Jonathon Tiernan Locke blood passport iffy? (ToB title for Haas?)

[Pro Tour Punditry]

although he deserves everything he gets for doping, I really liked JTL and his second chance story, his TOB was brillant, I really thought if he took that form to SKY, he would be an inspirational rider to many but alas it wasn't to be, a real shame...

Yep, it seemed a great story and I hoped it was true - but yet again it was a lie.
It all started to smell a bit off very soon after it looked like roses tho, so he had a limited opportunity to deceive.

 

[Flick of the Elbow]

A great disappointment.

 

[rich p]

If he'd been a foreign we'd have been flagging him up even earlier.
Bleedin' idiot.

 

[rich p]

Which suggests (allegedly) that something was not quite right while he raced with his previous team. If he did do something stupid without the knowledge of the team to get noticed, and then ended up recruited to one of the world's top teams without working out testing and scrutiny would follow, big mistake. The question now is, regrettably, what was happening at the ToB with his spectacular ride? He must have been tested several times at that race. It's not good for the old team and their management who one would hope are entirely blameless. And of course a two year ban at JTL's age is close to career ending. All very sad.

It was a blood passport violation showing anomalies over an extended period - not a failed test.

 

[Flying_Monkey]

I am sure some people are already pointing out that his story is not unlike Chris Froome's - promising career affected by chronic illness which was then cured leading to success. I can't help remembering Brailsford's graphs...

One does have to wonder whether JTL was either a victim of his own unusual post-recovery chemistry (can the biological passport really account for this?) or whether illness provided what was felt to be a convenient cover for rather stronger 'treatment' than is strictly necessary in this and other cases. In the case of Froome, he seems so far to be the genuine article and the similarities to JTL's story just skin-deep. In JTL's case however, it seems clear that his story of illness and recovery was used to spin a yarn of almost tragedy leading to deserved success which had a lot of us hoping it was a story that would have a happy ending... unfortunately, it wasn't a fairy tale, it was just another sorry tale of fraud, lies and deception.

 

[rliu]

His explanation for the abnormal values ranks right up there with the worst of the poor excuses that have been proffered in the history of doping in professional sports

A doctor presenting evidence on behalf of Tiernan-Locke claimed at a hearing in July that the 2012 Tour of Britain winner had consumed more than 33 units of alcohol in six hours on the evening of 20 September.


The rider said he had drunk the majority of two bottles of wine over dinner with his girlfriend in Bristol and estimated that he had a further "six or seven" double measures of gin before moving on to vodka.


Tiernan-Locke said he had been hungover when he woke the following morning so took aspirin and paracetamol and spent much of the day in bed before travelling with the rest of the Great Britain team to the Road World Championships in Maastricht that evening.


He suggested that, when his irregular sample was taken the following morning, he was dehydrated because a fear of making himself vomit had caused him not to drink any water.

 

[mattobrien]

I am sure the majority of professional sportspeople get utterly hammered prior to an event and it has not impact on their performance at all.

Glad that's all cleared up. Does someone want to give Dave a call so he can be reinstated?

 

[rliu]

Pretty risky way to try and beat a doping ban, even if what he said was scientifically plausible (it isn't), I doubt many teams would want to employ someone with a binge drinking problem. (And yes I would consider that kind of alcohol consumption in one go problematic, even if the frequency is occasional)

 

[Hont]

Pretty risky way to try and beat a doping ban.

Indeed. Especially since it was literally days before the World Championships. He was basically saying, "It's OK I'm not a drug cheat, just an incredibly unprofessional idiot."

 

[rich p]

Jonathon Twatface Liar.

 

[Crackle]

No doubt of his guilt and stupidity now. Up there with the best.

 

[Pro Tour Punditry]

Holy crap, I'm going to have to up my alcohol intake! One day I'll be a contender! Hic.

 

[resal]

That excuse is an insult to all the fans.

Given that he was working with Sky throughout the year, why the heck did they hire him and once again it sadly points that the "in competition testing" - in this case at the TOB - is still useless, only catching people who are even more stupid that JTL.

 

[400bhp]

what a bellend.

 

[Origamist]

His explanation for the abnormal values ranks right up there with the worst of the poor excuses that have been proffered in the history of doping in professional sports

A doctor presenting evidence on behalf of Tiernan-Locke claimed at a hearing in July that the 2012 Tour of Britain winner had consumed more than 33 units of alcohol in six hours on the evening of 20 September.


The rider said he had drunk the majority of two bottles of wine over dinner with his girlfriend in Bristol and estimated that he had a further "six or seven" double measures of gin before moving on to vodka.


Tiernan-Locke said he had been hungover when he woke the following morning so took aspirin and paracetamol and spent much of the day in bed before travelling with the rest of the Great Britain team to the Road World Championships in Maastricht that evening.


He suggested that, when his irregular sample was taken the following morning, he was dehydrated because a fear of making himself vomit had caused him not to drink any water.

That sounds perfectly plausible to me - JTL is a Janner after all. The story would be watertight if he had also come clean about his trip to Cap' n Jaspers for half a yard dog, followed by a Sky tattoo at Dr Price's, and the brawl with 42 Commando in The Two Trees all on the same evening. This pre-race approach worked for me back in Devon...