tag:theconversation.com,2011:/au/topics/uci-4132/articlesUCI – The Conversation2016-02-18T15:02:16Ztag:theconversation.com,2011:article/535432016-02-18T15:02:16Z2016-02-18T15:02:16ZAmateur doping shaping up to be sport’s latest test as cycling bans rack up<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/111984/original/image-20160218-1276-wdnyn2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Speed demon.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://www.shutterstock.com/pic-290276831/stock-photo-cyclist-in-maximum-effort-in-a-road-outdoors.html?src=olXO1pIOkZ7YyfhMmLcVWg-3-30">Cyclist by Shutterstock</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>The past few months have been <a href="https://theconversation.com/sebastian-coe-faces-a-monumental-task-in-cleaning-up-athletics-50480">traumatic for the world of athletics</a> as it struggles to fight free of a suffocating doping and corruption scandal. On the flip side, it has been quite a turnaround for cycling, which has started to emerge from the dark days of the Lance Armstrong era and is now cited widely as <a href="https://theconversation.com/cycling-might-hold-the-key-for-athletics-to-move-past-its-annus-horribilis-50437">a benchmark for the bosses of track and field</a>. Cycling, however, has a dirty secret.</p>
<p>Well, <a href="https://theconversation.com/cycling-should-take-a-lead-from-f1-as-hidden-motor-scandal-emerges-54011">maybe two</a>, but let’s put aside the spectre of mechanical doping for now and focus on a spate of news stories which have highlighted the murky world of amateur doping in a sport which is slogging away to clean up the professional game.</p>
<h2>Fighting for an edge</h2>
<p>The cases have come thick and fast. Britain’s junior national time trial champion <a href="http://www.cyclingweekly.co.uk/news/latest-news/junior-time-trial-champion-gabriel-evans-admits-epo-use-203450">Gabriel Evans</a>, an 18-year-old from London, was recently caught using the <a href="http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/front_page/4657010.stm">banned blood booster EPO</a> (Erythropoietin). He admitted taking the drug, and <a href="http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/othersports/cycling/12044175/Teenage-cyclist-Gabriel-Evans-admits-to-doping-because-culture-had-been-normalised-and-justified.html">claimed it had become “normalised and justified”</a> in his mind because he’d read about others regularly being caught. </p>
<p>British Masters road race champion Andrew Hastings was <a href="http://www.cyclingweekly.co.uk/news/latest-news/british-masters-champion-andy-hastings-given-four-year-doping-ban-203379">handed a four-year ban</a> after testing positive for two anabolic steroids. <a href="http://www.cyclingweekly.co.uk/news/latest-news/banned-cyclist-hastings-cites-borrowed-used-syringe-as-reason-for-failed-steroids-test-203455">He claimed</a> that the failed test came after he borrowed a used syringe to take a vitamin supplement.</p>
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<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/111946/original/image-20160218-1252-1ff9jx1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/111946/original/image-20160218-1252-1ff9jx1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/111946/original/image-20160218-1252-1ff9jx1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/111946/original/image-20160218-1252-1ff9jx1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/111946/original/image-20160218-1252-1ff9jx1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/111946/original/image-20160218-1252-1ff9jx1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/111946/original/image-20160218-1252-1ff9jx1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/111946/original/image-20160218-1252-1ff9jx1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="caption">Spiked?</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/marosh/103066377/in/photolist-a7f3v-7291b-8ync5Y-7Akczu-7wLbTF-7hbyKu-9ygzd6-8ZpZLJ-8mkjmb-9h4SCu-8mh8Mi-9naNh5-BwXwnK-9ueWY6-LCArq-93SZ1B-9wrxch-93Vk8b-2dopwH-4VV4G3-as2Bgz-bpMV8P-8mhggX-ifM5NH-9Ynxim-3K6Zu5-bpMWbx-4jvTQe-esJThu-baLfET-7uCsMJ-4vzisU-63ciQ6-7YwcA5-CM3Lf-4LqMao-q1DSaH-7YsXAr-76rAVy-ef4aq2-aFxrX4-fWjnGv-LxzJe-BpLPn-f9MrH-99XfiM-7Z3hWo-abVMYs-bpLeKM-76L5wv">marosh</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/">CC BY-NC-ND</a></span>
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<p>English masters rider, Jason White <a href="http://www.cyclingweekly.co.uk/news/latest-news/jason-white-handed-two-year-ban-skipping-drugs-test-150819">was banned for two years</a> after refusing to provide a urine sample to drug control officers. Dan Stevens <a href="http://www.cyclingweekly.co.uk/news/latest-news/british-cyclist-dan-stevens-banned-for-failing-to-provide-anti-doping-sample-192254">also failed to provide a sample</a> but his two-year sanction was reduced after he assisted <a href="http://www.sportsintegrityinitiative.com/ukad-reduces-dan-stevens-sanction-for-assisting-circ/">an inquiry into doping</a>.</p>
<p>These are far from isolated examples in the wider world of cycling. Oscar Tovar, the 32-year-old winner of the 2015 New York Gran Fondo, a competitive but amateur race with little prize money, <a href="http://velonews.competitor.com/2015/10/news/gran-fondo-new-york-winner-stripped-of-title-for-doping_388383">was stripped of his title</a> after testing positive for synthetic testosterone and accepted a two-year ban. In January, 59-year-old Italian jazz guitarist Gigi Cifarelli <a href="http://europe.newsweek.com/italian-jazz-playing-cyclist-banned-doping-gigi-cifarelli-417219">was banned for four years</a> for doping after a positive test at the Grand Prix Dell’Uva Fragola-Suno amateur event. He too accepted the sanction.</p>
<h2>Testing the limits</h2>
<p>The fear must be that this is only the start of something bigger in cycling and other amateur sports. Unsurprisingly perhaps it looks like it may be an emerging crisis in Ironman triathlon competitions – a sport where you must swim 2.4 miles, cycle 112 miles, and then run a marathon. Danish competitor Thomas Lawaetz, <a href="http://www.sportsintegrityinitiative.com/danish-ironman-issued-with-four-year-ban-after-epo-positive/">was banned for four years</a> after he admitted EPO use. And a survey of 3,000 Ironman triathletes showed that around <a href="http://www.irishtriathlon.com/index.php/2014/01/ironman-triathlon-doping-epo-steroids/">20% admitted doping</a>. </p>
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<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/111919/original/image-20160218-1243-8z06ui.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/111919/original/image-20160218-1243-8z06ui.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/111919/original/image-20160218-1243-8z06ui.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=398&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/111919/original/image-20160218-1243-8z06ui.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=398&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/111919/original/image-20160218-1243-8z06ui.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=398&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/111919/original/image-20160218-1243-8z06ui.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=500&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/111919/original/image-20160218-1243-8z06ui.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=500&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/111919/original/image-20160218-1243-8z06ui.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=500&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="caption">Sport in transition.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/marc_buehler/9719342937/in/photolist-fNSb3e-fP9GkQ-fP9GRj-eHhwsZ-6Q9Rhb-hpLAHg-7gMES5-6HBxVP-fNS9rp-fzbJs-6Jw3zu-7ZTnGu-6HBLX2-9V3B9V-85PmWh-85PmZ1-85LcTp-6HFFZN-8f92hU-846f3r-6HBGtR-agPNZ2-6HBHTH-6d4s5e-6HFPhf-6HBFK4-6HBHcM-3A3iS-6JsncW-6JHhyE-amen6X-d1p78C-6HFJzy-8vyV4U-agSBws-6HBvQ8-agSBqE-agPPgP-fNSxta-fP9E2y-fNS8eK-fNS8Cr-dJKWhj-fNSsyz-8v4v9A-rStz6-7ZQrQD-NHaHn-9tvqDj-nUpg4">Marc Buehler/flickr</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/">CC BY-NC</a></span>
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</figure>
<p>The proposed solution is <a href="http://www.slowtwitch.com/News/More_IRONMAN_AG_doping_testing_5575.html">more testing</a> of amateurs, an approach also taken by <a href="http://velonews.competitor.com/2015/11/news/anti-doping-is-coming-to-masters-and-amateur-racing_389517">USA Cycling</a> due to their increasing concerns that doping has spread through the lower ranks.</p>
<p>However, testing is very limited: it is very expensive and most of the focus is quite rightly placed on elite, professional athletes. It is nigh on impossible to undertake a systematic strategy of out-of-competition testing of amateurs, and many with some knowledge of the substances could ensure they are “washed out” their system before the competition. The implication of this, of course, is that those few individuals who have tested positive are only the tip of the iceberg.</p>
<h2>Force of the law</h2>
<p>While <a href="http://velonews.competitor.com/2008/04/news/road/france-toughens-anti-doping-laws_75622">the French</a> and Danish governments have laws against doping in lower-level sport, it is not an approach widely supported by other countries. And so responsibility and costs fall on cash-strapped sports agencies who have other funding priorities. A <a href="http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.3109/09687637.2015.1029872">recent study</a> of US cycling highlighted the challenges involved in addressing this problem.</p>
<p>The rising popularity of competitive amateurs, especially in endurance sports, means that doping is more than simply challenge to ideas of sporting purity and the ideal of noble <a href="http://www.independent.ie/regionals/kerryman/sport/other-sports/olympics-far-removed-from-corinthian-ideal-27422425.html">Corinthian endeavour</a>. It also poses serious dangers to the health of athletes tempted to dabble.</p>
