Seems like, once again, pro cycling is the scapegoat for doping in sport. I didn’t plan to post an article about this but since I see a lot of media outlets picking up this story here it goes. It’s important to mention that I will focus solely on the sporting aspect of this issue. Whether it’s legal or not to acquire, transport, possess, etc., this substance is of no interest to me.
First of all, what is Tizanidine? According to the Mayo Clinic, Tizanidine is a muscle relaxant. “It relieves spasms, cramping, and tightness of the muscles”. Pretty much, all things riders suffer from.
On to the issue: apparently the substance Tizanidine was found in “head hair specimens collected from [three] international racing cyclists”. Here is a link to the study.
Why did they conduct this drug test? Tizanidine was found in the room of a team doctor during a police raid at the 2021 Tour.
Which team was raided? This is not confirmed by the study.
Was any team raided during the 2021 Tour? Team Bahrain Victorious was searched by police after stage 17. Additionally, who can forget Matej Mohoric celebrating his stage 19 win by “zipping his lips” in reference to the treatment of the riders during the raid. The team published a press release on their website in which they state that “Team Bahrain Victorious and any of its Riders have not been officially or unofficially notified about any findings related to tizanidine or other substances.”
Is all of this related related? Unconfirmed at this point.
Given how much commotion there has been around this issue for the past few days this is surely an illegal substance, right? No, it is not prohibited by the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA).
So, what’s the problem? Exactly! This is the issue, why is this being linked with doping in cycling when it obviously isn’t? I have no idea if there was any crime committed here in terms of distribution or trafficking of this substance. Frankly, this isn’t relevant to me. It’s outrageous, though, that usage of a non-banned substance is getting this kind of publicity.
I understand that cycling is the scapegoat for all doping in sport, but let’s stop it. When athletes of other sports smoke weed to deal with their pain (something I think should be legal) the general public largely either supports them or doesn’t care. When a cyclist does something similar, there’s suddenly outrage? Maybe they should be recreationally smoking muscle relaxants, then there wouldn’t be an issue.
Maybe this story is being picked up now to vindicate a useless police raid that didn’t actually find anything in the way of banned doping products. One more time, I don’t know if legally the team doctor is in the clear but, if not, this should be a criminal case, not a doping case.
I don’t think anyone expects cyclists to ride 3000km in 3 weeks on bread and water. The same goes for NFL players who reach 100kg at 1.80m with suspiciously low body fat percentages. Or football players that run upwards of 10km three times a week for a full season while following a complicated game plan for 90 minutes straight. I’m not even going to get into the “bread and water” used in track and field events.
The difference here is what’s legal and available for everyone to use versus what’s illegal and giving an unfair advantage only to some. If Tizanidine is harmful then ban it and start punishing whoever uses it. If it’s not then let riders keep using it without being publicly shamed for it.
This thing about equivocating with NFL is true, but this is the playing field.
Lance Armstrong and baseball player Jose Canseco are the most honest about all of this, and they both remain the furthest outside.
The TV show South Park had/has a character named Kenny, who died in every episode. He was replaced by the character called Butters, who always got it so much worse than dying every week. That’s what bike racing is.
Too many guys on Bahrain has their very best years by far in their 30ies this last year.
Was it only muscle relaxents?
I doubt it.
“Had”
If it’s nothing, why can’t there be honesty?
Primoz Roglic retreated to Slovenia for like two months right in the middle of the season. Very Very Very Lance-like…
Hey man, thanks for reaching out! I think it’s important to distinguish between discussing cycling’s problems with cycling’s stakeholders or discussing them outside of this realm.
If I’m talking to you, fan to fan, hey, of course I have suspicions too, I would be stupid not to given the history. But, you know, innocent until proven guilty and all that.
Now, if we’re talking cycling with outsiders it all changes for me. I think all cycling fans want to see this sport grow and improve. So, I point it out when I see some ignorant opinions about doping in cycling, especially when these are used as a justification to not follow the sport. These usually come from fans of other sports with as big (or bigger) problems with doping.
And that’s where this article rubbed me the wrong way. Talking about muscle relaxants but staying quiet when NFL players show up looking like that. Or when soccer players get injections before games. Or about the fact that athletics has been as dirty or even dirtier than pro cycling when it comes to doping and every 4 years everybody pretends this isn’t true.
I don’t pretend there’s no problems in cycling. But it irks when it is used as a scapegoat because the media corporations don’t want to confront the practices of their “golden geese” (NFL, soccer, basketball, the big ones).
Oh, and on the honesty part, everybody knows cyclists and sports people in general don’t function on just bread and water. The thing is, and this is assuming legal practices under doping laws:
– If an NFL team came out and say “look, this is what our players take to train, gain weight, recover, etc.” it would be portrayed as a “training regimen”.
– If a cycling team came out and did the same, you know very well how it would be portrayed in the media.
Yes, Thank you, too!
You are touching on quite a few minefield topics. There are effectively provable ways to demonstrate who is cheating in Baseball. They don’t get caught, and if the fan speaks up, names some names, then that is a sour non-fan person with a negative agenda.
Lots of identity stuff involved with being a sports fan. And lots of confused people.
BTW, no one in USA knows what “Athletics” is. Track and Field is how it’s known here.
I encourage you to post more on the Podium Cafe – that site sure does need some new efforts.
And you’re right about cycling taking it on the nose for being a smaller sport. But also Lance was a huge problem, where he became actually very famous. I was stunned once when the gal cutting my hair corrected me about the lineup of his recent girlfriends. She had it down, and that didn’t come from reading Cyclingnews.
When Lance had his bike stolen in Sacramento, CA maybe a dozen years ago, many many people who knew I liked bikes came out of the woods and everywhere to relate to it. I guess everyone’s had a bike stolen at least once. Lance and his blood bags killed off a whole generation of cyclists in USA.
But I’ll now tell you a secret – there are many cycling fan comment forums, but somehow EVERYONE reads Podium Cafe. I’ve seen/heard many exact examples. True story, and even though I am the blackest of black sheep there, even I get heard. Lance reads it. Chris Horner reads it. Cycling Podcast team reads it. And they will read you, too.
babes
Oh, the website bunched up my whole comment! Dang.
I didn’t really mention baseball because it seems to already be suffering enough as it is these days. Despite still being massive, of course.
You’re right about “identity sports”. Which I don’t understand, I mean, arguing about teams I get. Sports? Don’t get it.
Yeah, I agree with you on the Lance thing. On the plus side, it shows it’s possible for a cyclist to transcend the sport.
Thanks for the encouragement 😉 I follow some online cycling publications and now that I have a bit more time on my hands, decided to try writing myself, let’s see how it goes.
Thanks a lot for the encouragement, appreciate it!