Contador in the Red in 2014
Holy fuckballs. I’ve never been this late ever on a VSP. I mean, I’ve missed them entirely – which is another kind of incompetence entirely – but I’m shocked at how quickly this week blew by me. I think I have whiplash.
Be that as it may, the Vuelta is on our doorstep, and before you panic, I’ll leave the picks open until Monday so we have enough time to screw up our picks despite knowing who crashes out in the first few days.
This is actually exciting stuff. We have some serious grudge-matching going on here for the Vuelta. Chris Froome is double-talking, Bardet is trash-talking, and Contador is exit-talking. This could be interesting.
On the subject of Bardet, he is my new Schleck. I love how he looks on the bike, and he’s got a fighting spirit. And he rides a white bike, which is the color bike I’m obsessed with. And I’m equally sure he will never win a major bike race, on account that I fancy him. (Roman, if you are reading this, I ask your forgiveness.)
Alright, I’ll stop faffing about. Check the start list, get your picks in, and let’s get this party started.
I know as well as any of you that I've been checked out lately, kind…
Peter Sagan has undergone quite the transformation over the years; starting as a brash and…
The Women's road race has to be my favorite one-day road race after Paris-Roubaix and…
This week we are currently in is the most boring week of the year. After…
I have memories of my life before Cycling, but as the years wear slowly on…
As many of you know, I write a monthly column for Cyclist Magazine where I…
View Comments
@RobSandy
i've been trying to figure that out since i was in the Marine Corps. no answers yet.
Some time ago I read a scientific article on this contaminated meat stuff that purportedly was from a reliable scientific source, I can't remember whether it was around the Contador incident or another one so I will make that disclaimer. Basically what it came to, is that for Clenbuterol (etc) to be retained in meat in sufficient quantity to give a positive test in an athlete then either the bull would have to have a dose that would probably kill it or the athlete would have to eat the figurative bull between two bread vans. Since then I've always been a bit cynical over contaminated food - unless the contamination was direct into the food ie from a malicious source. If I ever get really bored I may try to find the article.
Here you go......turned out easy to find at least in part.....
Clenbuterol is banned for use in livestock in Europe and the United States. Although the drug has been used to encourage muscle growth in animals like cows and pigs, European and American regulators cracked down on the practice about 10 years ago after several clenbuterol-poisoning cases in Spain, France and Italy.
In most of those cases, the victims fell ill after eating the animals’ liver, where clenbuterol is known to accumulate.
Fernando Ramos, a professor at the University of Coimbra in Portugal who has studied clenbuterol contamination in meat for 20 years, said it was highly unlikely that Contador tested positive from eating meat other than liver, noting that the concentration would have to be so high that the animal would have died before being slaughtered.
When asked what the chances were that Contador’s positive test, even at such low levels, was a result of the meat he ate, Ramos said, “I can say 99 percent, it’s impossible.”
On the Bertie/ clenbuterol thing (and having a background in livestock production processing - someone's go to do it!) I would tend to agree that it was unlikely to have come from meat. I also think it is highly unlikely that he took it deliberately. If you wanted to create lean muscle/ burn fat there is an alternative substance used in livestock production in soem parts of the world (but not Europe/ US) called ractopamine which has a half life in the body of 6 hours compared to a couple of weeks for clenbuterol. More likely it was in some supplement or other that he got off the internet. We had a similar case in the UK with a footballer (soccerer? soccer player?) Kolo Toure who tested positive after using his wifes slimming pills.
I would have preferred Bertie to have retired last year. I always hate to see someone go on too long (although I saw James Brown live well after his prime.)
(By the way do I use too many parentheses) (?)
Never mind the brackets (as the Sex Pistols didn't say) my spelling and punctuation in that post were shit!
I finally paid to watch cycling this years (cycling.tv) and now the Vuelta is blacked out in the U.S. Great!
@Ron
Ron,
I watched the Sporza feed on Steephill.tv yesterday - live! Ok, it's in Dutch, but hey, you can't have it all!
@Joe Bloggs
I got your jist and appreciate the informed comment. Yeah, Bertie should have retired a while back, but I guess when teams throw big $$ at you it's hard to turn down.
@wiscot
Robbie McEwen had a very interesting observation regarding this upon his own retirement years ago. as i recall, it was something like "a rider must compete until they are done racing." meaning, if a rider retires too soon, before the spirit and willingness to compete at the pro level is exhausted, they will struggle to adjust to life after cycling. as a fan, i always liked McEwen. nobody in his day had his race savvy and killer instinct. that he's articulated the dynamics of racing at the top levels so as to be better understood by punters like me is a big plus, too.
check this out, if y'all haven't already. Froome advocating the 3 second rule, implemented during the TdF. as a viewer, i surely noticed the difference at the Tour, and it seems like a good idea:
http://www.cyclingnews.com/news/vuelta-a-espana-froome-advocates-three-second-rule-for-flat-stages/