<p>Weekend competitors are unlikely to find expert “doping doctors” like those who helped Armstrong and his team-mates to manage their doping regime. Risks of over-use, sharing needles and contaminated products are significant. EPO has been tentatively <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/sport/2015/aug/02/blood-doping-what-is-it-and-has-anyone-died-as-a-result-of-it">linked to several deaths</a>, although without any conclusive proof. It works by releasing more oxygen-carrying red blood cells which “thicken the blood” and force the heart to work harder. Anecdotes <a href="http://inrng.com/2012/11/epo-the-wonder-drug/">from cycling’s darkest days</a> tell of riders setting alarm clocks through the night so they could wake up periodically to train, and to make sure their own congealed blood didn’t kill them while they slept.</p>
<p>More and more, amateur competitors are prepared to spend thousands of pounds on equipment, invest 10-15 hours a week training, spend their holidays on training camps, and pay for personal coaches. It’s no great leap to seeing doping as just another opportunity for improvement. They may not be doing it for money – it seems pride and social status, and perhaps even just curiosity – are motivating principles. The paradoxical twist here is that if testing does get ramped up, then the open secret will disappear into the shadows, increasing the health risks as it goes.</p>
<p>UK Anti-Doping chief Nicole Sapstead <a href="http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/othersports/drugsinsport/12160508/Doping-culture-that-is-threatening-to-ruin-British-amateur-sport-could-be-worse-than-anyone-realises.html">admitted to the Daily Telegraph</a> that she can only guess at the scale of the problem, and has little money available to tackle it. UKAD relies instead on tip-offs and close monitoring of social media to spot potential dopers.</p>
<p>It looks like a humble operation amid the scandals of corrupt sports leaders, cover-ups and organised doping in Russia, which symbolise crisis at the highest level of world sport. The attention afforded these situations arguably detracts from a much wider potential public health issue, as yet unacknowledged and without obvious solutions. By defining doping as a part of elite sport, amateur doping falls between the cracks of responsibility, allowing unregulated doping cultures to grow where medical oversight and advice is least able to intervene.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/53543/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Paul Dimeo receives funding from various bodies including the World Anti-Doping Agency. None are specifically related to the subject of amateur athletes and anti-doping.</span></em></p>Health risks loom as weekend athletes aiming to beat their mates become a new frontline for anti-doping.Paul Dimeo, Senior Lecturer in Sport, University of StirlingLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/540112016-02-03T12:46:56Z2016-02-03T12:46:56ZCycling should take a lead from F1 as hidden motor scandal emerges<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/109974/original/image-20160202-32254-1o5v08j.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Taking it too far? No hiding this bike motor.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/paulk/4245168889/in/photolist-7t8AP4-7t8CFR-7vdrig-MWUHm-9TtZ26-dHXjAi-jNMD8w-MWUHU-efBbZG-6ZUPsu-74iWLC-ef6S9a-efczUQ-6ZQRNt-9TwP35-4FGyt5-6ZUQ1y-dmzjJB-aBY26t-o4kXyB-atMzJj-pDB9wE-dyH9uG-9TtViT-7gmwKz-nRCz8V-6kzUbx-6QRwsA-2dEjgm-7h5bqn-8D3Stu-8ybbHS-8YNhT6-6kA5oZ-iSSc8j-6kE4BL-9UYiPC-fuBLCj-8ndkkZ-595SGc-9TtVyH-dvWdpC-9TwKzN-NU2Ei-NTvbU-4eEVBJ-4eEWcU-oShCgV-NTtK9-NU4ex">Paul Keller</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>When Canadian cyclist Ryder Hesjedal crashed on a descent in the Tour of Spain back in 2014 he sparked a fascinating sporting conspiracy theory. As he scrambled to recover, Hesjedal’s bike appeared to rotate away from him as it lay on the floor. For some, it was evidence of “mechanical doping” – the use of small, hidden battery packs to add power to a rider’s output.</p>
<p>The <a href="http://velonews.competitor.com/2015/05/news/hesjedal-bike-tested-for-motor-its-the-most-ridiculous-thing-ive-ever-heard-of_372016">defence from Hesjedal</a> and his team was robust, and <a href="http://www.cyclingweekly.co.uk/news/latest-news/ryder-hesjedals-clockwork-cervelo-uci-checks-garmin-sharp-bikes-134803">more than a little mocking of the furore that followed</a>. In truth, the accusations didn’t make any sense. The back wheel was simply rolling down the slope in an arc; the cranks weren’t turning; and why would a motor be engaged on an easy downhill section anyway? Swiss rider Fabian Cancellara had been <a href="http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/othersports/cycling/7798626/Fabian-Cancellara-denies-using-a-motorised-bike-to-win-races-in-the-spring.html">forced to deny</a> similar accusations four years earlier, but this time the claims did prompt the sport’s governing body to check out the team’s bikes (nothing was found). It was the first glimpse of a new scandal in a sport that has had more than its fair share.</p>
<p>The Union Cycliste Internationale (UCI) has since started regular testing, and may have just uncovered some genuine evidence.</p>
<h2>Denial</h2>
<p>At the <a href="http://www.uci.ch/cyclo-cross/news/">World Cyclo-Cross championships</a> in Zolder, Belgium, the UCI revealed it had discovered a motor <a href="http://www.uci.ch/pressreleases/uci-statement-174751/">in a frame</a> being used by one of the pre-race favourites and current European Champion, Femke van den Driessche.</p>
<p>Van den Driessche, 19, who was taking part in the under-23 women’s race, <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/cycling/35452791">has strenuously denied</a> that she knew anything about the motor. She told reporters that the bike belonged to a friend who had left it with her mechanics, who wrongly thought it was hers. </p>
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<p>This may prove to be true, but the inescapable fact is that the technology is available, and effective. The power output varies, and can reach up to 200 watts. But even a modest boost of 20-50 watts could offer a race-winning advantage, or make the difference for a rider seeking a new contract.</p>
<p>For some, any teams and individuals proved to be using such technology intentionally will be regarded as cheats – and the act may even be compared to the doping culture embodied by Lance Armstrong, which was widespread in the sport. We can also view it as part of a technological arms race which sees bike manufacturers and professional teams fight for marginal gains. And it is a story which extends out into other sports too.</p>
<h2>Lightweight</h2>
<p>Since the <a href="http://www.mudsweatngears.co.uk/page_2473200.html">beginnings of the bicycle industry</a> in the 1860s, cycle racing has trialled new machines and ideas to try and maximise performance. Perhaps the most straightforward of these inventions was the air-filled tyre, now ubiquitous, that increased speed by reducing rolling resistance and greatly improved comfort. Jump ahead 150 years and you can now buy a road bike that <a href="http://www.cyclingweekly.co.uk/news/latest-news/merida-launches-worlds-lightest-production-bike-171066">weighs just 4.5 kilos</a>. </p>
<p>Sport habitually wrestles with the line between technological advancements and unfair advantages. The UCI, for example, imposes a weight restriction which is a full two kilos more than the bike mentioned above. Others too have sought to stop technology dominating athletics performances. For example, <a href="http://www.fina.org/">Swimming’s governing body, FINA,</a> banned <a href="http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/other_sports/swimming/8161867.stm">full-body swimsuits</a> in 2010 following an unprecedented level of world records. Swimmers’ bodies were moulded into a stable, bullet-like shape by the suits, which <a href="http://www.smarterthanthat.com/physics/olympic-controversy-how-does-the-space-age-swimsuit-work/">also repelled water</a> to reduce drag. The view was taken that the suits did not allow an athlete’s raw ability to determine performance results.</p>
<h2>New skills</h2>
<p>Sometimes, however, the introduction of a new technology or piece of equipment can be a form of “reskilling”, where an athlete’s skill increases as a result of learning to use it. </p>
<p>One example was the <a href="http://regressing.deadspin.com/how-a-century-old-skate-design-completely-changed-moder-1504286074">introduction of the “Klapskate”</a> in speed skating in the late 1990s which enabled athletes to stay in contact with the ice slightly longer, meaning they could extend the duration of their push. Manufacturers defended this on the basis that athletes had to learn to skate differently. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/109883/original/image-20160201-32247-1y7tcw0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/109883/original/image-20160201-32247-1y7tcw0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/109883/original/image-20160201-32247-1y7tcw0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/109883/original/image-20160201-32247-1y7tcw0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/109883/original/image-20160201-32247-1y7tcw0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/109883/original/image-20160201-32247-1y7tcw0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/109883/original/image-20160201-32247-1y7tcw0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/109883/original/image-20160201-32247-1y7tcw0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="caption">Suited and booted. Klapskates in action.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/archeon/4113190730/in/photolist-4XWtLT-7gtbiy-2jK6uL-vfRBRy-aeMKWa-rpYmkr">Hans Splinter</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/4.0/">CC BY-ND</a></span>
