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| Even for Fastest Riders, New Doping Questions Are Never Far Behind | |
| (about 2 hours later) | |
| PARIS — Chris Froome, crowned the Tour de France winner on Sunday, was being peppered at a recent news conference with questions that furtively nibbled at a bigger issue — have you doped? — when his team director leapt into the fray, bubbling with frustration. | PARIS — Chris Froome, crowned the Tour de France winner on Sunday, was being peppered at a recent news conference with questions that furtively nibbled at a bigger issue — have you doped? — when his team director leapt into the fray, bubbling with frustration. |
| “We’ve racked our brains thinking about ways we can satisfy people and make these questions go away,” said Dave Brailsford, the Sky Procycling team principal. “Why don’t you collectively get organized and you tell me what we could do so you wouldn’t have to ask the question?” | “We’ve racked our brains thinking about ways we can satisfy people and make these questions go away,” said Dave Brailsford, the Sky Procycling team principal. “Why don’t you collectively get organized and you tell me what we could do so you wouldn’t have to ask the question?” |
| Whether one viewed Brailsford’s offer as cynical or sincere, there was an undeniable truth underlying his point: there really is no hard and fast mechanism by which cyclists can prove that they are not using banned substances. Testers can be fooled. Pledges can be broken. | Whether one viewed Brailsford’s offer as cynical or sincere, there was an undeniable truth underlying his point: there really is no hard and fast mechanism by which cyclists can prove that they are not using banned substances. Testers can be fooled. Pledges can be broken. |
| Even when teams release doping test results and performance data to independent physiologists and journalists, as Sky did last week with information from several of Froome’s races, no one can say definitively that cyclists are not using prohibited substances. | Even when teams release doping test results and performance data to independent physiologists and journalists, as Sky did last week with information from several of Froome’s races, no one can say definitively that cyclists are not using prohibited substances. |
| There are no perfect tests capable of catching every banned substance every time. Moreover, human physiology is so complex, and medical science’s understanding of its bounds so limited, that drawing a line between an exceptional but clean performance and a drug-enhanced performance is a tricky, arguably impossible, proposition. | There are no perfect tests capable of catching every banned substance every time. Moreover, human physiology is so complex, and medical science’s understanding of its bounds so limited, that drawing a line between an exceptional but clean performance and a drug-enhanced performance is a tricky, arguably impossible, proposition. |
| The sports scientists and the journalists who analyzed Froome’s data carefully put it this way: the rider’s performances were in the realm of the humanly possible. And that was the best Froome and Sky could hope for. | The sports scientists and the journalists who analyzed Froome’s data carefully put it this way: the rider’s performances were in the realm of the humanly possible. And that was the best Froome and Sky could hope for. |
| “Basically, it is to say these performances were very good, strong, clean sporting performances,” Froome said. | “Basically, it is to say these performances were very good, strong, clean sporting performances,” Froome said. |
| Yet no one believes the questions will stop, if only because Froome is capable of exceptional performances — as when he left the Tour field behind on a climb in the Pyrenees, recording speeds and power that rivaled riders in the doping years. Even Froome has acknowledged that the doping questions, while disheartening, are legitimate in the post-Lance Armstrong era. | Yet no one believes the questions will stop, if only because Froome is capable of exceptional performances — as when he left the Tour field behind on a climb in the Pyrenees, recording speeds and power that rivaled riders in the doping years. Even Froome has acknowledged that the doping questions, while disheartening, are legitimate in the post-Lance Armstrong era. |
| Jonathan Vaughters, a former rider who admitted to doping years ago and is now an antidoping advocate as team manager of Garmin-Sharp, said the sport had lost credibility. Until that changes, he said, the top riders will be asked questions that they can never satisfactorily answer. | Jonathan Vaughters, a former rider who admitted to doping years ago and is now an antidoping advocate as team manager of Garmin-Sharp, said the sport had lost credibility. Until that changes, he said, the top riders will be asked questions that they can never satisfactorily answer. |
| “If you took a hypothetical situation where everyone knew that the antidoping controls were 100 percent effective, then these questions wouldn’t be asked,” Vaughters said. “And it wouldn’t be placed on Chris Froome.” | “If you took a hypothetical situation where everyone knew that the antidoping controls were 100 percent effective, then these questions wouldn’t be asked,” Vaughters said. “And it wouldn’t be placed on Chris Froome.” |
| Vaughters argues that the onus for cleaning up the sport’s image should lie not with individual riders or even teams, but with its governing body, the International Cycling Union. The union points out that its testing program has been strengthened significantly, and many critics agree. But those critics, including Vaughters, say the union should take the additional step of ceding responsibility for testing to a fully independent agency. | Vaughters argues that the onus for cleaning up the sport’s image should lie not with individual riders or even teams, but with its governing body, the International Cycling Union. The union points out that its testing program has been strengthened significantly, and many critics agree. But those critics, including Vaughters, say the union should take the additional step of ceding responsibility for testing to a fully independent agency. |
| The union’s president, Pat McQuaid, opposes that idea, but a challenger for leadership of the organization, Brian Cookson, has endorsed it. | The union’s president, Pat McQuaid, opposes that idea, but a challenger for leadership of the organization, Brian Cookson, has endorsed it. |
