Pro Cycling Discussion 2016

Ugh, as Hoy said - what a week for British Cycling. Still, all the bad stuff seems to be centred on Australia...

Seriously though, must all the pro cyclists have athsma? Its that grey area between completely natural food and what you might call traditional doping but makes the ignorant attacks of "all cyclists dope" so much easier.
 
SoliD said:
Just seen this! Hopefully nothing but a mistake by the doctor but can't see it being that unfortunately!
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GSVBagpuss said:
Ugh, as Hoy said - what a week for British Cycling. Still, all the bad stuff seems to be centred on Australia...

Seriously though, must all the pro cyclists have athsma? Its that grey area between completely natural food and what you might call traditional doping but makes the ignorant attacks of "all cyclists dope" so much easier.
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It is 'interesting' the number of top athletes who have asthma or similar conditions a bit like Russian elite competitors with their hear conditions it all seems a little coincidental to me!

I also find it difficult to but the administrative error thing, this is a major cycling team who know exactly what will happen if they don't submit the forms so how can it happen? My kids nursery can tell me when he had calpol and they don't have anything like the cash a pro cycling team does!

Like others I hope it turns out to be nothing but expect Mr Swift to be taking a break from the sport! Crap week for cycling just got worse as you always hope we've seen the end of the doping rubbish.
 
It's just like all the runners on thyroid meds :rolleyes:

I have openly seen inhalers used, or should I say, misused.... It all seems rather easy, there is definitely gains in performance can be made and dare I say most people could pop down the docs and be given an inhaler because athsma is seen as a common and easily cured/ignored condition by puffing an inhaler. Not sayng Yates doesn't have athsma, more a poke at how athsma and inhalers is seen in the UK and the potential to easily misuse the meds by even Joe Average.

Very bad on the team docs part, this is absolute basics as far as a pro team is considered. If at the time of administering it was noted, signed off and all is in ordered, he just didn't get TUE, I reckon this will be moved on and Yates won't be punished in any way. Team doc be lucky to stay in job though.
 
Gender equality.

Tour of Yorkshire.

Women race 1 stage for more prize money than the men get who have to do 3 stages.....

It should be equal money for an equal number of stages and riders as competition, if the air time is equal also to help advertise and promote.
 
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GSVBagpuss said:
Seriously though, must all the pro cyclists have athsma? Its that grey area between completely natural food and what you might call traditional doping but makes the ignorant attacks of "all cyclists dope" so much easier.
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I've seen such a complaint from a lot of people today, I'm not sure it's entirely fair. For one thing, asthma is on the rise anyway as a result of poor air quality in cities. But perhaps more relevantly, asthma or asthma like symptoms can actually be directly caused by intensive exercise, especially in adverse weather conditions. It causes fissures in your lungs which can be repaired with scar tissue, which itself can be more sensitive to rapid expansion and contraction. Regular intensive exercise is also one of the exact situations in which you'd expect asthma symptoms to materialise or to worsen, even in the case of mild asthma that you might not even notice in day to day life. Not sure where the figure comes from, but I've heard some say that probably 50% of the pro peloton suffers from it to some degree, and you certainly see a lot of them complaining about the "post-prologue cough".

There's also the fact that there's been several studies, some very recently, that found no performance benefit at all to inhaling bronchodilating steroids unless you actually have broncoconstriction (asthma), in which case the best possible outcome is to return lung function to a normal level. In the case of Yates' drug, Terbutaline, I found one study which said it could have a slight effect on muscle strength but actually a detrimental effect on endurance. None of the studies were particularly comprehensive, usually 10-20 participants, but I'm not sure quite how you'd justify risking the use of a PED, when there's little reason to believe that it would actually enhance your performance.
 
I agree on the asthma front with PermaBanned. It's probably a lot more prevalent than people realise but 90% of the population are such lazy oiks that they never work hard enough to find out they have it. Taking a reliever inhaler has no performance benefits other than returning people to a normal healthy state. If you're really curious, you can try it as you have to have plenty of puffs before you exceed the WADA limit. It won't do anything for a healthy rider.

Annoyingly I seem to have started developing some asthma like symptoms after rides (chest tightness, wheeziness etc) and know plenty of others like me so it's not totally unusual. Cyclists will be exposed to poorer quality air a lot more than other athletes so it's understandable.

I've no doubt there is some abuse going on with regards to preventer inhalers being used to give people free access to inhaled steroids though.
 
One More Solo said:
Annoyingly I seem to have started developing some asthma like symptoms after rides (chest tightness, wheeziness etc) and know plenty of others like me so it's not totally unusual. Cyclists will be exposed to poorer quality air a lot more than other athletes so it's understandable.
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I mentioned having the wheezy coughs after cold rides in winter last year during a Bupa health assessment. They reckoned it was London more than anything as I had recently moved from Kent/Sussex and never had the symptoms before.
 
It was indeed a good read. My initial reaction was also informed by that sinking feeling of "not again, another case I have to defend my favourite sport again".

Pete Kennaugh went way down in my estimation on Twitter - telling Emma Pooley to "get over it" was laughably childish
 
ITV4: "Due to technical issues we wont be showing today's women's race. But you can follow @letouryorkshire for all race updates"

Nah. They just wanted to play a fishing show instead...
 
The un-interrupted coverage directly above the front of the bunch for the last few K's was amazing. Watching proper lead outs and seeing how damn physical they get trying to get their trains going was something I have never seen to that extent before.

If you missed it today, 100% get it watched, brilliant.
 
xdcx said:
The un-interrupted coverage directly above the front of the bunch for the last few K's was amazing. Watching proper lead outs and seeing how damn physical they get trying to get their trains going was something I have never seen to that extent before.

If you missed it today, 100% get it watched, brilliant.
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They got it working again in the end? :o

I got fed up and went for a ride :D
 
Lethal` said:
They got it working again in the end? :o

I got fed up and went for a ride :D
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I only seen the highlights man. Had a week from hell so struggling to keep up to date with everything but the highlights at 8pm were spot on. Hopefully see the stage live tomorrow and consume 6 cups of coffee in the process :cool:
 
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