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<p>At first glance, the idea of motors in bike frames seems a very different prospect, but just as there are arguments for a more <a href="https://theconversation.com/athletics-doping-report-should-spark-radical-rethink-on-drugs-in-sport-50376">flexible approach to doping</a>, so there is room to consider where this latest technological advance might have a place.</p>
<p>Cycling is a brutal sport, demanding regular feats of endurance, speed and power. Reducing the burden on fragile bodies might just help to loosen the hold of doping on those attempting to build successful careers. And there might even be room for the kind of “reskilling” we saw above if motors found their way into the sport.</p>
<h2>Strategic advantage</h2>
<p>Clearly we couldn’t end up with a situation where wealthy teams lord it over the others by way of pure mechanical advantage, but there is a useful comparison to be made with Formula One, where the <a href="https://www.formula1.com/content/fom-website/en/championship/inside-f1/understanding-f1-racing/Overtaking_and_the_DRS.html">DRS (Drag Reduction System)</a> makes temporary use of a technological advantage (aerodynamics in the rear wing) to make overtaking easier. </p>
<p>And so, cyclists might have finite battery power at their disposal, and choose where to deploy it, or like F1, it might be applicable only in certain zones. Riders might choose to use a set-up which suited their strengths, or which mitigated their weaknesses. This would make an appreciable strategic difference to how a bike race pans out. Victories might be secured on the canny use of a frame-mounted motor, as well as on raw power and race craft. </p>
<p>It seems far-fetched at this moment, but sport’s governing bodies are now being forced to face up to the existential threats that have chipped away at their credibility for years. Shaking up cycling by embracing so-called “cheating” tech might have purists choking on their chain lube, but with a bit of imagination, it might nip a new scandal in the bud while enhancing the spectacle for everyone.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/54011/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Charlotte Smith does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Cycling has been on the look out for mini engines in bike frames, and it may have come up trumps. But it might be missing a trick to invigorate the sport.Charlotte Smith, Lecturer in Management , University of LeicesterLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/443122015-07-10T11:50:51Z2015-07-10T11:50:51ZHow cycling’s dark history continues to haunt the Tour de France<p>Is this the age of clean cycling? New testing methods, better attitudes among professional teams and a proactive stance from governing bodies all seem to suggest that the sport has cleaned up its act. Everyone who loves the sport will hope that this is true, but the shadow of the dark years still looms large. Look no further than this year’s Tour de France, where three of its four main contenders have all been touched by the scandal in recent years – though it must be stressed that none has ever been caught taking controlled substances with the intention of improving their performance.</p>
<p>Britain’s Chris Froome, who <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/sport/2015/jul/06/tour-de-france-crash-stage-suspended">holds the</a> first-placed yellow jersey at the time of writing, <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/sport/2015/jun/24/chris-froome-missed-drug-test-tour-de-france">admitted to</a> having missed a test only last month. This was due to lack of communication between himself and the staff of an Italian hotel at which he was staying. Though not in itself a violation of the <a href="https://www.wada-ama.org/en/what-we-do/the-code">World Anti-Doping Code</a>, the very fact he needed to publicly defend this scenario shows how deeply rooted suspicions are in the sport.</p>
<p>Neither was this the first time that Froome has come under the microscope. Two years ago, his <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/cycling/23399875">first Tour victory</a> was marred by implied and unfounded accusations – to which he <a href="http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2364096/Tour-France-2013-Chris-Froome-angrily-denies-doping-claims-stunning-stage-win.html">expressed anger</a> at the time. The following year, meanwhile, former Olympic cycling champion Nicole Cooke <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/sport/2015/mar/11/nicole-cooke-uci-chris-froome-steroid-tues">publicly criticised</a> the world cycling association, Union Cycliste International (UCI), for allowing Froome to use corticosteroids for medical reasons during a race that he went on to win. This was after doubts were cast over the processes through which Froome legitimately obtained the controlled therapeutic use exemption to compete. Cooke called on the UCI to apologise to the rest of the competitors for letting them down, though made clear that the cyclist did not deserve to have the title removed.</p>
<p>Then there is Alberto Contador, who has served a doping ban, albeit in controversial and somewhat murky circumstances. The Spaniard <a href="http://www.cyclingweekly.co.uk/racing/tour-de-france/contador-wins-2010-tour-de-france-as-cavendish-takes-final-stage-58705">won the</a> 2010 Tour de France before <a href="http://espn.go.com/olympics/cycling/story/_/id/7545798/alberto-contador-stripped-2010-tour-de-france-title">testing positive</a> for small levels of clenbuterol, another banned steroid. He claimed it may have entered his body through contaminated meat. While the Court of Arbitration for Sport did not conclude that he had taken the steroid intentionally, it decided it was his responsibility and that he should face the standard two-year ban. He was stripped of the 2010 title and also his 2011 Giro D'Italia win, even though the latter was after the positive test, which recently led Contador <a href="http://www.cyclingweekly.co.uk/racing/giro-ditalia/this-is-my-third-giro-ditalia-win-insists-alberto-contador-174528">to insist</a> he should still be recognised as the winner.</p>
<p>Contador’s 2010 victory then attracted further controversy after the Cycling Independent Reform Commission (CIRC) <a href="http://www.uci.ch/mm/Document/News/CleanSport/16/87/99/CIRCReport2015_Neutral.pdf">report</a> into the state of the sport post-<a href="http://www.forbes.com/fdc/welcome_mjx.shtml">Lance-Armstrong</a> found that the Spaniard <a href="http://www.cyclingnews.com/news/circ-contador-given-favourable-treatment-by-uci-after-2010-tour-de-france-doping-positive">had received</a> favourable treatment from the UCI in the run-up to being sanctioned. According to the report, the association only decided to support taking steps against Contador after the German media and the World Anti-Doping Agency both pursued the case.</p>
<p>Italy’s Vincenzo Nibali is the third of this year’s top Tour de France contenders. He has never been found to have taken controlled substances before a race. He rides for Astana, three of whose members of the Astana <a href="http://www.cyclingweekly.co.uk/news/latest-news/vincenzo-nibali-rage-astana-doping-revelations-141021">were caught doping</a> last year. Other accusations <a href="http://road.cc/content/news/124298-tour-de-france-leader-vincenzo-nibali-insists-italian-cycling-cleaning-its-act">include that</a> a team member was associated with the doping doctor <a href="http://velonews.competitor.com/2014/12/news/ferrari-doping-inquiry-reveals-38-cyclists-with-alleged-ties-to-doping_355587">Michele Ferrari</a>, that the manager Alexandre Vinokourov <a href="http://www.cyclingweekly.co.uk/news/latest-news/vinokourov-banned-for-a-year-but-announces-retirement-87664">was banned for</a> blood doping while still competing in 2007, and a senior member of the team previously worked with known doper, the late <a href="http://www.telegraph.co.uk/men/active/recreational-cycling/10827554/Marco-Pantani-modern-cyclings-most-tragic-figure.html">Marco Pantani</a>.</p>
<p>Nibali recently hit back that <a href="http://velonews.competitor.com/2015/04/news/nibali-astana-is-a-symbol-of-clean-and-honest-sport_365363">Astana was</a> a “symbol of clean and honest sport”, but most recently there was fresh controversy as Astana rider Lars Boom <a href="https://theconversation.com/drafts/44312/Nibali%20recently%20hit%20back%20that%20%5BAstana%20was%5D(http:/velonews.competitor.com/2015/04/news/nibali-astana-is-a-symbol-of-clean-and-honest-sport_365363">was caught</a> with low levels of cortisol in his blood ahead of the Tour de France. He was still allowed to race, since this doesn’t necessarily mean he was doping, but it was a revelation that Astana could have done without.</p>
<h2>What to believe?</h2>
<p>It remains possible that we are now in an era of tougher regulations which are respected by team managers and riders. Top riders like Froome, Nibali and Bradley Wiggins all say that the sport is much cleaner now, as does Columbia’s <a href="http://deadspin.com/can-nairo-quintana-end-europes-stranglehold-on-the-tour-1716023888">Nairo Quintana</a>, the final top-four contender in this year’s tour.</p>
<p>Two important reports <a href="http://www.cyclingnews.com/news/anti-doping-denmark-report-reveals-widespread-doping-under-riis-at-csc">have attempted</a> to draw a line between past misdemeanours and current practice: the <a href="http://www.uci.ch/mm/Document/News/CleanSport/16/87/99/CIRCReport2015_Neutral.pdf">CIRC report</a> I mentioned earlier and another into Danish cycling by <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/cycling/33239760">Anti-Doping Denmark</a>. Both point to ongoing controversy, however. The Danish analysis finds cases of doping up to and including this year. The CIRC report claimed that 90% of the peloton is still doping. This claim has been hotly disputed by David Millar, the British rider <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/cycling/15922346">caught doping</a> while a member of the Cofidis team. He <a href="http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/othersports/cycling/11458165/Cycling-doping-report-I-do-not-recognise-this-almost-tabloidesque-account.html">claims that</a> “the majority of riders winning the biggest races are clean”.</p>
