A very crucial aspect when assessing the doping context is the personnel infrastructure around the teams and athletes. And this is recruited from proven and appropriately conditioned personnel from the pharmaceutically contaminated past, for whom detailed research material has already been presented in numerous articles on this blog. Two additional exemplary examples of this year’s TdF reporting are also given. On the one hand, Vingegaard’s personal “soigneur”, the German physiotherapist Achim Schmiedel, who made his debut in the industry in the 1990s with the youth squads of the BDR (Association of German Cyclists) and celebrated his 20th TdF participation this year [28]. Previously, he was active with the Russian team Katuscha-Alpecin, Omega Pharma (how appropriate!)-Quick Step and the Equipe Coast led by Jan Ullrich [29].
Another personality is the team doctor from Team Red Bull-Bora-Hans Grohe, Dr. Ortwin Schäfer. The internist already worked for the Radio Shack Leopard and Trek Factory teams, which emerged from Lance Armstrong’s scandalous racing stables [32]. His vita is also academically closely linked to the Saarland University Hospital [33], which also enjoys relevant fame in insider circles around the local “guru” Prof. Kindermann [34]. Coming from football, the Doc worked his way to the top through the who’s who of professional cycling [35] and casually mentioned in a report that he had heard that there was a doping problem in cycling [36]. We are already familiar with playing the completely clueless as a communication variant on the sensitive topic of various clandestine medical luminaries of the past. Schäfer’s statements on the subject of the numerous recent cardiac deaths or invalids, without even beginning to mention the actual cause of the mass experimental gene therapy executions [37], also fit into the scheme. It is strongly recommended that you take a look at the article “Cycling infarction” on this blog and familiarize yourself with the molecular biological basis of the pathophysiology of the injected poison cocktails [38].
The discussion about the possibly improper use of carbon monoxide to improve performance at Pogacar and other teams is a further indication of the exploitation of any gray areas with the initial suspicion of going beyond them [39]. With all the legitimate comments about the study-based effectiveness of the potential improvement in endurance performance, the history and actual meaning of the method is completely overlooked. Originally, a test for the transfer of autologous blood doping by determining the total amount of hemoglobin was developed, incidentally with test subjects from Team Telekom and Team T-Mobile, at the end of the 1990s by Prof. Walter Schmidt at the University of Bayreuth [40]. Of course, the teams officially deny any manipulative use and justify the use by measuring blood parameters to determine the effectiveness of the altitude training camp stays. However, the control of the individual hematological profiles can also be used in a completely different way, namely to observe the constancy of parameters for the biological athlete passport (“blood passport”) [41] in order not to produce any outliers that are likely to be sanctioned, with whatever potential parallel pharmaceutical interventions. Doping is a highly complex science in itself and has certainly reached new dimensions with the significantly increased team budgets in recent years.
The final time trial from Monaco to Nice, which is actually half a mountain time trial with the built-in category 2 climb to La Turbie, is completed over 34km and 720m, with an average speed of almost 46km/h [42]! Pogacar storms up the ramps at up to 13% at an hourly average of almost 36km/h.
In the first short, flat section, in the urban canyons of Monaco, the actors travel at top speeds of between 60 and 80km/h, i.e. faster than the gendarmerie allows.
But it gets even more extreme, Pogacar races down to Nice at 90km/h.
It’s interesting to see which ÜV’s (gear ratios) the individual teams and favorites are experimenting with. For Team Decathlon, for example, the French time trial champion Amirail now uses a very conservative 58/46×11-34. Evenepoel, as time trial world champion, chains 60/44×11-34, Pogacar 60/46×11-34 and only the Visma team around Vingegaard uses mono chainrings with 56×10-33. Incidentally, Vingegaard also rode some of the difficult mountain stages with a 50mm single chainwheel, taking advantage of the enormous range of ÜV with modern 12-speed rear derailleurs. Vingegaard would therefore push up the mega Alpine passes with a minimum of 50×34 (ÜV=1.47), which would roughly correspond to 34×23 with a compact crank. With this gear ratio, most ambitious cyclists would be overwhelmed even on smaller single-digit gradients. Their ÜV for the ramps that Vingegaard shoots up is far lower, at around 34×27-34 (ÜV=1.26-1.0). This also makes it clear once again what enormous power potential the top players must now have at their disposal.
