Stage 15 of the 2009 Tour De France was a punishing 207km race from Pontarlier, France to Verbier, Switzerland. It culminated in a long, 8km climb with an average grade of 7.7 percent.
There, Alberto Contador took the stage, beating nearest competitor Andy Schleck by 40 seconds. It was the fastest climb in the history of the Tour.
So fast that three-time tour winner Greg LeMond thinks it's impossible without drugs.
Following the stage LeMond did some quick math and wrote a column for Le Monde claiming Contador's climb is impossible at that speed without performance enhancing drugs.
The length and grade would require a level of oxygen transport (VO2) "that has never been achieved by any athlete in any sport."
LeMond calculates Contador's VO2 max as 99.5 ml/mn/kg, which
LeMond claims has never been achieved.
(LeMond has been calculated at 92.5 ml/mn/kg [26]).
"The burden is then on Alberto Contador to prove he is physically capable of performing this feat without the use of performance-enhancing products,"
LeMond requates Contador's stage win to a Mercedes winning a
Formula 1 race. "There is something wrong," LeMond
writes. "It would be interesting to know what's under the
hood."
Physiology expert Andrew Coggan questioned LeMond's
allegations the same day saying LeMond got his math wrong.
Coggan wrote in cyclingnews.com: "a more reasonable
estimate of Contador's power during that ascent is about 450 W,
which would require a sustained VO2 of 'only' 80
mL/kg/min"(although if this is operating at 90% his VO2 Max
would still the very high figure of 89 mL/kg/min); which is
"still high, but not so high that you can definitively state
that it can only be achieved via doping."
LeMond's criticisms were based on calculations made by
former Festina cycling team trainer Antoine Vayer; according to
Coggan, "Vayer may have failed to take into account that air
is less dense at altitude and also incorrectly estimated
Contador's aerodynamic drag".
But, if this is why LeMond is wrong, why has Contador refused to
reveal his VO2 max for the ride and dodge every question lobbed to
him about the allegations?
I agree with LeMond's theory: Contador was doing some
kind of doping on the Verbier climb.
Lance, Contradoper, and the other top guys just blood dope with their own blood.(transfusions). This has exactly the same effect as EPO without giving the dead give away of high rectics. EPO doping is a thing of the past. Lance Pharmstrong certainly is not clean!! If he was he would have been a DNF or outside the top 50 right away. Dropped!
The riders can have their own blood spun in a centrifuge (the plasma volume is spun off to the outside. Leaving pure red cells that can be frozen in a storage solution for up to 10 bloody years! Taking back a liter of red cells with 2 or 3 transfusions over a couple of weeks will give a 20% point increase in red cell volume, and up or past that amount of sustainable power output gain on the bicycle! 20% more red cells equals nearly 20% more oxygen moving ability by the body. In fact the wattage gains are so scary that nearly all the top 50 or so riders are blood doped! It would take a total freak of nature to compete against these doped talented riders cleanly. Lance certainly is not! He's very average talent wise for a pro cyclist.
Cow blood was not tested for a couple yrs back... They also use HGH and Synacthen which raises cortisol and speeds recovery. None of these Tour de Farce riders are without some doping. But many do not have 40 units of packed red cells frozen in storage like LiveWrong Lance and others.Many steroids like Tren are undetectable too.
Wow -- so how would someone test for that? Compare blood pressure from a time period before the race to after? Wouldn't 20% more red blood cells make one's blood pressure a bit higher? Or does it just fit in with the existing plasma?
Sorry about that. I transposed the two in my notes.
This article fails to mention that Greg did not come up with these calculations. They are in fact his comments on a sports physician's loose calculations of Contador's performance in that race.
The above post about blood doping is in fact correct. Most pros don't use "drugs" per se. They use their own blood pumped back into their bodies to raise red blood cell count. With proper scheduling it's much harder to detect than any steroid or drug.
Also of note is that Lance's old team Astana just last Christmas had a medical equipment room raided where - lo and behold - blood transfusion equipment was found and confiscated. Testing is being done on the blood DNA makeup still and results have not been released.
Greg Lemond is right however, these guys are performing at levels that simply aren't normally physiologically possible - Lance included. Having been a competitive cyclist all through school and then semi pro (cat 2) and having followed cycling for decades, I can also tell you that anyone who knows the sport truly well knows that Lance was never that oustanding of a competitive cyclist before the onslaught of doping. He simply wasn't. A good rider - yes. A rider that had the history and track record to show he would end up the best in the world? No.
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Imagine if Lance, who has always been clean in my book, lost this race to a doper. That would be really sad.