<p>Whatever the reality, the grilling that Chris Froome faced in 2013 is unlikely to be repeated any time soon. Many reporters, stakeholders and fans have put their faith in <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/cycling/24300072">new UCI president</a> Brian Cookson and in the World Anti-Doping Agency to clean the sport up, with added scrutiny from pressure groups seeking a collective anti-doping approach such as <a href="http://www.mpcc.fr/index.php/en/mpcc-uk">Movement for Credible Cycling</a> and <a href="https://theconversation.com/drafts/44312/www.theouterline.com">The Outer Line</a>.</p>
<p>Arguably these shifts in attitudes and behaviours have occurred because people have come to believe that others have changed – in this case that winning Grand Tour races without doping is possible. This is a huge change from 15 years ago when the best cyclists thought they needed to dope to win, despite the blanket denials at the time.</p>
<p>To some extent the story has moved on to other sports, <a href="http://www.mirror.co.uk/sport/other-sports/athletics/roger-black-athletics-been-tainted-5997750">most recently athletics</a>. Yet in cycling the intensity of the current anti-doping efforts, including among investigative journalists, means that even trivial incidents such as Froome’s recent hotel debacle are made to seem indicative of doping risks. Missing tests has now become an act of public contrition, where really there should be privacy. Guilt by association is commonly implied, even if proof of wrongdoing is lacking.</p>
<p>The reputational implications of past doping sanctions are still hard for any individual to shake off, not to say the sport as a whole. The highest echelons of cycling might be cleaner, but the spectre of accusations and the merest hint of any scandal will continue to haunt the world’s greatest cycling race. The sport has not yet escaped from its past – it may be many years before it does.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/44312/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Paul doesn't have any current funding related to this subject matter, but has previously received funding from the World Anti-Doping Agency, the Fulbright Commission and British Academy for projects focused on other aspects of drug use in sport.
</span></em></p>While world cycling insists it has cleaned up its act, it remains in suspicious times until further notice.Paul Dimeo, Senior Lecturer in Sport, University of StirlingLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/443742015-07-10T10:04:47Z2015-07-10T10:04:47ZA brutal Tour de France will always create a temptation to dope<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/87600/original/image-20150707-1277-1hhn13s.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=6%2C76%2C2041%2C1266&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Rohan Dennis leads the field out of Utrecht on the Tour's second stage.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/victorvanwerkhooven/19438005315/in/photolist-vBERLF-vC3AHr-vk6xYS-vznbUE-uEQ4jF-vB7DJ5-uEEqrm-vB7BqN-uEEnPs-vC3ABp-vk6yKb-vzndb7-uEEqWQ-uEQ344-vkdFzR-vznbLU-vBEQ5e-vjTsVQ-uEQ5gR-vBsCLX-uF9zK4-uEQ5DV-vBsGST-vBQiQx-vz9tqb-vjSM3q-vjTbPw-uEBpCn-uEBtRc-vAUacE-vkdHHD-vjSEaA-vzncaj-vBEShk-uEBahi-vk6wfJ-vkdJz8-vzngYN-vk6wx7-vk6wRd-vC3CYZ-vC3Dhp-vk6BMJ-vC3Dxz-vznhmm-uEEtzA-vznhyf-vC3E18-uEEnEE-vkdEjp">Victor van Werkhooven</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Two serious, high-speed crashes on Stage 3 of this year’s Tour de France reminded us of the pain associated with the world’s greatest cycling race. Thursday’s slower crash on Stage 6 robbed us of another leader. Germany’s Tony Martin limped home in his yellow jersey with a broken collar bone much as his Swiss rival Fabian Cancellara had a few days earlier with cracked vertebrae. In the immediate aftermath of the pile-ups, there was a reminder too of the special culture that often exists in professional cycling. Stage 3 was neutralised, with riders asked to maintain a sedate pace to let injured cyclists catch up; Tony Martin’s team mates lined up alongside him to push and cajole his pain-wracked body over the line. </p>
<p>Surely this is elite professional sport at its very best? And it is a decency combined with exceptional performance too. This Tour has already had a record-breaking ride on the first stage as <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/cycling/33396438">Rohan Dennis delivered a staggering time trial performance</a>. The Australian rider covered a 14km (8.6-mile) route round Utrecht in 14 minutes, 56 seconds – at an average of around 55kph (34mph). </p>
<p>But with the highs in cycling come the lows. The Astana team has <a href="http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/othersports/cycling/11584912/UCI-explains-reason-for-not-removing-Astana-licence.html">struggled to keep its place in the elite of cycling</a> this year after a series of scandals, and in pre-race tests their rider, Dutchman Lars Boom, <a href="http://www.cyclingweekly.co.uk/racing/tour-de-france/astana-suspended-from-mpcc-over-lars-boom-cortisol-test-180867">showed low levels of cortisol</a>. This can either be a sign of fatigue, or can sometimes signal evidence of cortisone use. However, cycling’s governing body, the Union Cycliste Internationale (UCI) stressed that no rules had been broken and <a href="http://www.cyclingnews.com/news/boom-blames-asthma-inhaler-for-low-cortisol-levels/">the rider said</a> his use of an asthma inhaler prompted the test result.</p>
<h2>Truth and reconciliation</h2>
<p>Earlier this year, a UCI report and recommendations <a href="http://velonews.competitor.com/2015/03/news/circ-report-full-text_362430">by the Cycling Independent Reform Commission (CIRC)</a> into the causes of the pattern of doping that developed within cycling and allegations of ineffective investigation by official bodies was published. The report’s findings predictably emphasised the need to control doping, which remains the scourge of professional cycling. </p>
<figure class="align-left zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/87614/original/image-20150707-1274-unohcl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/87614/original/image-20150707-1274-unohcl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/87614/original/image-20150707-1274-unohcl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=800&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/87614/original/image-20150707-1274-unohcl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=800&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/87614/original/image-20150707-1274-unohcl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=800&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/87614/original/image-20150707-1274-unohcl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1005&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/87614/original/image-20150707-1274-unohcl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1005&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/87614/original/image-20150707-1274-unohcl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1005&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Even better than the real thing? Lance in waxwork form.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/judepics/748968086/in/photolist-29bE7S-4sUzNk-6k475t">Judith</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/">CC BY-NC</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>But despite the sport’s reformist mood, for cynics and jaded fans alike, doubt is a tenaciously negative mindset to overcome. Indeed, one of the most worrying features of the UCI report was the acknowledgement by riders and by the report’s authors that doping continues to be a significant problem – one professional rider even estimated that 90% of the peloton still dopes. </p>
<p>With this in mind, during this year’s Tour it will be interesting to monitor whether any more speed records are broken. And with several riders now nursing injuries from the serious accidents of Stage 3, it will also be interesting to observe recovery rates as well as overall performances.</p>
<h2>Going the distance</h2>
<p>An issue which the CIRC report notably failed to address is arguably one of the most important underpinning drug use – competition design, notably the length of the race and of some individual stages. This year’s Tour de France is nearly 3,400 kilometres long. For riders, this is a major test of endurance. </p>
