Are They Men Or Are They Boys - Can The Doping Test Really Know
Italy’s Corriere Dello Sport reported Monday that Italian anti-doping officials have flagged test results from several top finishers from this year’s Giro d’Italia, including those of winner Danilo Di Luca.
Four riders - Di Luca (Liquigas), third-place finisher Eddy Mazzoleni (Astana), fourth-placed Gilberto Simoni and sixth-placed Riccardo Riccó (both of Saunier Duval) - submitted samples that attracted testers’ attention, not because of elevated hormone levels, but because those levels were actually considerably lower than normal.
Officials from Italy’s national Olympic Committee requested an emergency meeting with UCI president Pat McQuaid in an effort to secure data from the governing body’s on-going longitudinal medical monitoring of the riders in question.
A CONI spokesman said the agency wants to compare those values to the results of the Giro samples.
“The results are of concern, because all four show hormone levels that are not normal for adult males,” the spokesman said. “These results would be more likely to have come from a child rather than a fully mature adult. The fact that four men all produce such results on the same day is extremely bizarre.”
The results are all from tests taken after the Giro’s stage 17 ride to Monte Zoncolan on May 30. (see “Simoni conquers Monte Zoncolan once more.”)
One possibility is that the results reflect some sort of effort by riders to mask the use of other drugs. There have also been some recent medical studies to suggest that normal hormone production might be suppressed by the time riders reach the third week of a grand tour.
h/t: Velonews
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