| Even a change in leadership would be only a start, Vaughters said. “This is a long war, and this isn’t going to resolve itself with one or two definitive actions,” he added. “Re-establishing credibility is incredibly hard. Losing it is easy.” | Even a change in leadership would be only a start, Vaughters said. “This is a long war, and this isn’t going to resolve itself with one or two definitive actions,” he added. “Re-establishing credibility is incredibly hard. Losing it is easy.” |
| Like Froome, other riders in the peloton say they understand the skepticism about their performances. But they are also frustrated by their inability to put the questions to rest. | Like Froome, other riders in the peloton say they understand the skepticism about their performances. But they are also frustrated by their inability to put the questions to rest. |
| Andrew Talansky, an American rookie in the Tour this year with Garmin-Sharp, said he hoped some middle ground would emerge between blind faith and equally blind skepticism. | Andrew Talansky, an American rookie in the Tour this year with Garmin-Sharp, said he hoped some middle ground would emerge between blind faith and equally blind skepticism. |
| “If you want to look at it with a skeptical eye and say, ‘O.K., I see a performance that I don’t 100 percent believe in,’ that’s fine,” Talansky said. “As long as there’s room in there for people to eventually see that the performances they are witnessing in the Tour are real.” | “If you want to look at it with a skeptical eye and say, ‘O.K., I see a performance that I don’t 100 percent believe in,’ that’s fine,” Talansky said. “As long as there’s room in there for people to eventually see that the performances they are witnessing in the Tour are real.” |
| Yet for some, such faith is just not possible anymore. They say they have seen too many doping scandals that were followed by promises for a cleaner day but instead gave way to new scandals. That is why some scientists and cycling journalists have taken it upon themselves to try to police the sport independently, and from afar, with whatever scientific data they can obtain. | Yet for some, such faith is just not possible anymore. They say they have seen too many doping scandals that were followed by promises for a cleaner day but instead gave way to new scandals. That is why some scientists and cycling journalists have taken it upon themselves to try to police the sport independently, and from afar, with whatever scientific data they can obtain. |
| Those watchdogs acknowledge that their methods are imperfect, and they do their best to avoid actually accusing anyone of doping. But in a world where there are no perfect tests, and where teams are reluctant to release physiological data about their athletes, the watchdogs’ long-distance monitoring is crucial, they say. | Those watchdogs acknowledge that their methods are imperfect, and they do their best to avoid actually accusing anyone of doping. But in a world where there are no perfect tests, and where teams are reluctant to release physiological data about their athletes, the watchdogs’ long-distance monitoring is crucial, they say. |
| “The value of the process is not to look for that definitive answer; it’s to interrogate the performances critically,” said Ross Tucker, a senior lecturer at the University of Cape Town in South Africa who evaluates cycling performances on sportsscientists.com. | “The value of the process is not to look for that definitive answer; it’s to interrogate the performances critically,” said Ross Tucker, a senior lecturer at the University of Cape Town in South Africa who evaluates cycling performances on sportsscientists.com. |
| Scientific skeptics including Tucker say they believe cycling has been cleaned up significantly in recent years, as evidenced by slower times up big mountains. But some of Froome’s dominant climbs in this year’s Tour raised eyebrows anew. | Scientific skeptics including Tucker say they believe cycling has been cleaned up significantly in recent years, as evidenced by slower times up big mountains. But some of Froome’s dominant climbs in this year’s Tour raised eyebrows anew. |
| By the same logic, Froome’s stumbles have served to bolster his case that he is clean. While chasing other riders on the second ascent of Alpe d’Huez last week, he “bonked,” as riders put it when they have low blood sugar. As a consequence, he slowed to eat an energy gel and lost time. “Froome today definitely looked like a regular guy,” Tucker said in an e-mail after the stage. | By the same logic, Froome’s stumbles have served to bolster his case that he is clean. While chasing other riders on the second ascent of Alpe d’Huez last week, he “bonked,” as riders put it when they have low blood sugar. As a consequence, he slowed to eat an energy gel and lost time. “Froome today definitely looked like a regular guy,” Tucker said in an e-mail after the stage. |
| It is perhaps that human side that fans come to see when they crowd the roadsides of rural France each year, doping clouds notwithstanding. Anyone can ride a bike, those fans will tell you. But to do it over 21 stages, more than 2,100 miles and 2 mountain ranges requires not just superb conditioning but an ability to endure suffering on a Homeric scale. To the most ardent among them, it is a form of poetry. | It is perhaps that human side that fans come to see when they crowd the roadsides of rural France each year, doping clouds notwithstanding. Anyone can ride a bike, those fans will tell you. But to do it over 21 stages, more than 2,100 miles and 2 mountain ranges requires not just superb conditioning but an ability to endure suffering on a Homeric scale. To the most ardent among them, it is a form of poetry. |
| Michael Barratt, for one, still keeps the faith. “If they haven’t been caught, then they’re not on dope,” Barratt, a plumber from near Yorkshire, England, said while waiting for Froome to start his climb up Mont Ventoux last week. “I’m pretty black and white about it.” | Michael Barratt, for one, still keeps the faith. “If they haven’t been caught, then they’re not on dope,” Barratt, a plumber from near Yorkshire, England, said while waiting for Froome to start his climb up Mont Ventoux last week. “I’m pretty black and white about it.” |
| And if they test positive? “Well, then they’re lying,” Barratt said, finishing his sentence with a word that could not be printed. “But it won’t spoil the sport for me.” | And if they test positive? “Well, then they’re lying,” Barratt said, finishing his sentence with a word that could not be printed. “But it won’t spoil the sport for me.” |