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Jon Tiernan-Locke (picture Endura Racing)Tiernan-Locke blames 33-unit booze binge for doping ban
Jonathan Tiernan-Locke has claimed that a night of celebration with his girlfriend, in which he consumed 33 units of alcohol after going on a drinking binge, was to blame for irregular blood values in his biological passport which has seen him banned from competitive cycling for two years and sacked by Team Sky.
The claim was revealed today when the National Anti Doping Panel of UK Anti-Doping (UKAD) published its official ruling and reasoning behind last month’s decision to ban him from competitive cycling for two years from 1 January 2014.
It also fined him 70 per cent of his gross income during 2012, amounting to £15,400, and stripped him of his 2012 Tour of Britain overall victory and his 19th place in that year’s UCI Road World Championships in the Netherlands, where he was the first British rider across the line following a race in which he went on the attack alongside riders including Alberto Contador.
The mammoth bender the 29-year-old maintains he embarked on took place in the week between that Tour of Britain win, when he was riding for Endura Racing and the road worlds, with the night out in Bristol to celebrate his securing a lucrative two-year contract with Team Sky.
According to evidence presented by Tiernan-Locke at the hearing, he downed the best part of two bottles of wine over dinner with his girlfriend. Visiting several bars afterwards, he said he drank both wine and spirits, including six or seven double measures of gin before moving on to vodka.
The exact amount that the cyclist drank is unknown – both his and his girlfriend’s recollection was perhaps understandably hazy – but he said the volume, while excessive, wasn't unusual and that his "normal off-season binge drinking would include a full bottle of spirits followed by further drinks in bars."
His former manager at Endura Racing, Brian Smith, said in evidence that some leading riders do drink heavily, even during the racing season.
Dr. Kingsley Hampton, the expert who supported Tiernan-Locke's claims throughout the hearing told the panel that the cyclist had an alcoholic intake total of 335 grams - over 33 units - which led to "an acute severe toxic insult to the physiological system."
This, he said, resulted in severe dehydration, inhibiting the release of reticulocytes from the rider's bone marrow, and decreasing the volume of plasma in the blood, reducing his haemoglobin concentration.
The rider said that apart from a few sips of water when he took painkillers, he had nothing to eat or drink the next day when he flew to Maastricht to hook up with the other members of the Great Britain team.
Tiernan-Locke insisted that severe dehydration between the night out on 20 September and a blood sample being taken two days later contributed to the abnormal blood values.
However, the National Anti Doping Panel did not agree with his explanation and concluded that the sample's concentration of haemoglobin and the percentage of immature blood cells (reticulocytes) were well outside the expected parameters for the rider.
It said that on the balance of the evidence presented, while it could not dismiss his account of drinking to excess on the night of 20 September it was unable to accept the explanation advanced by Dr. Kingsley Hampton on behalf of Tiernan-Locke that he was severely dehydrated two days later.
It added that it was “inconceivable” that a professional cyclist set to make his debut in a World Championships would not have made sure that by the time he reached the team hotel, he would have ensured that he had drunk enough water to overcome any hangover.
The report said "the values disclosed in the testing... would be compelling evidence of the use of a prohibited substance or method, unless explained by some other factor."
The panel rejected Dr. Hampton’s assumptions regarding Tiernan-Locke’s supposed dehydration as “not actually substantiated by the evidence.”
It added: “It is the combination of the two factors, both an abnormally high Hb [haemoglobin] and an abnormally low level of reticulocytes, neither of which can be explained, which compels the conclusion that a prohibited method or substance had been used by the rider.”
Tiernan-Locke has the right to appeal the decision to the Court of Arbitration for Sport, with any such application needing to be made within one month of receipt of the panel's decision.
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79 comments
Damn, 70% of his gross-income was 15K... Maybe it's for the best. Now he'll have a chance to make some real money.
I blame alcohol for making me fat. Wait!...that is plausible. BUGGER
Hmmm!
33 units?
He's about 4 foot 6 and weights about 5 stone*
The miracle is that he's alive!
*these numbers may not be entirely accurate
Not entirely sure you can classify someone as an alcoholic for going on a bender. It happens.
I'm not sure I'd want to hire a rider who was knocking back that amount of booze on a regular basis, never mind what drugs they were taking.
If his explanation were true - it may be, I don't know - then he would need counselling for alcoholism.
So disappointing as a Devonian. I watched him fire up Caerphilly Mountain twice and roared each time.
He had frightening form when he won the mountains classification previously too.
Easy to get swept along by someone who you want to be that good..
He's not appealed so I wonder whether he'll come clean or just say he's not fighting it as the system is broken and the toll it's taking on his health / family etc..
Saxo Tinkoff had a few beers at their hotel during the Tour this year, If I remember correctly it was after Mick Rogers won a stage.
I think they generally abstain during a big tour (with the occasional morale booster for some riders), but aren't averse to getting on it in their down time.
I thought pro bike riders abstained from alcohol in the interest of their being a athlete and most of the peleton could get pie-eyed on a half of shandy - in fact, although I don't recall what race it was or what stage it was, I recall Carlton Kirby specifically mentioning how little alcohol they consume and it isn't a lot... even that glass of champagne they have the Tour winner swanning around with goes to their head because they have abstained for so long.