<p>The challenge is further heightened by the average speed of the Tour, which for this year’s event is likely to be around 40kph (25mph). And it is worth considering too that Tuesday’s Stage 4 (the longest of this year’s Tour) was a <a href="http://www.letour.com/le-tour/2015/us/stage-4.html">near 230-kilometre scramble from Seraing</a> in Belgium to Cambrai in France. Significantly, 13 kilometres of the stage were cobblestones, one of the most difficult surfaces in professional cycling to ride on.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/87618/original/image-20150707-1311-1q3iruf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/87618/original/image-20150707-1311-1q3iruf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/87618/original/image-20150707-1311-1q3iruf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/87618/original/image-20150707-1311-1q3iruf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/87618/original/image-20150707-1311-1q3iruf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/87618/original/image-20150707-1311-1q3iruf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/87618/original/image-20150707-1311-1q3iruf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/87618/original/image-20150707-1311-1q3iruf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Bumpy ride.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/sportpixonline/6916269104/in/photolist-bxaFR3-bxaZbE-9nac1u-no2Lhk-7RsG3F-bxaLNY-7RvWNL-7RvXku-7RvV5o-7RsGpa-7RvVfj-7nAs6Q-7RvVum-kChhb1-kCfAzt-kCfzFp-kCfALa-4wwhj6-8oS6Rd-8Mc4LG-b67hDp-ed9uHG-e11WGG-am3E3d-6retPj-npA8DR-6MC6LN-omC1Pr-oLBCkW-p25tJL-cmNHmy-r6gwSV-7nRpoi-7tuADq-6D5ZBr-5CJpWy-7nV5ay-qucfRD-8AGe9E-fET48k-7nREeV-dfuoBR-pXi8qd-bkugeF-tgoiCy-qLBKBt-bkugDX-dZVfge-5qwtyf-4ELitn">Luca Pedroni</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/">CC BY-NC-ND</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>So for some of the rider’s in this year’s race, having been thrown face down into a Belgian ditch in excruciating pain on one day, they will then have had to wake up the next day and ride the race’s longest stage across its worst surface. It is therefore unsurprising that these slender framed young men often feel the need to dope, especially as demands on them are not only to ride – they are expected to win as well. This raises some highly pertinent questions of the CIRC report, cycling in general and, indeed, the people like us who feast on professional cycling.</p>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/Pbc6BHuEWPk?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
<figcaption><span class="caption">Uncomfortable viewing?</span></figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Business model</h2>
<p>For the general public, this three-week soap opera is seductive and compelling. But the drama comes at a cost, most notably in the form of the riders’ fractured bodies and souls. For those of us who care about other humans, this should be sufficient to change our view of how the Tour is run. It should certainly impact upon our view of doping and its causes. </p>
<p>For the event organisers, there are issues too, most notably pertaining to <a href="https://theconversation.com/millions-of-spectators-and-no-tickets-unpicking-the-tour-de-france-business-model-29244">the Tour’s business model</a>. The main sources of revenue for the race come from sponsorship and hosting fees paid by towns and cities for stages. In order to deliver a return on investment, maximising the race’s duration seems an imperative. The problem is, the longer and harder a day a rider has on his bicycle, the more likely he will be to aid his recovery through drug use.</p>
<p>This is where the convergence of doping, competition design and governance becomes significant, not least in the way it shows that we are all complicit in cycling’s ongoing travails. Stage 3 of this year’s race made for great drama, but at what cost to the riders? Stage 4’s cobblestones were designed to be the ultimate test in human endurance, but were actually tantamount to torture. And yet in spite of the carnage, sponsors and stage hosts will still seek to make the most of race’s intensity.</p>
<p>Cycling can no longer find the solution at the tip of a needle. But in order to ensure that doping doesn’t remain a viable option, then these more fundamental, structural issues around the sport must be addressed in a way that the CIRC report failed to. So, as you settle down to watch the next stage of this year’s Tour de France in anticipation of ensuing speed and danger, it’s time to consider the way our greedy consumption of the Tour’s mystique is helping to feed its ongoing problems.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/44374/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<h4 class="border">Disclosure</h4><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Simon Chadwick gave evidence to the UCI's Cycling Independent Reform Commission as part of its investigations.</span></em></p>Cycling’s biggest race delivers speed, pain and danger to boost its popularity and profitability. And we wonder why doping leaves such a long shadow.Simon Chadwick, Professor of Sport Business Strategy, Coventry UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/416552015-06-02T13:45:49Z2015-06-02T13:45:49ZHow Bradley Wiggins can break cycling’s toughest record<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/83645/original/image-20150602-6997-ldxuji.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Wiggo is days away from 60 minutes of pain.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Sebastien Nogier/EPA</span>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>The <a href="http://www1.skysports.com/cycling/news/15264/9838682/smashing-hour-world-record-inspiring-cyclist-bradley-wiggins">challenge for Bradley Wiggins</a> is beautifully simple: complete the greatest number of laps of a velodrome track in one hour by pedalling as close as possible to the black racing line. However, the simplicity is deceptive, the pain is intense, and cycling’s hour record requires meticulous preparation in terms of equipment, training and strategy in order to have the best chance of success. </p>
<p>The wind can be a friend to the cyclist, but is more often the foe. This is because the power needed to overcome drag rises in proportion to the cube of velocity, so at 50kmph, more than 90% of the rider’s power output is spent fighting the wind. </p>
<p>A skilled road racer can use the wind to their advantage by <a href="https://theconversation.com/the-science-behind-tour-de-frances-hide-and-seek-tactics-29008">slipstreaming to save energy</a> before choosing the prime moment to attack, but when the rider is alone against the clock there is no place to hide. This is why the time-trial is known as the “race of truth” and the <a href="http://www.cyclingweekly.co.uk/tag/hour-record">hour record</a>, which is held under relatively stable conditions in a velodrome, is possibly the perfect time-trial. </p>
<h2>Marginal gains</h2>
<p>Alex Dowsett is the current holder of the hour record in a year which has seen a glut of attempts after the sport’s governing body <a href="http://www.cyclingweekly.co.uk/news/latest-news/hour-record-rule-change-athletes-hour-scrapped-123397">eased back on the rules</a>. On May 2, <a href="http://movistarteam.com/equipo/alex-dowsett">Dowsett</a> rode to a remarkable distance of 52.937km (Wiggins is targeting <a href="http://www.cyclingweekly.co.uk/news/latest-news/sir-bradley-wiggins-reveals-hour-record-target-distance-174752">55.250km</a>).</p>
<p>I was lucky enough to help <a href="http://www.writtle.ac.uk/pge_PressRelease.cfm?ID=1215">construct the training plan</a> which got Alex there, and the experience offers up some useful insights into just what it takes.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/83649/original/image-20150602-6976-n552gu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/83649/original/image-20150602-6976-n552gu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/83649/original/image-20150602-6976-n552gu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=298&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/83649/original/image-20150602-6976-n552gu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=298&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/83649/original/image-20150602-6976-n552gu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=298&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/83649/original/image-20150602-6976-n552gu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=374&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/83649/original/image-20150602-6976-n552gu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=374&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/83649/original/image-20150602-6976-n552gu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=374&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">And 52.937 km later, you get to celebrate. Alex Dowsett on the Manchester velodrome.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://www.crankphoto.co.uk">Chris Keller-Jackson</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Since Francesco Moser’s successful attempt in 1984 (51.151 km) when he adopted a special skinsuit, disc wheels and low-profile frame, aerodynamics have featured prominently in the technical preparation. People may remember the intriguing battle between <a href="http://www.cyclingweekly.co.uk/news/battle-of-the-brits-hour-record-heroes-27170">Graeme Obree and Chris Boardman</a> as they traded blows over the record and adopted a range of startling on-bike positions in the pursuit of aerodynamic advantage. </p>
<p>Current rules on equipment and riding position are still strict, so any gains come from refinements that take many hours of wind tunnel testing. But they can be found. </p>
<p>Even something as simple as the skinsuit and socks underwent numerous redesigns for Alex‘s attempt to ensure the fabric and fit produced minimal drag. In fact every possible trick of engineering and physics was afforded Alex from the use of custom aero equipment like the disc wheels, frame, handlebars and helmet through to the use of low viscosity lubricants and ceramic bearings. </p>
<p>We even estimated that by heating the velodrome to 28-29 degrees celsius, the reduction in air density and subsequent drag would more than compensate for any loss of performance due to dehydration – although he did still take the precaution of precooling with an ice jacket.</p>
<h2>Easing off</h2>
<p>Training for the hour is pretty similar to tuning an engine. The key to effective physical preparation is to ensure the training is correctly sequenced and monitored to optimise gains in fitness whilst avoiding overtraining. By employing mostly high volume endurance riding with regular intense intervals and carefully timed races, Alex’s fitness was systematically developed with the goal of generating greater power output for the same blood lactate concentration and heart rate. </p>
