How did lance armstrong not get caught for doping for so many years? If its that hard to get caught then should we be worried about other althletes?
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He did get caught in the middle of his career for a minor infraction (Cortiosteriod use). The Union Cyclist International (UCI) the world governing body covered it up.
But the long answer is that there were three eras of cheating in cycling: The old school 1890s-1980s way where they essentially just took black betty amphetamines to improve performance. This was before Lance and before LeMond and an era where most US fans did not follow cycling.
Late 80s-late 90s: This was the just testosterone era. Perhaps the best era to watch as a fan. A 191 lb person riding a 24lb bike won the Tour De France (Miguel Indurain). Riders were big and they were literally having to cut their jersey sleeves to fit their biceps. Indurain, Riis, Armstrong
Early 90s-00s: Testosterone + EPO/Blood Doping Era. AMGEN, a california bio tech company developed EPO as a way of improving cardiovascular efficiency. This was immediately used by the peloton as a performance enhancer. This was dangerous as EPO at their levels of dose were causing the riders to have thick blood and at a danger of heart attacks. So they started saying your EPO (hematocrit) ratio had to be under 55, then later under 50. If you were over 49.5 they would hold you out. So as a way of cheating they would give themselves blood transfusions with non EPO blood to give them a false reading under 49.5 when they were really way over. This era had the fastest riders Top Riders: Contador, Armstrong, Froome, Wiggins, Pantanti (RIP Pirata)
Nowadays people use EPO but in micro doses and during the offseason a bit. They use the biological passport that the Olympics uses so the key to EPO cheating is to have your ‘natural’ level on your passport be elevated already. Test is also used in the offseason.
The major cheating now is with Anti-Wasting drugs. There are a number of drugs that promote keeping lean muscle when the body is run at a deficiency. These are used for MS patients and people with AIDS. That is why the riders today are skinnier compared to even 10 years ago. They haven’t really found a reliable way to catch the wasting-drug cheating yet.
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