We need more sports to adopt the biological passport programme, the more its used, the better the system will be. I can't say if JTL's claim stands up to to anything, I can only take the experts view and making an assumption that other cyclists have been tested after going out on a all night bender.
The fine and costs (point 53) in the reasoning is quite illustrative.
Find 70% of his 2012 gross income, £15,400. making a total income for 2012 of £22K.
To go from that to a contract at Sky must be a big incentive to microdose EPO.
Micro dosing EPO is to balance reticulites (new red blood cells) while you are using blood bags... the EPO doesn't create the advantage itself (well not at the micro level anyway) the bags of blood do.
He probably is telling the truth about the bender, but the passport doesn't lie. It's hard enough catching the cheats anyway, as stated above the EPO will be out of his system very quickly, it's possible to microdose overnight and for it to be gone by 7am, and unless they have taken a large amount the blood counts won't be too affected. That's why microdosing, IMO, is still rife.
I am surprised by this... Well, not that surprised, but there you go..
If he had a Haematocrit value of 53%, why was he not stopped from racing then and there? And indeed why did nothing come out until several months later?
Now, I'm not saying he wasn't guilty as sin (even though my personal bias does support him), but if his values were so 'whack' why was it left nearly a year?
You can say it was to build up some history on his passport, but that wasn't needed with a Haematocrit beyond the legal limit, and at least this should have been flagged to SKY at that time.... maybe it was.
My take away on this is that Mr Tinkoff is actually right... the system is letting teams down... if the UCI have information available, it needs to be made aware to the teams in some way before they commit to lengthy contracts.
Because the HCT max ruling was dead and dusted a long time ago.
Indeed so. Some people have a natural level above 50%, and anyone can neck a couple of litres of water which will artificially reduce the proportion should they choose.
Read this, it might help your understanding
http://cyclingtips.com.au/2014/08/anti-doping-expert-parisotto-explains-...
The 50% haematocrit level has not been applied since the biological passport came in. It was very much a temporary measure as many people (including myself) have a natural haematocrit above 50%.
That reply didn't work - it was for Jimmy Ray Will
Whilst I have reservations over this system of presumed guilt, JTL's story is pretty implausible, and there is a paucity of any credible evidence by his expert to back it up.
He wasn't presumed guilty. There was extremely strong evidence of his guilt and he simply gets a chance to defend himself and offer evidence in his favor.
If someone is caught standing over a dead body with the murder weapon in his hand, do you complain that he is 'presumed guilty'? That person also gets a chance to prove that someone else committed the murder, but in the absence of exculpating evidence, he will go to prison.
Um, not quite. The prosecution would have to establish that the deceased was indeed killed by that weapon, that the person found standing over him or her actually inflicted the fatal blow with the weapon, and that he or she intended to kill or inflict GBH. Fail to establish any of those elements beyond reasonable doubt and they don't have a case. And even before it gets to the point of charging someone, the CPS has to decide whether, based on the evidence in its possession, there is a reasonable prospect of conviction. A defendant's presentation of any evidence that they are not guilty is only part of the picture, and the defence certainly does not have to prove someone else committed the murder (if that's what it was), only at most that the accused didn't, and sometimes not even that - casting suffcient doubt on the prosecution's case will often be enough to secure an acquittal.
Regardless of your snippy response to it, Simon's post summed up my thoughts perfectly.
Thanks Paul J. It's like the late 1990's and the 50% rule all over again.
If that's true, the Bjarne Riis himself would be proud of that.
Good point about the World Champs. Clearly, getting shitfaced doesn't stop you finishing with Sagan, Gerrans et al 5 seconds down on the winner - provided you've got some EPO in the system. Although, it takes some front to walk onto a plane with Sky staff and riders and nurse the mother of all hangovers. I can't believe Mr Marginal Gains missed that
I think the interesting thing is that despite speculation, JTL didn't rely on his history with illness as part of his defence. Sadly, that and the proximity of the biggest race of his life makes me think its a concocted story.
I sincerely hope he trains well and tries to come back clean. Whatever his level.
DETAILS OF EVIDENCE GIVEN AND REASONS FOR CONCLUSION OF DOPING:
In conjunction with the announcement of the suspension, the UKAD has printed details of the case, including details of the abnormal blood sample plus Tiernan-Locke’s defence.
It discloses that the haemoglobin concentration was 17.9 g/dL and the percentage of immature blood cells, or reticulocytes, just 0.15%. [Editor’s note: the former reading equates to a haematocrit reading of approximately 53.7%, while standard reticulocyte levels are approximately 1%.]
According to UKAD, these “were well outside the parameters that would be expected for the rider in normal physiological circumstances. These two values combine to give a highly abnormal OFF- score value of 155.8. In the absence of a plausible explanation from the rider it is alleged that the inevitable inference is that he had engaged in some form of doping to increase his haemoglobin levels.”
Because the system works on presumed guilt of anything unexplained shows up. Strange really.
JTL aside I await with interest the day when a rider goes to the ECHR or what ever to contest a decision that says "you can't prove that you were not at the scene of the crime so you did it".
http://www.studiosystemnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/02/wolf-of-wall-...
Fascinating read that decision. Well spotted & thanks farrell.
So the conclusion is: to be a better cyclist, get smashed. Right, I'll give that a go. Clearly I've not being drinking enough - I max out at ~20 units (2 bottles of red).
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