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
EWS fucked up getitng the UCI involved for the drug side of things. They now have no ability to use common sense and must adhere to what the UCI say on these matters.
The UCI did what they always do and fuck things up.
Martin fucked up for not going to a hospital/applying for a TUE/ taking medication that he wasn't 100% clear on.
The one thing that can be controlled here is the rider. Martin should have taken more steps to ensure he was not ingesting something he shouldn't have.
Such a bummer to see him stripped of his wins. He was riding so damn well at all the stages so far. Am gutted for him...
Then go back to dh where you failed the first time, leading you to this miserable existence of glorified xc racing.
If they'd use mountain bike tracks instead of bike parks for dh I'd have a really strong case.
Want to hang out with me at the northstar one and chase all the racers around with nasal spray and watch them freak out?
Is appealing at the Court of Arbitration for Sport still an option for Team GT? They've overturned the UCI before, I believe.
The riders have the leverage if they actually act like it. No riders. No race.
Anyone who wins this year, be it at this race or the overall, knows they did so with a big "*" above their name. Its lame. So lame. And if you (an EWS racer) think some technicallity based in the road world or otherwise couldn't strip you of your awesome season, you are sorely mistaken. The EWS needs the ability to overrule something like this. Otherwise, Chris has lost control, which isn't a good thing.
Martin is handling this like a man triple his age in wisom, which is impressive but this still isn't right.
We all understand that these athletes are responsible for what goes in their bodies, but why doesn't everyone think there is this massive infrastructure for these races to check on all these things? This is Enduro not the NBA.
Is Sven and the NZ Enduro going to have a full time compliance officer with a medical background to ensure all of the VOLUNTEER medical staff are aware of the bike racing regulations and be able to debate with a physician over standard medical practices of the country vs. those regulations? Martin could have been more thorough in his due diligence about his treatment but after he woke up and saw his condition worsening, I am willing to bet he and the doctor were a bit more concerned about his leg and general health than continued follow-up on standard treatment with WADA. What does Martin make a year 150K, 200K? That's a nice amount of money for riding bikes but it's not like that pays for an entourage of support staff. Sure GT has a manager, but that person is responsible for logistics for the whole team and is a generalist. Should GT's Enduro team have a lawyer on retainer to be able to provide briefs to governing bodies about treatment plans? If things continue down this road, it will just lead to more overhead being spent on teams which means less money for riders which is bad for the field.
Road racing has fucked over cycling but holding Enduro racers to same standards as multi-million dollar road cycling teams doing the TDF is utterly ridiculous. Shit even the WC can't even afford to have real pits in MSA - its the rent-a-tent and uhaul pits...
Doctor: Ooooh, yeah, that's looking bad buddy. You might lose your leg.
Martin: Are you kidding?
Doctor: No. But I can give a stronger antibiotic, it's one of the last steps before a surgical procedure.
Martin: Nah, let me wait for a TUE for about a month and then get back to you.
This is why he didn't check.
I don't think he did, but that's not really important.
If the doping tests in EWS are going to have any chance of being credible they have to strike down on anyone who breaks the rules, regardless of how credible the explanation is.
What I do think is that it is incredibly sloppy of Maes to take a banned substance, especially after all the commotion with graves and Rude last year.
To blame this on UCI is just plain stupid, I normally have little love for UCI, but here they are simply doing what any anti doping organ would do.
cmon dude, there would be no astrix for some dude taking a medicine that by two doctors' account was 100% required for the dude to keep an infection from spreading. It didn't give him any edge whatsoever. It also isn't a masking agent for all doping...
Common sense...it appears to allude most of us these days.
Internet Bicyclists cannot be climbing to the highest hills, demanding full-accreditation within press coverage and prime real estate for events and then find the stirpiculture too stiff.
'Roadie' this and 'TDF' that all-day-long; soon Mountainbike will instead have zero-resources for sustained finance and enter a (long overdue) downturn.
But hey, there'll be another location on the map for EB-5 type program incentives and... uhh, supporting members.