<p>However, improvements are often masked by accumulated fatigue so a taper was employed prior to the event whereby training load, but not intensity, was reduced to help recovery without compromising fitness. In spite of research, tapering is still very much an art with many cyclists under-performing if they feel “too fresh”: sometimes as a coach you really can be too good.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/83652/original/image-20150602-6955-kj6bjw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/83652/original/image-20150602-6955-kj6bjw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/83652/original/image-20150602-6955-kj6bjw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/83652/original/image-20150602-6955-kj6bjw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/83652/original/image-20150602-6955-kj6bjw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/83652/original/image-20150602-6955-kj6bjw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/83652/original/image-20150602-6955-kj6bjw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/83652/original/image-20150602-6955-kj6bjw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="caption">Looking for a smart start.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/toasty/914441359/in/photolist-2oNKyk-5mfbt4-hNJJvt-p2CD3J-ieksfj-qyfyBh-nJ8eNA-iNxnMX-4D14F1-pC4RX2-ftsRg4-dYoLEK-9Ejxgc-fAzXdg-fDiP6C-2gP5ix-fwEW4n-pEb6uJ-at6dj7-fxU3Eb-fySWhi-pmpLnE-oFn4Ye-qGMSWp-svdL46-pjbLqw-hNFzwm-qaSraY-thMioR-9sXPMk-pYv2Tf-rdEWQB-qXGor6-7NYfve-8MXhjZ-pPVCZw-95rwVx-8oTvmn-r7Q3z1-sodcbE-mqs6dU-q3WdnY-3q2Q57-oTHvBL-qqyV3d-qZ6qJ7-4V6Yux-9kiucX-qu5NHJ-fBkwit">Kenneth Lu</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The hour record is an aerobic event, in fact the intake of air is pretty crucial you might say. But it also demands a significant contribution from those anaerobic <a href="http://sportsmedicine.about.com/od/anatomyandphysiology/a/MuscleFiberType.htm">Type II muscle fibres</a> which don’t get their energy from oxygen and which are engaged at the tortuous start when the rider is trying to churn a massive gear into life.</p>
<p>Theory states that provided the athlete maintains an even pacing strategy at a power output where heart rate, oxygen uptake and blood lactate concentration remain close to a steady state, then the maximum speed should be achieved. Not only is this sweet spot difficult to judge, but the hour record is raced from a standing start that threatens to immediately over-tax the anaerobic systems which tire quickly. The dilemma for Wiggins will be the same as for every hour record racer: go out too slow and valuable speed is lost; too fast and you are plunged into an oxygen deficit that takes dozens of laps to repay.</p>
<p>The precise mechanisms of fatigue are hotly debated in the literature but what we do know is that as time passes any theoretical steady state is lost: fuel is burnt, <a href="http://www.news-medical.net/health/What-are-Metabolites.aspx">chemicals build up which contribute to exhaustion</a>, water is lost and heat accumulates. </p>
<p>The postural muscles throughout the body which maintain the rider’s unnatural aerodynamic position struggle under the strain of high cornering forces and the fixed wheel becomes an instrument of torture with no break from the relentless rhythm of pedalling – there is no freewheeling relief on a track bike. There is some respite as the bike accelerates through each bend, but this is accompanied by an abrupt drop in speed at the start of the following straight. Consequently, the perception of effort rises and the rider’s willpower to continue and ability to hold the line are tested.</p>
<h2>Pace planning</h2>
<p>And so to the biggest deception of all. During the opening 20 minutes the pace is easily manageable with the freshness of the taper, the warm air, the full aero package and low friction components. The speed is “free” and the temptation to ride too fast is great: many have. The previous record holder, Australia’s Rohan Dennis (52.491km), almost paid the price of an ambitious start to slow significantly later on. And it is not hard to pick out Jack Bobridge’s failed attempt from the chart below.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/83660/original/image-20150602-6990-fhsylv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/83660/original/image-20150602-6990-fhsylv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/83660/original/image-20150602-6990-fhsylv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/83660/original/image-20150602-6990-fhsylv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/83660/original/image-20150602-6990-fhsylv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/83660/original/image-20150602-6990-fhsylv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/83660/original/image-20150602-6990-fhsylv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/83660/original/image-20150602-6990-fhsylv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Comparing the pacing. How the riders have approached this year’s Hour record attempts.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://twitter.com/xavierdisley/status/598394274036744192/photo/1">B Xavier Disley, PhD</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Alex’s hour on the other hand was well-drilled with the pace rehearsed over thousands of training laps. He rode to a strict schedule, never going too deep, never accumulating a debt he could not repay. And in the last third of the race, confident that he had budgeted wisely, he attacked Dennis’s record.</p>
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<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/lIKgYg0xN3c?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
<figcaption><span class="caption">Highlights of Rohan Dennis’ record ride.</span></figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Was his a “perfect hour” as it was dubbed by his sponsors, or was it too respectful? Maybe it was the euphoria of success, but Alex didn’t show the usual signs of exhaustion at the finish, even lifting his bike above his head in celebration. What is for certain is that Wiggins, having openly pledged to set a record that will stand for many years, cannot afford to hold anything back, not even in the first 20 minutes.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/41655/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Mark Walker does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Riding a bike for 60 minutes doesn’t sound like the hardest thing in the world, but trying to cover 55km will push the Tour de France winner to the limit.Mark Walker, Deputy Head of the School of Sport, Equine & Animal Sciences, Writtle CollegeLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/386092015-03-10T14:43:44Z2015-03-10T14:43:44ZWorld cycling is broken – it’s time to lift the ban on doping<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/74307/original/image-20150310-13567-1f89us.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Time to lift the ban on doping?</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://www.shutterstock.com/cat.mhtml?lang=en&language=en&ref_site=photo&search_source=search_form&version=llv1&anyorall=all&safesearch=1&use_local_boost=1&searchterm=doping%20cycling&show_color_wheel=1&orient=&commercial_ok=&media_type=images&search_cat=&searchtermx=&photographer_name=&people_gender=&people_age=&people_ethnicity=&people_number=&color=&page=1&inline=161509424">Bofotolux</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Two years after <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/sport/2013/jan/18/lance-armstrong-admits-doping-oprah-winfrey">Lance Armstrong’s doping admission</a> made a mockery of professional cycling, not much has changed. That is the conclusion of the <a href="http://www.uci.ch/pressreleases/the-uci-publishes-cycling-independent-reform-commission-report/">long-awaited report</a> from the Cycling Independent Reform Commission (CIRC), <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/cycling/31788505">which cost £2m</a> to tell us what many already suspected. </p>
<p>Even the much-vaunted <a href="http://www.uci.ch/clean-sport/the-athlete-biological-passport-abp/">biological passport</a> has not deterred the dopers. Introduced several years ago, it gives each athlete an individual electronic record of their blood and urine levels to make it easier for dope tests to spot deviations from the norm in each individual case. But the CIRC report found that cyclists simply take micro-doses to leave a minimal trace on the record.</p>
<p>So the current anti-doping system isn’t working, and by my rough calculations based on the income of the World Anti-Doping Agency and national equivalent organisations, it costs the world upwards of £50m a year across all sports. Continuing in this vein means throwing more money at something that seems impossible. So if our top-down, heavy-handed, science-driven anti-doping policy hasn’t worked, what are the alternatives?</p>
<h2>Option 1: permit riders to dope</h2>
<p>One obvious alternative is to abandon the pretence of clean sport altogether. This would arguably respect the traditions of the sport: back in the 1960s, for example, the world-leading French cyclist <a href="http://www.cyclinghalloffame.com/riders/rider_bio.asp?rider_id=25">Jacques Anquetil</a> favoured this kind of liberal approach. The five-time Tour de France winner (before dope tests were introduced) <a href="http://www.cyclingnews.com/features/remembering-jacques-anquetil">argued that</a> cyclists should be allowed to make their own decisions about doping. </p>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
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<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Pro-doping: Jacques Anquetil.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Rik_Van_Looy,_Jacques_Anquetil_1964.jpg">Wikimedia</a></span>
</figcaption>
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<p>Since then, large numbers of cyclists have actively pursued the latest drugs, seeing the authorities that try to stop them as the enemy. This cat-and-mouse game has proved expensive for sport in terms of both finance and credibility, and has led to situations of cyclists being unfairly and inconsistently punished. </p>
