Drugs. A good thing for Le Tour 2012?

[Jakob]

Doping is still rife in baseball. There's at least 2-3 minor leaguers caught every month, predominantly pitchers. (They use it for recovery and not so much strength/stamina). Most seem to fall in the trap when trying to recover from injury, which is almost understandable. I mean, they're not trying to cheat, they're just trying to become healthy again.

[Exit Stage Left]

The TdF is much cleaner now. Ask Jens.

He said "cleaner" he didn't say "clean".  I think that's probably as much as we can hope for.

I'd suggest watching that interview again after consulting some literature on body language when lying. But Jens is essentially the pro's shop steward, so he has to look after the interest of the broad sweep of his membership.

[spesh]

Regarding whether racing in the Tour de France is getting cleaner, the second part of this post from 9th July on The Science of Sport blog might be worth a read:

http://www.sportsscientists.com/2012/07/tour-in-mountains-analysis-discussion.html

[TimC]

So, Valverde. Interesting ...

I did have a little doubt cross my mind too, especially when it looked like he might run away with the stage. But, toward the end he was hurting and was definitely vulnerable to Froome, had he been let loose. So I'll keep an open mind. But as one of the least repentant dopers, it irks that he has taken a stage - though it was exciting to watch.

[Wowbagger]

I heard a snippet, but wasn't listening very attentively, on R4 this afternoon in which someone has suggested that this tour is almost certainly much freer of drugs than previous ones. The evidence was something like the watts per kg of rider weight that they could generate. A cyclist who has been doping is somewhere around 6.5W/kg whereas one who hasn't is nearer 6. The suggestion was that this is evidence that transcends the fact that each year the tour follows a different route and has a variety of weather conditions.

[spesh]

I heard a snippet, but wasn't listening very attentively, on R4 this afternoon in which someone has suggested that this tour is almost certainly much freer of drugs than previous ones. The evidence was something like the watts per kg of rider weight that they could generate. A cyclist who has been doping is somewhere around 6.5W/kg whereas one who hasn't is nearer 6. The suggestion was that this is evidence that transcends the fact that each year the tour follows a different route and has a variety of weather conditions.

That's pretty much the precis of the article I linked to in my previous post, though to expand on the point made on the radio, it's more that the dopers could sustain 6.5W/kg for the 40 minutes or more required to get up the highest mountain passes. The article does say that riders in this year's edition may be hitting >6W/kg, but not for anywhere near as long as during the 1990s and most of the 2000s.

[microphonie]

Doping is still rife in baseball. There's at least 2-3 minor leaguers caught every month, predominantly pitchers. (They use it for recovery and not so much strength/stamina). Most seem to fall in the trap when trying to recover from injury, which is almost understandable. I mean, they're not trying to cheat, they're just trying to become healthy again.

This documentary about the 1988 Olympic 100m final is worth a watch regarding the attitude towards doping in athletics: The Race That Shook The World .

Note the comment about the indicator for use of human growth hormone & the appearance of a certain Mr Lewis late in the programme (legal note: obviously coincidence!). Also the comment about the retrospective testing of samples from 1984 Atlanta games using modern techniques.

Just shows that the oft repeated comment about cycling hitting the headlines because the testing is more rigorous & open than other sports could well be true.

[Cudzoziemiec]

I've just learnt that in the Paris Olympics of 1924 wine was provided at the refreshment stations for the marathon runners. Perhaps this kind of doping could be reintroduced, using beer obviously for the London Games? The competitors in the road race could stop for a pint or two before climbing Box Hill - how would you say "I dare" in Classical Greek?

[TheLurker]

Don't know about classical, but in Δημοτική you've got a choice;

  Τολμώ     - To be brave enough.
  Προκαλώ - To challenge.

I think Προκαλώ is the appropriate choice, summat like,  "Σε προκαλώ να κανέι ...", I challenge (dare) you to do...