Improved methods of blood doping being used on the Tour de France are almost impossible to detect, claims former United States Postal doctor Prentice Steffen.
Steffen, who has hit out at under-fire Tour de France champion Lance Armstrong in Thursday’s L’Equipe newspaper, claims riders and their team doctors have got using the banned blood booster EPO (erythropoietin) and blood doping down to a fine art.
The 44-year-old sports medicine specialist said the relatively short lifespan of EPO in urine (three days), along with improved blood doping methods, have made it easy for riders and their teams to escape being caught.
He explained: ”I’ve been told by a well-informed source from within a team on the 2005 Tour de France how they do it.
”During training camps for the Tour some riders from certain teams use EPO which increases their red blood cell count [haematocrit level], sometimes up to about 60.”
Elevated blood levels, gained by using EPO or other blood doping methods, give a huge advantage because oxygen-rich blood cells allow the muscles to work for longer, and to recuperate better after extreme effort.
The International Cycling Union’s permitted haematocrit level is 50.
He added: ”Then a doctor will take out some of the blood and keep it in a special container so their red blood cell count can be brought back to the permitted [racing] threshold so they will sail through pre-race testing.
”The teams know that the blood testers can arrive at hotels on any day, but always between seven and eight o’clock in the morning — give or take half an hour.
”After that, there are no more controls and so the riders can be reinjected with their own blood. They race the stage with a huge advantage, their red blood cell count oscillating between 55 and 58.
”After the stage, doctors will take out some blood again to make it safe to sleep, but above all to make sure they don’t get caught in any random checks in the morning.”
Steffen’s claims have been supported by French blood doping expert Michel Audran — an outspoken authority on methods currently being used in sport.
”In a stage race, these methods are totally plausible — both scientifically and materialistically,” said Audran.
He expressed fright however at the suggestion of blood doping being carried out in the morning of a stage.
”I hope this isn’t the case, from a strictly health point of view. It normally takes an hour for a litre of blood to be properly transfused and it must be carried out in proper conditions.
”As for taking blood out after the stage, it seems totally plausible to me. The rider would have less chance of getting caught the next morning. Taking out a unit [450 millilitres] of blood would drop the haematocrit by about three points.”
For Audran, whose scientific studies have shown that athletes using micro-doses of EPO will retain it in their system for a maximum of only 24 hours, there’s only one solution.
”They would have to take blood and urine samples from riders just before the start [of the stage].
”You could also take a pinprick-sized sample of blood from every rider on the start line.” – AFP