<p>While allowing doping would be controversial, there are comparisons. In boxing, for instance, modern-day participants know and accept the risk that they could incur brain injuries. In that sense, if all cyclists accepted the use of drugs in the sport then their decision would be a similar one based on the health risk that such drug use involves.</p>
<h2>Option 2: doping under medical supervision</h2>
<p>A second approach, in order to mitigate this health risk from doping, would be to allow it only under medical supervision. Several prominent academic health researchers <a href="http://www.biomedcentral.com/1472-6939/8/2/">have argued</a> that the present risks would be substantially decreased if cyclists were able to access accurate information on the drugs. </p>
<p>As the CIRC report noted, cyclists often experiment with weight-loss supplements, painkillers and other drugs. It’s well known that turning to black-market supply chains and unethical doctors can increase risks. We also know from the CIRC that doping appears to be spreading into amateur cycling. So rather than spending money on propping up a broken system, why not use it to make medical advice freely available for all cyclists? To help combat the amateur problem, this could be part of a broader public-health strategy. </p>
<p>Like over-the-counter medicines, the approach to doping in cycling would be to assume that individuals could make informed, mature decisions regarding their own health. There is nothing to suggest that cyclists really want to kill themselves for the sake of their career.</p>
<h2>Option 3: decriminalisation</h2>
<p>What does anti-doping set out to achieve? The argument that anti-doping protects a level playing field or the sport’s image are spurious, as doping is only one small factor that can influence success in sport. There is no level playing field, and the image of sport is constantly undermined by the behaviour of athletes on and off the field. For me, the best argument for regulation is that it helps to protect the health of the athlete. </p>
<p>Without asking the public to become more tolerant of drugs in sport as per option two, instead a compromise might be to move to a lighter-touch process of self-reporting, medical monitoring, and perhaps even a form of doping quality control imposed by team managers. </p>
<p>Cyclists would need to prove they are in reasonable health before they could compete, and would be required to provide information to show they were monitoring their drug use as part of that. But there would be no obligation on the doctors to report such drug use to the authorities, and testing would be reduced and focused on health factors. The system would prioritise risk reduction and support for individual cyclists. This is the option that looks comparatively the most reasonable to me. </p>
<h2>Option 4: involve the athletes</h2>
<p>Even though it might be easier to get the public to accept a decriminalised system, popular (and political) revulsion at the very notion of such liberalisation would still be the greatest hurdle to overcome. So we would need to shift attitudes too. </p>
<p>We should ask professional and amateur cyclists alike about what they would like their sport to do about doping. Remarkably, no one has done this before. After consultation, cyclists may come to feel responsible for the policies they have helped to create. </p>
<p>If they favoured a system closer to the status quo than options one to three, this may lead to some significant self-policing within the sport, and more social stigma around stepping out of line – if cyclists come to believe they are betraying others, they may think twice. </p>
<p>Of course, we can’t know in advance whether the athlete’s majority view would be deemed acceptable by the sport’s governing bodies, sponsors or the watching public. All the same, it would be a genuine leap of human faith to include the subjects of these policies in the policy-making process. </p>
<p>Wherever world cycling goes after the CIRC report, we all need to recognise that the future of the sport might depend on the compromises involved. The starting point must be to accept that more of the same simply will not suffice.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/38609/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Paul doesn't have any current funding related to this subject matter, but has previously received funding from the World Anti-Doping Agency, the Fulbright Commission and British Academy for projects focused on other aspects of drug use in sport.</span></em></p>The new report from world cycling’s governing body has confirmed the obvious: doping is out of control. Why waste upwards of £50m a year on fighting it when we could start from the bottom up?Paul Dimeo, Senior Lecturer in Sport, University of StirlingLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/360722015-01-09T15:51:47Z2015-01-09T15:51:47ZRussian billionaire cranks up the pressure on cycling’s beleaguered bosses<p>He may not possess the <a href="http://www.independent.co.uk/sport/football/news-and-comment/james-lawton-ancelottis-urbane-competence-mocks-all-our-initial-doubts-2125483.html">urbanity of Carlo Ancelotti</a>, be owner of the world’s biggest sporting brand, or have <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/football/2014/sep/25/cristiano-ronaldos-remarkable-real-madrid-goalscoring-record-in-full">Cristiano Ronaldo at his disposal</a>, but Russian billionaire Oleg Tinkov is intent on creating cycling’s equivalent of Real Madrid’s galacticos. At the same time, he is also set on becoming a poster boy for reform in the drug-tainted world of elite professional cycling.</p>
<p>Entrepreneur Tinkov <a href="http://www.forbes.com/profile/oleg-tinkov/">has been engaged in businesses</a> ranging from electronics and frozen food, to brewing and credit cards. But he is probably best known for his sponsorship and ownership of professional cycling teams, <a href="http://www.tinkoffsaxo.com/">most notably Tinkoff Credit Systems</a>. Reportedly worth US$1.4 billion, Tinkov is now seeking to use his wealth and influence to create the kind of sporting super team we are more used to seeing at venues like Madrid’s biggest football stadium.</p>
<p>The team already boasts a roster of some the sport’s biggest stars, including former Tour de France winner Alberto Contador. <a href="http://www.cyclingnews.com/news/oleg-tinkov-id-love-to-sign-sagan-froome-cancellara-for-2015">But he wants more</a>; indeed, he has repeatedly cast covetous eyes at the sport’s star names including Chris Froome and Fabian Cancellera. Now Tinkov wants to extend his influence into the organisation and governance of cycling.</p>
<h2>Mixing it up</h2>
<p>The Russian believes that every top rider in cycling should ride in all of the sport’s major races, namely the Tour de France, the Giro d’Italia and Spain’s La Vuelta. To induce the riders, Tinkov has offered them €1 million euros. Tinkov’s ambitions go further still though: he wants to see more exciting races and a bigger sporting spectacle – achieved through initiatives such as shorter, faster stages and cameras on bikes.</p>
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<figcaption><span class="caption">On-bike footage of Mark Cavendish and John Degenkolb sprinting in the Tour of California.</span></figcaption>
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<p>Tinkov’s reformist zeal and commercial ambitions are both ironic and compelling. They are ironic in many ways; for instance, his cycling team is managed by former Tour de France winner Bjarne Riis, a man stripped of his 1996 Tour victory for doping offences and someone persistently dogged by suspicions of drug taking. Former professional rider Tyler Hamilton, a former teammate of Lance Armstrong, <a href="http://www.cyclingnews.com/news/hamilton-on-tinkov-his-return-is-a-setback-for-cycling">has gone as far as claiming</a> Tinkov told his riders, “I do not care what you do, just do not get caught”. (Tinkov has responded by <a href="http://www.cyclingnews.com/news/exclusive-interview-tinkov-talks-about-twitter-doping-and-his-dislike-of-team-managers">insisting he is “totally against doping”</a>).</p>
<p>But the businessman does have an important point to make: cycling is in dire need of change. And it is a fact of which Tinkov, most professional teams, and governing body the Union Cycliste Internationale (UCI) are all acutely aware. Not only does the sport live with a legacy of transgression, but at its heart sits a business model that is overly reliant upon sponsorship revenue.</p>
<p>It is in this context that 11 professional cycling teams have recently <a href="http://www.velon.cc/">announced a new initiative</a> – Velon – designed to “make cycling better”. This is more UEFA Champions League than Real Madrid’s galacticos, although Tinkov’s team is one of the 11 involved. The premise of the organisation is interesting, obvious and inevitable: to make cycling a more attractive commercial proposition.</p>
<h2>Win at all costs</h2>
<p>Event ownership and governance in cycling have been problematic for some time; for instance, the sport’s biggest event – <a href="https://theconversation.com/millions-of-spectators-and-no-tickets-unpicking-the-tour-de-france-business-model-29244">the Tour de France</a> – is owned by a private family, not by the UCI. Furthermore, it’s main (albeit relatively modest) income streams come from sponsorship. Such events are free to view and merchandising business is limited. This is in stark contrast to, for example, the Champions League or, for that matter, Formula 1, the NBA or tennis’ Grand Slam events. Velon is an attempt to copy what those in other sports have been doing, in some cases for decades.</p>
