schumacher said. Riders with over 50 percent were suspended. Now some may turn to a medical expert, possibly a hematologist, for help because the biological passport is more sophisticated, Parisotto said.
“Sometimes you shake your head and think: What else are they going to do?” Parisotto said from Canberra, Australia. “I still believe there are pure, clean sporting performances out there but there is still a long way to go.”
To contact the reporters on this story: Alex Duff in Madrid aduff4@bloomberg.net
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