The World Anti-Doping Agency said Wednesday Italian rider Riccardo Riccò tested positive at the Tour de France after a secret molecule was planted in the blood booster EPO during its manufacture.
Riccò, 24, upset the big names of the sport to win two stages of this year’s Tour before he was kicked off after testing positive for EPO (erythropoietin).
Revealing the now high-tech nature of the fight against drugs in sport, WADA chief John Fahey said his organization worked with drugs giant Roche on the newest version of EPO (erythropoietin).
He said Roche had included a molecule in the third generation of EPO, called Continuous Erythropoiesis Receptor Activator (CERA) that acted as a marker in drug tests.
“In the development of that particular substance, close cooperation occurred between WADA and the pharmaceutical company Roche Pharmaceuticals so that there was a molecule placed in the substance well in advance that was always going to be able to be detected once a test was taken,” Fahey told public radio in his native Australia.
Until this year’s Tour, CERA, which is released into the body more slowly than its predecessors, had been thought to be undetectable by drug testers.
Followers of sport have been calling for markers to be placed into certain performance-enhancing drugs for years, and it appears as though it’s finally happening.
In the United States, it would be nearly impossible to insert a marker into a drug after the fact, as it would have to go through the entire testing and approval process from the FDA all over again, which is why Epogen® and Aranesp® (Amgen’s EPO drugs) have taken so long to become detectable; they weren’t designed with the markers already built in, so the drug-testers had to devise another way.
But Mircera® (the brand-name for CERA) was developed with the marker already built in; a fact that surely would have been disclosed to the approvers, and obviously to WADA, but not widely spread, especially to the athletes. And what better way to catch the cheaters than to not tell them HOW you’re going to catch them.
This is the right way to catch drug cheats; not witch hunts.
Yeah, Floyd Landis likely doped. He still got screwed by a system which admits no wrong … and the system still has a lot of other problems. Now that Dick Pound is no longer pounding his dick at WADA, their organizational issues should get better. It’s too bad he’s now a part of the Court of Arbitration for Sport, but one step at a time … and we’ll clean up both the sport and the governing bodies.
I cannot think of a more beautiful stage of any Tour de France than those that finish atop l’Alpe.
From Fausto Coppi’s win on the maiden stage in 1952, to Greg LeMond’s battle with Bernard Hinault in 1986, to Andy Hampsten’s solo excursion in 1992, to Pantani’s devastating attacks in 1995 and 1997, to “The Look” Lance Armstrong gave to Jan Ullrich in 2001, before attacking to win the stage and take the yellow jersey.
In all but 5 of the Tours de France during which a stage has concluded on l’Alpe d’Huez, the person who wore the maillot jaune at the end of the stage went on to take the final yellow jersey in Paris as the winner of that year’s race.
It’s no wonder that this mountain has the reputation as the most difficult climb in the Tour.
Sure, there are longer climbs and steeper climbs, but no mountaintop finish carries as much prestige as the Alpe … and there have been no unworthy winners of the stage.
In this year’s Tour, the only active rider to have won atop the Alpe d’Huez is Frank Schleck, who won the stage in 2006, during Floyd Landis’s ill-fated Tour de France win. Frank is wearing the yellow jersey today.
Will he still be wearing it at day’s end? Will he be able to get away, and win the stage again (and the Tour, for the first time)?
Oh, I wish I didn’t have to work today. I can’t wait to watch the DVR coverage this evening when I get home.
One of the things I really like about my new iPhone is the number of apps available (many for free) to expand its capabilities. One such program is the new WordPress for iPhone app, which gives the WordPress-based blogger the ability to update a blog from anywhere.
Most mobile blogging applications merely give one the ability to upload a photo with a brief caption over MMS, whereas this app gives the moblogger a good clean admin interface from which a full post can be posted, as I’m doing with this very post.
I’ll have to play with it more to figure out all its functionality but so far so good.
» by flahute in: Music on 22 July 2008 at 04:34:55 UTC |
I think it’s time again for a little Leonard Cohen Hallelujah action … it’s been just about 8 months since I posted Allison Crowe’s version of the song, and about 17 months since I posted the lyrics I’ve been able to determine from various different versions.
John Cale, who performed the song on the Basquiat soundtrack, did say that he got something like 15 pages (or at least 15 verses) from Leonard Cohen when he asked for a copy … I’d really love to see the other verses that I’ve not been able to gather.
In any case, Jeff Buckley and Rufus Wainwright both do wonderful versions of the song, although I have to admit, I find Jeff Buckley’s rendition to be far more powerful.
The initial trailer is ready for Cianna P. Stewart’s new documentary It’s Not Porn: Behind the doors of a modern pin-up company. As a reminder, the basic treatment is as follows:
In the world of erotic photography, sexy women are objects whose pictures garner huge profits for other people. A handful of young entrepreneurs have decided to upset this system, putting control into the hands of the models & photographers, challenging who defines “sexy,” and creating a new revenue model for the next wave of the internet. Will they succeed? And what happens when regular women become known as online pin-up stars?
Cianna is still looking for investors to help complete the film, which she hopes to premiere at the SXSW Film Festival in March 2010; so if you happen to know anyone willing to buy shares, head over to Thumbnail Productions and get in touch.
The company being profiled, Zivity has been garnering a fair amount of attention in the press lately, and the quality of the photoshoots are outstanding. If you think you’ve got something to offer, then head on over and apply to be in the beta … it’s currently free, but when the site comes out of public beta early next year, it will be subscription-based; probably around $10.00/month.
I’ve got ten invites to give out, and I’ve been hoarding them … but if you want one, let me know (and why).
» by flahute in: Cycling on 19 July 2008 at 02:30:24 UTC |
Sly and T-Bird say that soy will kill us all … but the next big stage race in the US is known locally as “TOFU” …
Wonder if the winner will be vegan?
As much as I can’t stand Larry H. Miller, I sure am glad that he is choosing to sink some of his money into our little sport. Thankfully, he’s not making sure that the race has a ZZZZZZZZZ at the end like everything else he touches.
One of the things I really like about my new iPhone is the number of apps available (many for free) to expand its capabilities. One such program is the new 
Sly and T-Bird say that soy will kill us all … but the next big stage race in the US is known locally as “
