A New Report Says Dopers Are Still Cheating by Cleverly Manipulating One Loophole
While we’d all like to believe that anti-doping measures have improved since the days of Lance Armstrong, who managed to avoid testing positive despite using performance-enhancing drugs throughout his 1999-2005 Tour de France reign, that might not be true.
According to a special report by Marca, who examined the full investigation from Operation Ilex, professional cyclists may still be using performance-enhancing drugs and working the system in order to avoid testing positive.
The report specifically investigated University of Extremadura professor Dr. Marcos Maynar, who has been accused of providing prohibited drugs to riders, including Miguel Ángel López.
According to Cycling News, “The report from the Civil Guard’s Public Health and Doping Section of the Central Unit (UCO) suggests that riders in Spain know they have a window of time to allow their bodies to clear doping substances before the doping control officers can show up because they do not carry out testing at night or during weekends.”
So why not start testing at all hours? Privacy laws in Spain conveniently prohibit doping controls at athletes’ homes between 11:00 p.m. and 6:00 a.m. In some cases, that’s a window of time just long enough to clear certain drugs from the system.
Cycling News reported that an unnamed anti-doping expert told Marca, “They have studies in which they know how long the substance lasts in their body and that means that, for example, doctors can ‘prescribe’ a substance at 11:01 p.m. so that, at 6:00 in the morning, there is no longer a trace in your body.”
Another area of concern for anti-doping authorities is the requirement for samples to be sent for analysis within 48 hours of being taken. This creates issues for countries with limited access to accredited laboratories.
Cycling Weekly reported that, “As a result in Spain, for example, blood samples taken as part of out-of-competition testing can only be taken until midday on Thursdays to enable officers to meet the 48 hour window.”
The same anonymous source told Marca that this means riders are becoming even more versed in exactly how to manipulate the system using the testing requirements to their advantage. Essentially, from Thursday to Sunday riders know that they can do whatever they want because they will not be tested. That’s a heck of a wide open window if you ask us!
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