Hello Vital MTB Visitor,
We’re conducting a survey and would appreciate your input. Your answers will help Vital and the MTB industry better understand what riders like you want. Survey results will be used to recognize top brands. Make your voice heard!
Five lucky people will be selected at random to win a Vital MTB t-shirt.
Thanks in advance,
The Vital MTB Crew
#tainted
If I was one of his fellow pros I would be disgusted seeing him back.
Going back to racing less than a year after the ruling got public, in addition to the absence of a sincere mea culpa in his statement, is a very bad PR move. It only stokes the anger and hate of mtb fans even further.
I'm sure it will only get worse if he podiums or wins an EWS.
In my humble opinion, Richie should have skipped this season instead.
Though it was part of the 2018 rules, Richie got caught in 2018, so there’s an argument that the rule book from the time should apply
He’s no Lance Armstrong and the stuff he was taking wouldn’t turn him into the Hulk. Yes it was on the banned list but I don’t think doping can be classed as black and white.
"With the interest of keeping enduro mountain biking clean and to avoid the spirit and reputation of enduro mountain bike racing from being brought into disrepute, any cyclist, regardless of cycling discipline, who has previously been found guilty by any court or regulatory body of any use of or involvement with banned, performance enhancing drugs will not be entitled to compete or take part in any Enduro World Series event."
However, the next paragraph has an option to appeal in exceptional circumstances and the EWS board can grant an exception. So there was an out from a total lifetime ban.
This language was changed in 2019 to not competing while serving a ban, for the duration of that ban, but still reserving the right to maintain a zero-tolerance approach to drug taking in the EWS. So much more relaxed language, but both versions it is the discretion of the EWS.
The other thing I'm reading in lots of Pinkbike comments defending his return, is the nature of the drugs, how they weren't previously banned. Okay, neither was EPO or steroids. And no, I'm not comparing Higenamine to EPO, but yes, WADA banned it in 2018 for a reason. It has a similar effect to Salbuterol, enhances breathing. It also has a ridiculously short half life in the body, 9 minutes, with 94% removed from the body in 1/2 an hour. That makes it a pretty good candidate for doping. So no, it doesn't have an EPO-level effect, but this is the sharp end of the stick, where every bit helps. And the fact that any was found in his system speaks more to just a casual sip from a competitor's water bottle based on the short half life.
The other thing about oxilofrine, which if you just google, has been at the center of quite a few big name doping catches in other sports, the comments are suggesting this is minor and not even banned out of competition. Yes, because like ephedrine, which has a similar effect, it only makes sense to dope with it during competition. So I don't get that argument.
Regardless of "other water bottle", or the minimal effects, that's all bullshit, it's on the WADA list for a reason. I have no sympathy, and agree, if this wasn't such a big name I think the outcome is different. It's unfortunate that this happened, and the number of comments on the pinkbike article show the effect this story is having on the EWS series.
You can take Chris out of UCI, but apparently you can't take UCI out of Chris... which when you look at it from the right perspective shouldn't be that surprising.
I still vividly remember and interview with Rob Roskopp , when EWS was announced and he was part of the board, if I recall correctly, where he expressed how strict is EWS when it comes to doping and he quoted that particular rule. Well, he's no longer part of the EWS and the rule is neither :D
On a lighter note the post from sspomer was a masterpiece... maybe trying to distract from the thorny issue like all good media do in pursuit of that advertising money, maybe just rubbing it in or maybe doing it for the laugh
Wonder how they will be treated by other competitors though. That will be quite telling.
I'd prefer to give him the benefit of the doubt in this case. As much as I love a good witchhunt (I wish people were this bloodthirsty about corner-cutters and riders caught getting uplifts), if he did honestly accidentally ingest the stuff - well he's gone through enough punishment for sure.
I think it ironic that people are so concerned about this form of cheating, yet so happy with the relatively minor penalties given for other forms that actually make bigger differences.
To add to that Maes is too strong at the moment, i think that only himself can stop his wining streak by crashing, and the rest of the riders like Florian Nicolai, Jesse Melamed, José Borges, Edd Masters, etc are to strong and race ready .
we have seen more than one guy dominate, like Maes, but not that much of a margin
and Sam Hill was ill in the first 2 rounds, so if doing top 15 in all the races and sitting top 6 is doing poorly...
As for the rest of the trash talk, accusations, and general level of misinformation being paraded around here and multiple other website please take your time and read this statement from Jared Graves that was written by him earlier today on another site in response to similar rumor being touted out there as fact.
Jared Graves "Ok,I'll try and clear a few things up, NO BS, just facts, hope it can help.
The supplemnet in question in this case is BPM labs "the one" which if you want to look it up. Now states Higenamine in the ingredients list, but in older versions, and in the tub in this case was listed as Nandina Domestica (fruit extract) and the oxilofrine component is still labelled as Synephrine HCL. Things get tricky when you type these ingredients into the WADA search and not a single result comes up, which tells you everything is OK. So we had to dive a bit deeper into finding out how these things got in our systems, and when we did, we found of that many ingredients have many different variations, and names, which is what has caught us out.
We also found out since learning the hard way, just how prevalent these ingredients are in off the shelf pre workout drinks, which is a bit scary when you first hand find out the consequences, and how unregulated products with these ingredients are. Even a teenager could walk in to a supplement store and buy this, no questions asked. I've also since learned that 1 in 5 off the shelf pre workout drinks (in Australia at least) have something banned in them.
Everything i've mentioned above had to be proven beyond doubt to the AFLD (french anti doping) theres no corruption, or loopholes, or lawyers spin put on it. Just facts and real consequences.
So i'll put my hand up all day long and say im guilty of negligence. MY mindset was that I'v never sought anything performance enhancing, and Ive never had an issues with the Dozens and Dozens of in and out of competition doping tests ive had, so all will be good. I git a bit too relaxed with the whole process, I never thought there was any chance I could ever be in this situation, yet here we are. A moment of Negligence yes, premeditated cheaters, hell NO!!!!
Maybe ask yourself, would you ever think you need to do extensive study and research, on every ingredient of every thing you ever put in your body?
Combine that with what I said above, and hopefully you get a clearer picture of how this very unfortunate situation has come to be.
Possibly the main reason i'm writing this is the amount of uneducated and downright false comments here. Some of you really should be a bit more careful with your wild assumptions and accusations. There are real people on the other side of this. Its obvious that many just want to be hateful and drag people down, and that's pretty sad. When road cycling and in Particular Lance Armstrongs name gets thrown in the ring, WOW, are you serious??? Consider the things iv'e mentioned, and maybe think again.
People all seem to think theres some kind of Magic pill out there, that will take them from weekend warrior to world class level podium guy. Nobody stops to think that maybe the 25+ hours a week spent training, in the gym, on the bike, not going out with your friends, 5am starts, the constant crahses, injuries and sacrifices, has a bit more to do with it. The work that goes in is simply incomprehendable to most, and it's what makes the difference. Everyone who trains and competes at that level understands that, Which I would say is the main reason no other pros have spoken up about this.
Mistakes were made, and we're both paying the biggest price for that. It's added more stress to my life, on an already extremely stressful time. So maybe take the time to consider both sides of the equation before spreading some uneducated hate, and misinformation."
... Hopefully that clears the air a bit and will help people be a bit more informed before they start pounding the keyboard and accusing various riders of being lifelong cheaters and what have you.
Can't Ritchie and/or his attorney defend himself? Having an industry associated professional do so unsolicited on his behalf sounds, well, ridiculous.
Post a reply to: EWS Doping Thread Disappearance