Lance Armstrong, once known as one of the all-time cycling greats, has seen his reputation and prestige in the sport ruined since he finally admitted to taking EPO when he was in his prime to win the Tour de France. France.
But how did the American get away with it for so long? Armstrong has recently opened up about doping and his drug use. He did it on the Club Random podcast with Bill Maher.
“In a sense, you would frustrate the system, but what I always said – and I’m not trying to justify what I said as something I would want to repeat again – but one of the lines was: ‘I’ve had 500 tests and I’ve never failed a check.’ anti-doping,'” he begins. “That’s not a lie. It’s the truth. There was no way around the check. When I peed in the cup and they analyzed the pee in the cup, it passed.”
However, when Maher asks how exactly he got around the tests, Armstrong goes into detail. “The reality and the truth of all of this is that some of these substances, especially the most beneficial, have a half-life of four hours. So certain substances, whether it’s cannabis or anabolics, or whatever, have half-lives much longer.” longer,” he explains.
“You could smoke that joint and go to work driving your tractor… in two weeks and test positive, because the half-life is much longer.
“With EPO – which was the rocket fuel that changed not only our sport, but all endurance sports – you have a half-life of four hours, so it leaves the body very quickly,” Armstrong told Maher. “With a half-life of four hours, you can do the math.”
While Maher looks shocked, he asks about possible side effects. “I don’t want to encourage anyone to do something they have no business doing,” Armstrong responds.
“The truth is that you had a drug that was undetectable, that was tremendously beneficial for performance and recovery. Both are important, but especially for performance… And, as we were led to believe, which I do not disagree with , if taken under a doctor’s care it was safe.”
However, it should be noted that, contrary to Armstrong’s comments, USADA believes that EPO “has significant clinical utility and therapeutic benefit when used appropriately, but its misuse for a performance benefit can have serious consequences.” consequences for health”.
Source: www.ciclismoaldia.es