<p>Yet critics are concerned that the last thing cycling needs is for money and yet more commercial influence to drive it. After all, one view is that this is what got the sport into trouble in the first place, prompting the “win at all costs” <a href="https://theconversation.com/punishing-doping-athletes-isnt-a-long-term-solution-9387">culture of drug-taking</a>. Other critics are alternatively concerned that Velon is just another example of the industrial concentration and elitist development of sport that has recently led to the likes of Real dominating football and <a href="http://www.gptoday.com/details/view/371628/EXPOSED_The_secret_to_Red_Bull_F1_dominance/">Red Bull monopolising the F1 World Championship</a>. The suspicion is that, while Tinkov and those of his ilk make money, cycling as a whole will suffer.</p>
<p>But the initiative is about more than simply making money; there is no doubt that the residue of drug-taking needs to be eradicated and that the sport’s image and reputation must be managed more effectively. Velon’s emergence, allied to Tinkov’s comments, also raises important issues about more customer-focused events that provide a compelling spectacle without inducing their participants into ingesting illegal substances.</p>
<h2>Hard slog</h2>
<p>While Velon has the blessing of the UCI, it is not actually the governing body’s initiative and one therefore has to ask where the organisation can go now? Over the last two decades, the UCI has been something akin to the paternalistic guardian of a hugely dysfunctional family. In fact, claims have repeatedly been made that the UCI was <a href="http://www.cyclingnews.com/news/uci-hit-back-at-accusations-of-complicity-in-armstrongs-doping">complicit in perpetuating cycling’s drugs scandals</a>, which reached its nadir as the Lance Armstrong case reached its denouement. </p>
<p>The election of new UCI president Brian Cookson in 2013 was meant to be the prompt for major reforms within the governing body and, indeed, in professional cycling as a whole. To some extent it has done this, leading to new doping regulations being introduced. The UCI also constituted the <a href="http://www.uci.ch/news/article/cycling-independent-reform-commission-circ/">Cycling Independent Reform Commission (CIRC)</a>:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>… to investigate the problems that our sport has faced in recent years, notably the allegations – particularly damaging to our image – that the UCI was implicated in wrongdoing in the past.</p>
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<p>However, the CIRC was supposed to have reported its findings by the end of last year, yet we are still waiting for them. While determining the right solutions for cycling’s malaise is imperative, as commercial and market forces have instigated their own changes it has rather cast the UCI as an organisation loitering with intent rather than actually enforcing rapid and much needed change.</p>
<p>Tinkov and Velon are therefore not simply entrepreneurs seeking a “fast buck” from the cycling business. They in effect represent a major challenge to the established order, not only driving the implementation of a new business model but also fundamentally threatening the sport’s long-established system of governance, the nature and format of events we are used to seeing in cycling, and the type of riders we are likely to see in the years ahead.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/36072/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
He may not possess the urbanity of Carlo Ancelotti, be owner of the world’s biggest sporting brand, or have Cristiano Ronaldo at his disposal, but Russian billionaire Oleg Tinkov is intent on creating…Simon Chadwick, Professor of Sport Business Strategy, Coventry UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/102532012-10-22T23:21:55Z2012-10-22T23:21:55ZThe Lance Armstrong paradox: how saving lives can be wrong<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/16780/original/sywtwvx5-1350945209.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Lance Armstong listens to the national anthem on the podium after winning the 2005 Tour de France.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">EPA/SRDJAN SUKI</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>The <a href="http://www.uci.ch/Templates/UCI/UCI8/layout.asp?MenuID=MTYzMDQ&LangId=1">Union Cycliste Internationale</a> (UCI) has <a href="http://www.uci.ch/Modules/ENews/ENewsDetails2011.asp?id=ODgzNA&MenuId=MTYzMDQ&LangId=1&BackLink=%2FTemplates%2FUCI%2FUCI8%2Flayout%2Easp%3FMenuID%3DMTYzMDQ%26LangId%3D1">officially upended</a> the Elysian podium that held Lance Armstrong aloft as victor of seven Tours de France. Its ruling comes in the wake of the damning judgement of the <a href="http://www.usantidoping.org/">US Anti-Doping Agency</a> (USADA). Crashing down, the podium has obliterated perhaps the greatest ever sporting achievement, taking with it the vicarious elation of millions. </p>
<p>But this skydive from grace is extraordinary for another reason. Armstrong’s drug-fuelled dominance saved thousands from cancer and, if his charitable foundation <a href="http://www.livestrong.org/">Livestrong</a> survives the cataclysm, could deliver many more. </p>
<p>Why shouldn’t we, then, embrace Armstong as the Maria Theresa of the mountain stage, rather than shun him as the pariah of the prologue? If it’s okay to take drugs to cure cancer, what’s wrong with taking drugs to win bike races to cure cancer?</p>
<p>Indeed, the <a href="https://theconversation.com/lance-armstrong-charged-with-blood-doping-and-epo-use-so-how-do-they-work-7666">effects of EPO</a>, the principal agent in Armstrong’s alleged pharmaceutical arsenal, are achievable through a host of legal means. EPO increases the red blood cell count, aiding oxygen delivery to the out-sized leg muscles that propel elite cyclists over towering peaks. </p>
<p>Similar shifts come from training at altitude, sleeping in a low-oxygen air tent, or being born with the genetic variant that saw Finnish skier Eero Maentyranta win two gold medals at the 1964 Olympics. If EPO simply mimics the body’s normal physiology, don’t we have further reason to forgive Lance?</p>
<p>The reality is that most will concur with the UCI’s edict. We will not exonerate him despite the downstream good that has flowed from his misdemeanours. And our reasoning can be traced to values and, in particular, our finicky propensity to distinguish between means and ends. </p>
<p>In medicine, we tend to care a lot about getting better and not so much about the route there. In 2001 surgeon Jacques Marescaux, in New York, used remote-controlled robotics to remove a patient’s gallbladder in Strasbourg, France. But we didn’t hear cries of “cheat” resound through the operating suite. Rather, the innovation was extolled as creative genius. </p>
<p>By contrast, when four riders took “training” to a new level in the 1906 Tour de France, and caught a locomotive to gain competitive advantage, official and public umbrage took swift effect.</p>
<p>In sport, it seems we have a taste for doing it the hard way. We can overlook the genetic lottery that confers the giant’s monopoly on basketball, or the African’s command over endurance events. But they must struggle for their victories, face down imposing hurdles over years, and overcome them through brute determination and obstinacy. </p>
<p>We need our sporting heroes to undergo excoriating trials before we baptise them as gods because it fuels hope in our own lives. The legacy of athletic nobility is to show us commoners what’s possible, if not in our weekend outings with the Lycra brigade, in our mundane grappling with daily adversity.</p>
<p>Ironically, it’s our need of hope that prevents us finding inspiration in the team doctors of pro cycling who deftly administered a dazzling array of enhancers. If those same doctors wielded syringes to banish diabetes, heart disease or indeed cancer, we would embrace their dexterity with tearful gratitude. </p>
<p>In medicine, pharmaceutical expertise gives succour. In the peloton it erases the dreams that ease spectators through their quotidian struggle.</p>
<p>In Lance Armstrong, fallen cycling deity, and Livestrong, cancer charity extraordinaire, we saw an unprecedented conflation of the sporting and medical ends of pharmaceutical use. And it’s ever so tempting to see the sporting infraction justifying the ends of therapeutic success. But unless we disentangle these twin goals we risk bringing each to its knees. </p>
<p>Professional doping, regardless of lives spared, alienates fans and sponsors, jeopardising the future of the affected discipline. And benevolent foundations that nail their colours to a tainted sporting mast risk their brand becoming repugnant to other donors.</p>
<p>The lessons are complex but compelling. The public is merciless when betrayed by the guardians of their athletic aspirations. And organisations that rely on brand leverage from celebrity sportspeople face perilous times when the anointed stars misbehave. Even more so when they owe their very birthright to the star himself. </p>
<p>When those companies are dedicated to medical research, and not the bottom line, the stakes are high indeed. As Armstrong cedes chairmanship for a background boardroom seat, Livestrong attests to the pitfalls of aligning divergent institutional and sporting goals.</p>
<p>In the wash up, it must be made clear that sport is about bringing personal resolve to bear on anatomy under physical challenge. For the time being, the doggedness of some athletes who submit to chronic drug use and its side effects doesn’t count. But things may change. After all, our values may be entrenched, but they are not carved in stone.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/10253/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Paul Biegler receives funding from the Australian Research Council. He is a keen cyclist and was the principal investigator on the Monash Alfred Cyclist Crash Study.</span></em></p>The Union Cycliste Internationale (UCI) has officially upended the Elysian podium that held Lance Armstrong aloft as victor of seven Tours de France. Its ruling comes in the wake of the damning judgement…Paul Biegler, Adjunct Research Fellow in Bioethics, Monash UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.