Can anyone quantify the performance advantage that the cheaters get from using illegal drugs?

1) X seconds saved in an hour long time trial?

2) Y watts of increased power output?

3) Faster recovery, but by how much?

4) Maybe not that much of an advantage, but does the cheat feels more confident knowing he is NOT competing on a level playing field?

David Millar has made references to his fragile state of mind before he started taking drugs. Some of us wonder how all these cheats would have done under the same circumstances if they were racing clean.

4) Maybe not that much of an advantage, but does the cheat feels more confident knowing he is NOT competing on a level playing field?
I've found myself wondering lately if someone were to swap in placebos? Same bottles and labels, but just plain water or saline solution or some inert agent. Just curious how it would go if someone infiltrated the trade route, intercepted the contraband, and substituted placebo fluff in it's place. "This is really good stuff man, straight from the lab, shows clean so far on the testing scale too, gu-ar-an-teed go-fast stuff man, just use it fast 'cause it's got a short shelf life dude."

Just curious. ;)

Can anyone quantify the performance advantage that the cheaters get from using illegal drugs?

1) X seconds saved in an hour long time trial?

2) Y watts of increased power output?

3) Faster recovery, but by how much?

4) Maybe not that much of an advantage, but does the cheat feels more confident knowing he is NOT competing on a level playing field?

David Millar has made references to his fragile state of mind before he started taking drugs. Some of us wonder how all these cheats would have done under the same circumstances if they were racing clean.


Read this article...

http://outside.away.com/outside/bodywork/200311/200311_drug_test_1.html



Steve

Can anyone quantify the performance advantage that the cheaters get from using illegal drugs?
1) X seconds saved in an hour long time trial?

Here's part of a CyclingNews.com article that answers how much of an advantage EPO gave David Millar in last year's World TT Championship:

In Canada last year, Millar was the clear winner and trounced the field, completing the 41.3km course in 51.17.3 at an average speed of 48.319 km/h. But the time gaps are significant. Rogers came home nearly one and a half minutes slower (1.25.1 behind) while Peschel was only 0.5 seconds behind Rogers, finishing in 1.25.6, while Rich was a further 10 seconds back in 1.35.7. Rogers did puncture his rear wheel 8km from the finish, which he estrimates cost him about 30 seconds.

However, Millar's winning margin over second-placed Rogers (1.25) covers the next 14 riders who came across the line, as 1.20 separates Rogers from 15th-placed Laszlo Bodrogi (Hungary), who came in 2.45.1 down on the flying Scot.

Earlier in his career, Millar had finished second in the 2001 road worlds ITT to Germany's Jan Ullrich, by only six seconds. "I dreamed of being world champion, and I succeeded, but I cheated," Millar commented in a l'Equipe interview published Tuesday.

Pantani won both the Giro and the Tour using EPO. Look where it got him on the long run. Millar is destined to fade away in shame. What a waste. :(

The Placebo trick has been done - by Dario Frigo's EPO supplier in the Giro. His dope was tested and found to be saline solution. He was having one of his best races ever when he got the boot. The widely quoted Outside article is a load of crap scientifically but does prove the point that the placebo effect is quite large since that's all that was "measured" by the author.

In general the shorter the event the greater the effect (like 100m on the track), but in road cycling I would say in no case greater than the difference between being in good form and great form.

I have been on EPO for about 8 years and have trained much of the time with both HR and power measurements and I have found very little correlation between my HCT and RBC levels and my power output. Certainly my health problems could be blamed for this result, but the number of variables that go into top performance is so great there is no way messing around with just one is going to yield the dramatic results generally attributed to doping. You can have all the red cells you want but without the rest of the machinery needed to translate that capacity to power to the pedals over an extended period it's going to have limited benefit.

Don't count Millar out yet. Exhibit A: Richard Virenque.

You really think Millar was the only one using EPO?

We could list Bruylandts palmares, which while respectable, wouldn't suggest that EPO turns an also ran into a world beater (or maybe it suggest lots of riders are taking EPO?).