So is Sir Wiggo a cheat then?

Orionaut said:
Even in the 19th, early 20th century I done think it was considered an issue. Long distance runners were routinely topped up with Brandy during their races for instance (Though I cannot think that this would have helped much :p). Since pretty much everybody was permanently stoned in the 19th century anyway I have no doubt that other narcotic use such as cocaine was pretty routine.
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Glucozade Port

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r4c-rSmBjEw
 
I don't know all the details but some of the drugs he took, such as the anti hay fever drugs have been shown not to be performance enhancing, other than to stop you suffering from hay fever of course. The TUE's for some of he others may be are a bit close to the line as it can be construed they used them for conditioning (weight loss) during the off season. But by an large I think Sky try to win fairly with respect to drug use. Obviously every other possible advantage they seek with no shame. Their team is normally impossibly strong, best equipment and training by a fair margin because they throw more cash at the problem than anyone else.
 
Did anyone watch the interview he gave to the BBC? I don't know why but I got the strange feeling that he was hiding something. There was just an inkling in the way he was phrasing things and a couple of times when he clearly used a word he wasn't intending to and then corrected himself. I could be totally wrong but I'm not sure he was being completely honest about the frequency of use.

Cycling's a ridiculous sport anyway in terms of doping, just look back at the past winners of the TDF, it's where's wally but instead of a gangly guy in striped clothes you're trying to spot the athletes who haven't been caught doping.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Doping_at_the_Tour_de_France#2015_Tour_de_France

There you go, tables at the bottom of that page, anybody highlighted in colour has a questionable history with doping.
 
He'll be microdosing PEDs as well as abusing any actual legal drugs he can like every professional athlete does. Just look at how Gareth Bale and Cristiano Ronaldo both look since they moved to Real Madrid. Also watch Icarus on Netflix if you want to know how serious the doping problem is.
 
I don't think he out righted cheated but tested the boundaries of legality with TUE. Whether you think that's not in the spirit of sport or not you can guarantee that all other teams and riders are doing the same thing.
 
FortuitousFluke said:
Did anyone watch the interview he gave to the BBC? I don't know why but I got the strange feeling that he was hiding something. There was just an inkling in the way he was phrasing things and a couple of times when he clearly used a word he wasn't intending to and then corrected himself. I could be totally wrong but I'm not sure he was being completely honest about the frequency of use.
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There'll inevitably be a legal case to follow this, and I imagine he doesn't want to say something now that may later contradict his legal position.
 
Skillmister said:
There were probably identical headlines at the time "Lance Armstrong says he 100% did not cheat"
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Lance was extremely careful with his wording, and as someone said above Wiggins seems to be trying to do the same thing in the BBC interview but made a hash of it.
 
Orionaut said:
Snipped for space Then all of the sudden everything changed.

I can think of some reasons for doing so, but the level playing field thing doesn't really wash.

Why is it any more unfair to use steroids than it is to use a specially designed and built ultra-light graphine bicycle?

Or fancy trainers?

Or training at altitude?

Or whatever?
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Tom Simpson's death when cycling up Mont Ventoux was perhaps a bit of a wake up call to sport, he'd taken amphetamines (not all that unusual for the time and he was open about his drug taking) which allowed him to push on beyond his natural limits.

You're right there's often a very fine line between what is an acceptable addition to a training regime and what is considered to be doping. I suspect part of the reason why doping isn't allowed is not because of the level playing field argument as such but that if it was allowed then the governing bodies would be complicit in effectively forcing athletes to take drugs (and frequently impair their health in later life) to compete at the highest level. As it stands many athletes may feel they have little choice in taking drugs to compete anyway but they cannot be open about it and that may actually be less safe in some ways since the athlete may have to go to further lengths to mask their drug taking and would have to go to doctors who are perhaps not so concerned by the medical and ethical standards of their profession as those who are unwilling to participate in doping.
 
Probably, if they find something they can get away with taking you better believe they'll do it. Lots of money going into cycling so the stakes are quite high. .
 
AFAIK what he is accused of is not technically cheating but rather exploiting loopholes in the rules a la tax avoidance, it's morally wrong but not illegal. If they don't want it being abused then all medicines which enhance performance should be banned. Got hayfever? tough! either race without medicine and accept that your ailment puts you at a disadvantage or get a career that doesn't require you to be at peak physical fitness unaided.
 
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Diddums said:
They just need to open these events to any drug use the athletes want. That way we get rid of all the cheating and hopefully some of them take shrooms or whatever which will boost viewer statistics overnight.
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This! Give them all bath salts and we'd have a televised battle royale.
 
The differences between top athletes perfromance is generally pretty small.

However, the difference between drugs/no drugs is apparently vast, so if one team or individual is doing it then they must all be on something?. Otherwise they'd stand no chance of competing at the same level.
 
I found the statistic pretty alarming that 40% of elite cyclists are supposedly asthmatic. Seems pretty convenient that.

It doesn't look good though, I've listened to a lot of interviews about it since yesterday on 5 Live and Talksport from people on both sides and some doctors are saying it would at most put him on a level playing field if he has allergies/asthma and others are saying (David Millar) that it was the most potent PED that he used.
Most people seemed to say that it is something that asthmatics are given when they are basically on the verge of needing to go to hospital though, so if that's genuinely the case, you have to ask should he be doing a pro cycling event?
 
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