Updated: Team Sky says its riders are not given painkiller Tramadol and it should be banned

I am stunned that this drug is not on banned list! I have worked here in Ulster with Addict services & Tramadol has long been a problem !! !!

On the subject of caffiene - I think it's banned over certain quantities by the UCI isn't it? Might be wrong but I'm sure I heard that recently.

I can has espresso. I can not has three. :*(

Do you think if I broke out the co-codamol on the chainy it wouldn't hurt so much?

I see most of you are still in denial...

I cant be bothered to trawl through all these comments so would just like to ask if anyone has mentioned caffeine yet?
A very powerful stimulant and performance enhancer but perfectly legal and one that probably each and everyone of us uses on a daily basis.
If caffeine landed from outer space tomorrow i am sure it would be banned. Its probably no more or less 'dangerous' than Tramadol

What a shame - no more inane smiling as Sky drags a resentful group up those long long climbs . . .

I don't want to add any fuel to the Team Sky doping suspicions argument, and I really have nothing against the team or how they race, but I have a couple of comments related to this story.

The first is the very premise of "marginal gains" employed by Sky and many other top level teams. Conceptually, they would use the most expansive definition of legal means to improve performance, despite ethical or long-term health risks. Whether it is the (non)homologation of the Olympic time trial bikes or the alleged use of Tramadol, it's all about bending the rules to find better performance. It shouldn't be surprising when these stories break, as pushing legal boundaries is the core of the marginal gains ethos. Heck, even the Garmin doctor looked into the benefits and risks of Tramadol.

Secondly, the PR response by Sky is curiously crafted. In "None of our riders should ride whilst using Tramadol", by using the word "should" instead of "do", it may imply that team riders continue to use Tramadol, just not under direction by the team. My impression is that the PR response was crafted by the legal department to protect the team management and put all of the responsibility for Tramadol use on the riders. Anyway, just my two cents.

Sky just cant be trusted. In addition to this I have heard that they ride in black to power solar cells that drive a small electric motor to power the cranks. That's why Rapha changed the branding of the material from Fuel Black to Cool Black. This means the electric motors in the crank dont need a battery as this had hampered Cancellara when he was routinely using one...it was to heavy to have a stack of 9v batteries in the seat tube. this is why Sky dont do so well in the Spring classics: not enough sunshine, to much grey Flanderian sky. Come Tour time though and the sunflowers are out and Sky can shoot along. Look at Chris Froome on Ventoux last year (though to be fair he apparently had to switch the power cells to his shorts as was in the yellow jersey). He also apparently powered the electric motor using a dynamo. When he turned the pedals it powered a dynamo that provided electricity that in turn powered the pedals. Thats why he pedals so much faster to escape Quintano, and only does so in a big crowd so people cannot here the whirring. Don't ask me where I got all this information, but let's just say 'I know people'.

Sky just cant be trusted. In addition to this I have heard that they ride in black to power solar cells that drive a small electric motor to power the cranks. That's why Rapha changed the branding of the material from Fuel Black to Cool Black. This means the electric motors in the crank dont need a battery as this had hampered Cancellara when he was routinely using one...it was to heavy to have a stack of 9v batteries in the seat tube. this is why Sky dont do so well in the Spring classics: not enough sunshine, to much grey Flanderian sky. Come Tour time though and the sunflowers are out and Sky can shoot along. Look at Chris Froome on Ventoux last year (though to be fair he apparently had to switch the power cells to his shorts as was in the yellow jersey). He also apparently powered the electric motor using a dynamo. When he turned the pedals it powered a dynamo that provided electricity that in turn powered the pedals. Thats why he pedals so much faster to escape Quintano, and only does so in a big crowd so people cannot here the whirring. Don't ask me where I got all this information, but let's just say 'I know people'.

I do a bit of jogging and cycling and ran a lot in my younger days. One running event I went to, the winner was stripped of the title for a banned substance (1992 comrades mararthon) and at the time a medical person said in an interview that if they checked every participant, most of the field would actually be disqualified, typically due to over the counter drugs! Anyway, I never felt my performance ehnanced (even now), but then again I aint no pro!!!!

They might do, and I can't say those riders are clean, but you know what? If I sat on a saddle for 5 hours a day, and rode through the countryside a lot when the pollen is high, I might need a. saddle sore cream, and b. hay fever meds. That doesn't mean I'm doping. I'm not saying that other riders aren't doping, I'm saying that we as the public don't get to sit there behind a keyboard and just arbitrarily decide whether a rider is clean or not based on these things. What you're advocating is a massive over-simplification of the medical issues that can affect a person.

Put it another way: Running a country is, I suspect, massively complex. Part of the problem affecting politics is that policiticans want votes, and everything is aired in public for consumption by lowest-common-denominator media like the Daily Mail. This causes the politicos to make stupid decisions based on knee-jerk reactions, easy vote-winners, and no incentive to think beyond the next election. So you take a complex subject, but apply dumbass decisions driven by heckling from the public who understand very little of the issues.

When you ask if particular conditions are over-represented in the peloton, that's statistics. Statistics only work across a dataset. Any individual can be different - cleverer, stronger, weaker, big feet, small thumbs. You can't reasonably apply statistics to assume the worst of anyone who falls outside the norm, or you might as well cry 'witch!' and start burning people at the stake.

As an aside, there was a lot of talk about both (IIRC) Steve Redgrave and Paula Radcliffe - I think they might be diabetic and asthmatic respectively. Thoughts?

This has always been my biggest worry when you look at the performances of some of sky's riders. Given their resources it is easy to imagine them being able to take advantages of practices that whilst technically legal and within the rules, go against the spirit of the sport and the spirit of the rules.

To me this seems a much more likely problem than US Postal style team doping programs.

Team transparency, yes, but that doesn't equate to telling individuals "if you ride for us, you forfeit your inalienable right to medical privacy"

This is the Sky statement:
None of our riders should ride whilst using Tramadol — that’s the policy of this team.
Team Sky do not give it to riders whilst racing or training, either as a pre-emptive measure or to manage existing pain.
We believe that its side effects, such as dizziness and drowsiness, could cause issues for the safety of all riders.
We also feel that if a rider has the level of severe pain for its appropriate use they should not be riding.
Tramadol is not prohibited by WADA but this has been our firm position for the last two seasons and all medical staff and riders are aware of this.
Our view is that it should be on the WADA list and any appropriate clinical use could be managed through the regulated TUE, or Therapeutic Use Exemption, system.

So there you go, another non story to try and sell a few more books. It may have been taken in 2010 but it was not banned then and it isnt now. Unless of course your one of the people who see conspiracy in everything Sky do, sad i know but you will always get people like that.

Euphoric, I have been prescribed Tramadol, never found it to be, but in in other users maybe that's the case. When I have had lower back pain it is an effective drug. However never wanted to ride a bike with those circumstances it would be irresponsible. I find it difficult to understand why pro riders would want to?

Velo News has Team Sky's statement on the matter http://velonews.competitor.com/2014/04/news/sky-avoids-barry-allegations...

Why has Sky still not signed up to the MPCC?

There was a very good article in today's Times about all this. Made a very good point of exactly where do you draw the line on "drugs"? What is and isn't a drug?

And to be honest, when I was on Tramadol (fractured pelvis) it wiped me out totally; on the odd occasions I was awake I was barely able to string a sentence together so if anyone can race a bike on it they're doing better than me! Although it's obviously something to do with opiates since both morphine and codeine have very similar effects to Tramadol on me.

Is it reasonable for us to ask for your medical history? No? Personal info and all that, so why is it ok to demand this from athletes?