In the end, Pogacar takes his sixth stage win and completes the Giro Tour double for the first time, 26 years after Pantani. He has been in top form since his impressive solo victory at the Strade Bianchi in March, where he duped the assembled gravel and classic world elite. This is also a unique documentation of long-term performance at such a consistently high level, given the completely different, abnormal requirements in modern professional cycling compared to the 1970s of the Merckx era. And somehow you can’t be mad at the guy, he has an incredibly positive and likeable charisma, especially when you meet him in person on his bike training in the hinterland of Nice. Also a novelty, oldie Carapaz is the first Ecuadorian to take home the polka dot jersey of the best in the mountains and the Eritrean Girmay impressively transfers the green jersey of the leader in the sprinter points ranking to Africa for the first time. It was an exciting TdF in every respect, but as they say in Swabia, unfortunately there is still a mess left.
[1] https://www.procyclingstats.com/race/tour-de-france/2024/stage-13
[2] https://www.radsport-news.com/sport/sportnews_138857.htm Die Stimmen zur 13. Etappe der Tour de France
[4] https://www.procyclingstats.com/race/tour-de-france/2024/stage-14
[5] https://www.procyclingstats.com/race/tour-de-france/2024/stage-15
[6] https://www.radsport-news.com/sport/sportnews_138889.htm Die Stimmen zur 15. Etappe der Tour de France
[7] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PdezuM9WFlg Tour Climbing Records are being crushed | Tour De France 2024 Stage 15 | JB2. Indizien dafür, dass auch der Nachwuchs schon entsprechend präpariert fährt, liefert die Rekordfahrt des 18jährigen Torres bei der Tour de l´Avernir 2024 am Colle delle Finestre: https://www.radsport-news.com/sport/sportnews_139309.htm „18-jährger Torres verbessert Rekordzeit am Finestre“
[8] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ouSMS_X0wSs Die Geheimwaffen von Tadej Pogacar erklärt! Hitze, Höhe, Kohlenmonoxid I Wer ist “Mou”?
[9] https://www.sportschau.de/radsport/tourdefrance/14-etappe-die-siegerehrung,tour-etappe-162.html
[10] https://www.sportschau.de/radsport/tourdefrance/15-etappe-die-siegerehrung,tour-etappe-174.html
[11] https://www.sportschau.de/radsport/tourdefrance/tour-de-france-radsport-sponsoren-100.html, https://www.letour.fr/de/mannschaft/UAD/uae-team-emirates, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abu_Dhabi_Developmental_Holding_Company
[12] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tahnoun_bin_Zayed_Al_Nahyan_(national_security_advisor) Weiterverkauf von COVID-19-Impfstoffen: Scheich Tahnoun leitet die Royal Group, ein Konglomerat aus den Vereinigten Arabischen Emiraten. Im Jahr 2021 war das Unternehmen an umstrittenen Geschäften beteiligt, bei denen der russische Sputnik-Impfstoff mit erheblichen Aufschlägen an arme Länder weiterverkauft wurde.
[13] https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aspire_Academy, https://www.dw.com/de/das-gr%C3%B6%C3%9Fte-sportprojekt-der-welt/a-15606133
[14] https://www.procyclingstats.com/race/tour-de-france/2024/stage-17
[15] https://www.radsport-news.com/sport/sportnews_138924.htm TdF: Helfer verhinderten größeren Zeitverlust Vismas Angriffsplan wurde zum Rettungsanker
[17] https://www.radsport-news.com/sport/sportnews_138961.htm Pogacar verteidigt sich für nicht überlassenen Etappensieg Geschenk an Carapaz statt an Vingegaard: “Man bremst nicht“
[18] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hgJBqYGmlIo Big Mistake From Pogačar | Tour De France 2024 Stage 19 | THEMOVE -> das Intro!!!
