Cyclocross World's is this Sunday and Nys looks like the man to beat. Then again, he looked like the man to beat last year and that didn't work out so well for him. This past weekend's world cup in Hoogerheide (rain and hail with a strong wind for added fun) had such horrific conditions that Bart Wellens had to drop out and in an interview with Cyclingnews, current world champ Erwin "Papa" Vervecken said that Hoogerheide was "too cold". This leads me to wonder, how frickin' bad does the weather have to be for two top Belgian cyclocross stars to complain about it? Even the fans left due to the conditions... My pick for world's is Bart Wellens besting Sven Nys with Jonathan Page finding the low step on the podium. Optimistic? We'll see.I've done some digging for you: here is the link to Sporza TV's live feed. This is the offical sports station of Belgium. As near as I can translate flemish to english, the elite men's race will be streamed live, Sunday at 10:30 east coast time. (Looks like you need either quicktime or windows media player.) So, grab some beer, some fritjes and cozy up to the monitor, 'cause it oughta be a good one! You can test it out saturday by watching the juniors (pretty sure) and baluftens (women?) at 10:30am. And to think that flemish is one of the most closely related languages to english...
I've definitely got to award a big ol' asshat to both the UCI and WADA for allowing Oscar Pereiro to have a TUE (therapeutic use exemption) for Salbutimal, a banned substance and performance enhancing drug, while Franck Bouyer continues his 2 year battle to be granted a TUE for modafinil, a drug prescribed to him to combat his narcolepsy. Bouyer has been unable to race since 2004 and was recently let go by his team since they had already paid him for two years of NOT racing and couldn't afford to continue his contract. Tests have shown that modafinil has a negative effect on Bouyer's performance and yet, he still can't get the TUE. As mad max mused on the group ride,"I wonder what percentage of professional cyclists have asthma [and would need salbutimal - ed.] as compared to the general population? I bet it's pretty high..." As Bernard Hinault once said, "No Tour has been won without a good doctor."
2 comments:
You comment about Pereiro is way off. As a cat 2 with diaganosed Asthma since birth, a Salbutamol user, and a TUE holder, i can attest to the fact that the drug has no effect on performance. Unless you consider being able to breathe normally enhancing performance. The precentage of athletes with Asthma is higher due to the stresses out on the lungs with such intense, frequent exercise. EIA often develops in this way, more so than in untrined athletes. Here is a study that backs my statements:
http://www.springerlink.com/content/10h14814j4714880/
I agree with you on legitimate use, but why not grant a TUE exemption to Bouyer? It isn't the fact that a salbutimal exemption was granted, but that the process seems arbitrary and less than transparent. The main gist of this is that everything is a big mess and WADA and the UCI are acting like feudal lords expecting everyone in their fiefdom to bow down before them!
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