Again, common sense has to prevail. This case is so damn obvious. Two doctors. A gash to his leg. An infection. He would have been granted a TUE had the whole process not been so fucked in the first place.
This is absofuckinglotely ridiculous. Anyone arguing to the contrary makes me cringe, not just for the sport, but the future of our species.
Instead he showed up at both the two first races testing positive for a masking agent.
Why didn't he apply for a TUE right away?
Was it because he forgot?
Was it because he saw it as a perfect opportunity to get ahead with the help of some banned substances when he had such a good excuse lined up?
Was he involved in a complex plot with this doctor to mask his intake of banned substances during the off-season?
Personally, I think he forgot.
But I don't feel sorry for him.
The same rules apply to all contestants and I'm sure that the majority work hard to take care they don't find them selfs in this kind of situation.
Any racer would have taken the help and advice that is right there, again from a board certified doctor. Anyone probably would have listened to his advice, too, with respect to doping. He's a damn DOCTOR!
So you think he took the masking agent then said "oh boy, now I can dope!"? Really? REALLY? His performance hasn't changed one bit. He dominates to the same degree.
Fucking crazy. I'm so over this.
Bummer Martin. You are handling this like a champ. I'm so turned off by the whole thing I'll follow EWS racing with a huge chip on my shoulder.
There was a better way to handle this.
I think thats where Maes and GT team manager failed and probably regret not having done more investigation. The denial of the TUE by the UCI was probably related to the time it was applied (after the failed tests) were it should have been applied right way when the treatment was made.
re the UCI hilarious to think that they are so Anal about TUE's but if you are of the other T Martin could actually race with a speciified level of Testosterone and according to the UCI even keep woody the woodpecker.... talk about madness.... use a drug needed for a medical condition out , use a drug for another condition IN.....oh and we'll let you keep your bike-bits
here's a good read.... in relation to TUEs https://www.ukad.org.uk/sites/default/files/2019-04/TUEs%20criteria.pdf
(Point 4.3 references retroactive TUE's note (d) get out clause , they MAES GT did everything they were asked to do but can't even appeal because they are specifically not allowed to ,,, you can't make this stuff up... actually the UCI have lol...)
on a side note pity that Maes isnt sponsored by YT,,, the marketing opportunity could have been hilarious....
come catch our 2019 limited edition YT TUEx ....
No matter how accidental it was and unfortunate for Maes, there is no way the UCI can let that slide.
I'm not the UCI's biggest fan, but they seem to be the only party in this clusterf*%$ that hasn't been sloppy.
The penalty is actually pretty light.
and wait wut, ' current hands down at the time leader of the EWS, injured himself , so he could mask up his roids use... please.......
It doesn't matter how unfortunate or unintentional this doping infraction was.
Maes has been caught with a masking agent for steroids in his system and they can't just excuse it. There has to be some sort of penalty.
The "dog ate my doctors homework" story isn't a good enough excuse.
I'm not accusing Maes of doing steroids.
Going by his own story, he took a banned masking agent and due to his own and his doctors negligence, he didn't apply for a TUE until he was caught with it in his system.
He has been busted for a legit infraction, he has plead his case and they have given him a light penalty.
He'll serve it out and be allowed back.
It all looks pretty fair to me.
And insinuating that I have erectile disfunction is a bit of a dick move mate!
If Maes had some other doctor who wasn't "neutral support" and wasn't part of a race prescribe this sort of thing, I go "damn, that's unfortunate but you've got to impose some sort of pentalty".
The fact he was *racing his bike* and had to make health decisions in the field where he received incorrect advice from the doctor pertaining to banned substances, and that doctor has backed up the story 100% makes me go 'cmon guys, this is clearly not a case of a rider doping but a case of a doctor doing his job and a rider concerned about health first, and putting paperwork second.
There should be a way for common sense to prevail, clearly there isn't - on behalf of WADA, the UCI, the EWS and, as it appears, the droves of interneters.
Post a reply to: EWS Doping Thread Disappearance