Tom Danielson tests positive for synthetic testosterone

[fuzzy]

https://uk.sports.yahoo.com/news/esp-cycling-american-danielson-fails-doping-test-065722132--spt.html

Denies any wrong doing.

[Dibdib]

Rumours about on The Twitters that the entire Cannondale-Garmin team has withdrawn. These aren't true - a journo mis-read Slipstream's press release and got overexcited. They've just withdrawn Danielson, pending the testing of the B sample.

[TimC]

Very disappointing. His press release gives the impression that he's genuinely surprised by the positive, and very annoyed, mystified and frustrated that it's happened. He has form, it must be said, but what are the chances that the testosterone test is fallible?

[LittleWheelsandBig]

Sounds similar to Landis. He tested positive to something that he hadn't taken (at that time). Of course, he'd taken loads of other stuff that hadn't showed up.

[CrazyEnglishTriathlete]

Very disappointing. His press release gives the impression that he's genuinely surprised by the positive, and very annoyed, mystified and frustrated that it's happened. He has form, it must be said, but what are the chances that the testosterone test is fallible?

Unlikely that the test has failed.  More difficult to tell whether the substance got there deliberately or accidentally.  The tests are getting more and more precise and so the chance that it picks up a substance that was contamination in a factory or a given to an animal from which food products were derived goes up. 

Here's a case from another sport, horse racing, where the winner of the Hennessey Gold Cup, was disqualified due to contaminated feed.  Its worthwhile considering how this was dealt with.  The horse was injured in the race and thought that it would never race again, in any case for most horses that win this race (in cycling terms its close to a Monument) it is the biggest prize they will ever win.

http://www.bemyroyal.com/bemyroyal-in-the-spotlight/in-the-spotlight.html

[TimC]

So it could be another of Bertie's steaks? The way that was handled left Bertie with rather less credibility than he might have wished - who now thinks of him as a clean rider? If it is genuinely a case of contamination, I hope that they can prove that convincingly. 'Balance of probabilities' may work legally, but it won't convince the sceptics!

[David Martin]

The testosterone test is a bit interesting. The Landis case was a test being called positive due to misapplication of the criteria.

The test (IIRC) looks at the ratio of testosterone to epitestosterone (or something like that) but there must be sufficient of both to get a credible reading.

[David Martin]

The Landis one shouldn't have got past QC.
Not sure what their three units are (for a ratio, that could be measured in many ways)
Typically the first test is to look at the ratio of the common metabolites, and if those are out of kilter then the more sensitive but much harder to perform ratiometric test is used.

..d
 

[LittleWheelsandBig]

Landis was still doped to the eyeballs, just not for what he was caught with.

[simonp]

Contador’s positive test was probably also a red herring:

http://nyvelocity.com/articles/interviews/behind-the-scenes-of-the-contador-cas-hearing-with-michael-ashenden/

[TimC]

Contador’s positive test was probably also a red herring:

http://nyvelocity.com/articles/interviews/behind-the-scenes-of-the-contador-cas-hearing-with-michael-ashenden/

That's a very interesting article!

[Veloman]

That's a very interesting article!

I was aware of the science behind the article and consider AC to be an absolute cheat who I have little time for.  Unfortunately, many still believe the accidental ingestion of clento... story and revere him.  Seems to be attracted to teams with doping history.

[citoyen]

His press release gives the impression that he's genuinely surprised by the positive, and very annoyed, mystified and frustrated that it's happened.

He should give me a call - I can explain the most likely cause in very simple terms that even a doping twat can understand.

 

[Nuncio]

Contador’s positive test was probably also a red herring:

http://nyvelocity.com/articles/interviews/behind-the-scenes-of-the-contador-cas-hearing-with-michael-ashenden/

That's a very interesting article!

Yes. I didn't know Contador has an unusually high natural haematocrit level.