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I don’t buy his theory that Lance was clean early in his career because he only won one day races up to that point. Exogenous EPO was available for the first ti

I don’t buy his theory that Lance was clean early in his career because he only won one day races up to that point. Exogenous EPO was available for the first time by the time Indurain began his run on the Tour de France several years earlier- this was quite startling because he was huge weight wise by grand tour standards up to that time. Armstrong might just have not dialed in the doping just right in those early years, the system exposed in the USPS fraud trial was very extensive. For a similar surprising result for a relatively heavy one day specialist I remember one of Armstrong’s teammates Hincapie winning a stage with a mountaintop finish and thinking they’re really just shoving it in our faces now.

nafnlj 3y ago
(I am the author of the article) You are correct that he wasn't clean early in his career. He admitted to first using a banned substance in 1993, which was the year he won the World Championship, and I recall the 2012 investigation had testimony of his using drugs on Motorola in 1994. I also don't think there's any convincing evidence he actually lost much weight in 98 when he had his first high GT finish at the Vuelta. There are probably many possible reasons for how he transformed into a grand tour contender in 1998 -- from "dialing it in" to completely changing the strategy, but I haven't seen any agreed upon theory.
- stevenwoo 3y ago
  Also, him switching from triathlon to bicycle racing may have been just an easier transition at first with one day bicycle events.
hibikir 3y ago
I don't think anyone should buy any story that any cyclist was clean anywhere near a professional circuit. My uncle was president of a national road cycling federation. He had been involved with cycling teams, professional and amateur, since the 50s. He never raced himself, but many people wanted to be his friends: My grandmother owned a pharmacy, and he had access to get anything he wanted out of said pharmacy. So I'd hear the stories over dinner, or as we were following the peloton on stages that were nearby. He'd provide "pharmacological support" not just to racers alone, but team managers. He was more important in the 60s and 70s, when testing was really bad, and the substances racers would need were almost entirely things you'd get at the pharmacy counter. As doping became more professionalized, there was more use for specialized doctors, and things you couldn't just get straight from the pharmacy supplies, but contact higher up in the drug supply chain would still be helpful getting more exotic things. Eventually he got caught: He was in the news as the police detained him and a few lower-tier racers. But since this wasn't, say, Movistar or Visma-Lease getting caught, it wasn't in every news feed, but it's someone that had been helping doping for decades. It might be too much to say that everyone riding the Vuelta or the Tour for the last 50 years was definitely doping, but I'd expect that it's far more than 50-50. People don't keep up with top talent that is doing EPO and blood transfusions by just eating a lot of pasta for breakfast.

nafnlj 3y ago

(I am the author of the article) You are correct that he wasn't clean early in his career. He admitted to first using a banned substance in 1993, which was the year he won the World Championship, and I recall the 2012 investigation had testimony of his using drugs on Motorola in 1994. I also don't think there's any convincing evidence he actually lost much weight in 98 when he had his first high GT finish at the Vuelta. There are probably many possible reasons for how he transformed into a grand tour contender in 1998 -- from "dialing it in" to completely changing the strategy, but I haven't seen any agreed upon theory.

stevenwoo 3y ago
Also, him switching from triathlon to bicycle racing may have been just an easier transition at first with one day bicycle events.

hibikir 3y ago

I don't think anyone should buy any story that any cyclist was clean anywhere near a professional circuit. My uncle was president of a national road cycling federation. He had been involved with cycling teams, professional and amateur, since the 50s. He never raced himself, but many people wanted to be his friends: My grandmother owned a pharmacy, and he had access to get anything he wanted out of said pharmacy. So I'd hear the stories over dinner, or as we were following the peloton on stages that were nearby. He'd provide "pharmacological support" not just to racers alone, but team managers. He was more important in the 60s and 70s, when testing was really bad, and the substances racers would need were almost entirely things you'd get at the pharmacy counter. As doping became more professionalized, there was more use for specialized doctors, and things you couldn't just get straight from the pharmacy supplies, but contact higher up in the drug supply chain would still be helpful getting more exotic things. Eventually he got caught: He was in the news as the police detained him and a few lower-tier racers. But since this wasn't, say, Movistar or Visma-Lease getting caught, it wasn't in every news feed, but it's someone that had been helping doping for decades. It might be too much to say that everyone riding the Vuelta or the Tour for the last 50 years was definitely doping, but I'd expect that it's far more than 50-50. People don't keep up with top talent that is doing EPO and blood transfusions by just eating a lot of pasta for breakfast.