Lee Rodgers's Roar Profile

“Recently I came across an article where Belgian cycling physician Dr Roland Marlier made a number of proposals to the UCI Medical Commission regarding reforms on anti-doping procedures.

These reforms included:

To institute a system of licensing for doctors attached to cycling teams.

To give more thought to the method of publishing of doping control results, publishing ‘positives’ only after a counter-check has been made.

To allow the rider to be advised by a lawyer and a medical counsellor in cases of alleged doping.

The first point is something which has become more and more relevant in recent years as doctors like Michele Ferrari, Pedro Celaya and Eufemiano Fuentes have all received sanctions from the UCI. There are now UCI rules pertaining to who can and cannot be hired as a team doctor and the specific qualifications they must hold but these rules are currently not enforced.

With regards to the second point, according to the UCI’s own rules, in the case of a positive ‘A’ sample, they are only required to notify the rider, the national federation of the rider and the national anti-doping agency of the rider. In spite of this, it is the UCI’s tendency to release details of positive ‘A’ samples on their website.

The third point is one which has been addressed by the Australian anti-doping agency. They state on their website:

“This initiative provides an athlete, who has been notified of a possible anti-doping rule violation, with free access to independent and confidential counseling with qualified professionals…The aim of this initiative is to provide short-term counseling and strategies to help individuals deal with very stressful and potentially life-changing circumstances.”

Thus far, Australia is the only country in the world which provides this service to its athletes.

____________

None of the reforms suggested above have been adopted by the UCI as policy.

But what is the most unfortunate thing of all, is this – the article I read containing these reform proposals was written in a cycling magazine from 1973.”

Yes, 1973!!!!! So, when should we shut up about it? and why? Cos something is happening? Really? I don;t think so fellas…

(this excerpt comes from Cillian kelly’s article ‘doping: does nothing ever change?’ here: http://crankpunk.com/2014/01/09/doping-does-nothing-ever-change/

The Omerta is dead, long live the Omerta

Good analogy there Bobo…

Cheers Tim! Well, with guys taking AICAR and the cancer-inducing GW1516, I’d say that riders being stupid is nothing new…

Rogers’ positive test and reactions to it reflect the state cycling is in

2013

FYI: http://www.outsideonline.com/fitness/biking/Juiced-How-Riders-Will-Dope-at-the-2013-Tour-de-France.html

Good riddance to 2013

New from the UCI:

Convicted 1st-time dopers to be banned for 4 years, be fined 2 years average pro salary, and then have to climb Alpe d’Huez whilst pro pitchers hurl baseballs at them.

New from pro baseball:

Convicted dopers to be banned for 4-years, be fined 2 years average pro salary, and have to descend Alpe d’Huez on a brakeless bike…

Hi guys, thanks for the xomments, much appreciated! Agreed Tony about Longo, no class at all.

Ed, yes definitely short memories, and even less willingness to accept that we have some tough issues to deal with. ‘Let’s just move on’ demonstrates such a willful denial of these issues that it beggars belief…

MG, yes definitlely it is a social problem – but that doesn’t mean we have to give up on it. Isn;t that why we love sport? Because it offers us a chance to be something better? Something noble, even if it’s just for 90 minutes, or a 100 kilometers?

Doping amnesia rife in the sport

Enjoyed that! Cheers Tim!

Zen and the art of pedalling a pushie

Peiper started it!

Cadel Evans will not win the 2014 Giro

Haha, touche! By the way, an admission, I forgot Uran is at OPQS…

Yes I concur with that – I think they might even actually care about sometjing other than their privelidge and power…

Women's cycling still faces disparity

The rehabilitation of LA has begun. Comments like this from Cavendish only add to that.

Cavendish lets his backside do the talking

Armstrong really IS black and white. He’s still manipulating the media – see the recent CyclingNews interview, if you can call it an interview – to see what I mean. His rehabilitation is underway. Whether it gets anywhere depends on us. Does he have any place left in the sport? Yes or no? Or a maybe?

Surely it has to be no. But I guess that is too black and white.

Unless he will talk of what really happened and who was complicit, I personally don’t want to hear from him.

Greg Lemond recently said that at best without dope Armstrong would be ‘top 30’ at the Tour. His opinion only I know, but it’s a decent one to start with – he won three more Tour de France than LA, in any case!

Who knows what LA would have been without the dope? We will never know. He was a huge part of the reason we will never know, because with a character like him at the top of it, dictating things to teammates, the media and the UCI, anyone clean had no chance.

Nice effort to link black and white thinking – as you call mine – to the 20th Century’s greatest dictators (though you missed Mao, and Pol Pot, surely worth a mention). But they are from history – I thought it was best to ‘forget the past’?

Surprised it took so long for that argument to appear here, Stevo! Good work! Better late than never I guess.

Absolutely agree, Bobo, it’s one rule for our lot and another for them. Comments like Cav’s almost mock the cycling fan and are at best inherently ignorant of the pervasive nature of the problem that is screwing our sport to death. At best. How is it that this is the voice that has come from the peloton, and not one of any sense?

Agreed, we should not be looking in his direction at all for any ‘answers’…

Hesjedal positive: the tipping point for Vaughters?

Thank you Dino, much appreciated!

I have to disagree with you here Bones. I know plenty of former professionals who never doped but who knew it was going on, and who are very vocal about doping (a good few are on a Doping FB page where, funnily enough, JV is also a member, along with Joe Papp) – that have never been invited to speak to aspiring riders, never had a celebrity dinner where they read from their much-hyped book, never had a documentary made about them.

These are the guys I want to educate the new guys about the perils of doping, the ones who resisted. They are the ones we should be looking to for guidance.

The PED abuser knows best? It’s a long, long way away from say former heroin addicts speaking about the hell of addiction, than a pro cyclist with a new contract, nice house and a good car whose come back from a 2 year suspension…

If you ask current professionals who are riding clean if they want to line up next to an ‘ex- doper, (I say ex because the benefits of certain drugs are being shown to last longer than the current 2 year suspension – and also because, as in the case of Di Luca, you never know who is truly ‘ex’), the majority will say no.

Yes I meant to mention the rain, slipped my mind. Then it’ll be a doozy…!

Tour ’14: should the cobbles be included?

It will be interesting because, unlike P-R, time matters. But then you’ll have the top GV guys trying to limit the damage but the hardmen really going for it. Bring it on!

Yes I agree Tim, as I mentioned in the article, the majority of fans love to see the cobbles on any route, never mind the TdF! Should be fascinating!

Absolutely – and was it just me or was El Vino crying as he suffered on Cuddles’ wheel?

Yep, watch Boonen, right down the middle of the road!

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