[19] https://www.procyclingstats.com/race/tour-de-france/2024/stage-19
[20] https://www.procyclingstats.com/race/tour-de-france/2024/stage-20
[23] https://www.sport1.de/news/radsport/tour-de-france/2024/07/tour-de-france-giganten-sauber-ein-teamchef-zweifelt-offen, https://www.sportschau.de/radsport/tourdefrance/spektakulaer-offensiv-dominant-und-angezweifelt,tour-de-france-tourreporter-102.html
[25] https://www.focus.de/sport/mehrsport/sprintstars-gay-und-powell-positiv-getestet-usain-bolt-und-die-sonderbare-kraft-der-jamaikanischen-suesskartoffel_id_2958823.html, https://www.stuttgarter-nachrichten.de/inhalt.der-100-meter-weltrekord-von-berlin-usain-bolt-und-seine-9-58-sekunden-fuer-die-ewigkeit.c7967828-b740-4275-a35b-402d662c4a86.html#:~:text=und%20seiner%20pers%C3%B6nlichen%20Fitmacher%20%2D%20S%C3%BC%C3%9Fkartoffeln%20und%20Chicken%20Wings%2C%20wie%20er%20selbst%20betont
[26a] https://www.radsport-news.com/sport/sportnews_138973.htm Tour-Sieger zum Thema Doping Pogacar: “Superdumm, etwas zu nehmen, was Dich gefährdet“
[29] https://www.radsport-news.com/sport/sportnews_102472.htm, https://www.gettyimages.de/detail/nachrichtenfoto/78th-tour-of-swiss-2014-stage-9-arrival-martin-tony-nachrichtenfoto/532439390?adppopup=true, https://www.gettyimages.de/detail/nachrichtenfoto/team-opqs-2014-achim-schmiedel-soigneur-verzorger-kine-nachrichtenfoto/532529452?adppopup=true
[30] https://www.teamvismaleaseabike.com/team/achim-schmiedel/
[32] https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Team_RadioShack
[33] https://www.lsf.uni-saarland.de/qisserver/rds?state=verpublish&status=init&vmfile=no&moduleCall=webInfo&publishConfFile=webInfoPerson&publishSubDir=personal&keep=y&purge=y&personal.pid=2396, https://www.uniklinikum-saarland.de/fileadmin/UKS/Lehre/Studiengaenge/Humanmedizin/2.Studienabschnitt/Allgemeinmedizin/Lehrpraxen/Lehrpraxen_PLZ_20230306.pdf
[35] https://www.saarbruecker-zeitung.de/sport/sz-sport/wenn-es-nachts-an-der-tuer-klopft_aid-1556248, https://www.sportschau.de/radsport/tourdefrance/vorklapp-teamarzt-100.html Ein Saarländer im Team von Intermarché-Circus-Wanty, https://www.ardmediathek.de/video/sportarena/als-seiteneinsteiger-zum-mannschaftsarzt-dr-ortwin-schaefer/sr/Y3JpZDovL3NyLW9ubGluZS5kZS9TQV8xNDA4MDcvc2VjdGlvbi81
[36] https://www.sr-mediathek.de/index.php?seite=7&id=140807
[37] https://der-farang.com/de/pages/herzrasen-im-peloton
[38] https://www.florianschillingscience.org/post/molekularbiologische-kernschmelze
[39] https://www.radsport-news.com/sport/sportnews_138915.htm Leistungssteigerung durch Kohlenmonoxid-Inhalieren?, https://www.radsport-news.com/sport/sportnews_138927.htm Kohlenmonoxid: Pogacar klärt mit 24 Stunden Verspätung auf, https://www.radsport-news.com/sport/sportnews_138930.htm Lorang: “Setzen Kohlenmonoxid-Test nicht systematisch ein“, https://www.sportschau.de/radsport/tourdefrance/umstrittene-methode-inhalation-kohlenmonoxid,tourreporter-102.html
[40] https://www.spiegel.de/wissenschaft/mensch/doping-neuer-test-soll-eigenblut-betrueger-ueberfuehren-a-435305.html, https://www.germanjournalsportsmedicine.com/fileadmin/content/archiv2008/heft06/Artikel%20Schmidt.pdf und https://www.bisp-surf.de/Record/PR020030200094/Solr
[41] https://www.nada.de/service/blog/blog-detail/der-biologische-athletenpass-abp-engl-athlete-biological-passport, https://www.dshs-koeln.de/institut-fuer-biochemie/analyse-methoden/der-blutpass-als-dopingkontrollmassnahme/, https://www.sportschau.de/olympia/spaniens-versagen-im-anti-doping-kampf,olympia-paris-spanien-wada-fuentes-doping-blutdoping-100.html siehe v.a. Abschnitt „Fuentes: Blutdoping anders als früher“, Pogacar wird seit Jahren von Spaniern trainiert (u.a. Dr. Iñigo San Millán, Dr. Javier Sola). Interessant wie viele Spanier sich in den diversen Profiteams tummeln, s. Kontakte von Sola unter https://es.linkedin.com/in/javier-sola-65329550.
[42] https://www.procyclingstats.com/race/tour-de-france/2024/stage-21
The author studied chemistry and sports science, worked, among other things, in the Institute for Biochemistry and Doping Analysis at the German Sport University in Cologne, was a founding member of the NADA DKS Commission (National Anti Doping Agency, Doping Control System), co-author of the book “Doping in Cycling”, was Speaker in further training for sports doctors and as a course leader in trainer coaching. He has supported professional cycling in various functions for decades and continues to practice cycling intensively to this day.
©Copyright by Dipl.-Ing./Dipl.-Trainer Dieter Quarz, publication only against a fee and a specimen copy.
Post image: Stephane Mahe / REUTERS
