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Team Sky reported to have tested whether Viagra helps riders' endurance

Drug used to treat impotence is not banned by World Anti-Doping Agency, but Sky likely to face stiff questioning over its alleged trial

Team Sky reportedly tested the drug Viagra – best known for its performance enhancing benefits in the bedroom – on riders at a training camp to assess its effects on their endurance, according to a Daily Mail report.

The newspaper says that the drug, which is not banned by the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA), was tried out at a training camp in the early days of the team, which began racing in 2010.

The Mail’s article lacks detail – it says only that “at least one rider was prescribed the drug by their personal GP, although it is not known for what reason,” and adds that a team doctor is thought to have prescribed the drug for personal use to a member of British Cycling staff.

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Neither Team Sky nor British Cycling replied to the newspaper’s request for a comment, but irrespective of whether there is substance to the story, it does highlight one of the themes running through the controversy that has engulfed both.

That theme is the practice, across a range of sports, of athletes using drugs that are not on WADA’s Prohibited List to try and gain an edge over their rivals.

While that’s perfectly legal, it does raise ethical concerns, one example being the powerful painkiller, Tramadol, which Team Sky says it no longer uses and which is also subject to a voluntary ban by teams belonging to the Movement for Credible Cycling (MPCC).

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While Viagra, which can increase the ability of blood vessels to move oxygen around the body, is not on WADA’s Prohibited List, the organisation did consider banning it in 2008 but chose not do so.

Victor Conte, who was at the centre of the Bay Area Laboratory Cooperative scandal in California in which track and field athletes including the USA’s Marion Jones and Great Britain’s Dwain Chambers explained how it worked.

He told the Mail: “I gave my athletes Viagra back in the day. We used to call it Vitamin V.

“I think it definitely has performance-enhancing benefits. It relaxes the walls of your cardiovascular system and improves blood flow.

“If you have a garden hose which you expand the diameter on it will allow more water to flow through. It's the same with blood flow and oxygen round your body. That's what Viagra does.”

The drug has been linked to cycling in the past. In 2008, police searching the car of the father of Gerolsteiner rider Andrea Moletta at the Giro d’Italia found 82 Viagra tablets, as well as syringes hidden in toothpaste tubes.

There is of course one obvious potential side effect, for a male rider at least, of taking Viagra – bringing to mind a story we reported on in 2015 of a cyclist who was thrown off the World Naked Bike Ride in Canterbury, Kent for being overexcited, although it’s not known whether the drug was involved.

Simon joined road.cc as news editor in 2009 and is now the site’s community editor, acting as a link between the team producing the content and our readers. A law and languages graduate, published translator and former retail analyst, he has reported on issues as diverse as cycling-related court cases, anti-doping investigations, the latest developments in the bike industry and the sport’s biggest races. Now back in London full-time after 15 years living in Oxford and Cambridge, he loves cycling along the Thames but misses having his former riding buddy, Elodie the miniature schnauzer, in the basket in front of him.

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31 comments

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Giles Pargiter | 7 years ago
0 likes

Don't know what all the fuss is about.

Certainly reveals that the sexism that BC are accused of is endemic throughout cycling.

It so completely shows that the commentors here are inconsiderate and unexplorative lovers. FYI Viagra has similar effects on female people as well.

Also that it seems to have been ignored that just about everyone who has won the tour declared before it that they intended to win by any method. So that is the "ethic" - WIN.

So just as with all the plastic bicycle frames now used and electric gear changes, for all the many thousands spent, I think I'am right to say (check it out for your selves)  save about 3 seconds on the winning time of the tour over bicycles from the 60's. (Allowing for shorter stages, smoother tarmac and rest days - which can all be factored). Long live UCI reg's specifying the bicycles so that it remains human against human and not tech V's tech (ie. money V's money) as with formula 1 racing for example.

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Bikeylikey | 7 years ago
0 likes

Yes it's unethical. It make you wonder if the Sky team are turning into nothing but hardened criminals.

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DaveE128 | 7 years ago
2 likes

It may be legal, but I think it's unethical for a doctor to prescribe a drug to enhance sporting performance that is not to treat a medical condition if the drug causes side effects or other harm (many prescription drugs do).  Especially so if the athlete is under any pressure to take it.

Surely this is why most drugs are banned?

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Danbury | 7 years ago
0 likes

"Bike sex man placed on probation"

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/7095134.stm

Early adopter perhaps?

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. . | 7 years ago
3 likes

Team Sky misunderstand Rule #5

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headingley | 7 years ago
0 likes

Team Sky trying to muscle in on Stif Cycles....unfair.

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aladdin pain | 7 years ago
1 like

Seems any benefit derived from improved blood flow would be cancelled out by the sequestering of a truly enormous quantity of that blood in an appendage which contributes nothing to effort on the bike. 

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drosco | 7 years ago
5 likes

Can everyone stop being so hard-on Sky.

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notfastenough | 7 years ago
1 like

There's a joke in here somewhere about lateral stiffness and vertical compliance, but I can't find it.

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Dnnnnnn | 7 years ago
1 like

Team Sky taking their turn upfront again...

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Valbrona | 7 years ago
3 likes

I tried viagra once, but it got stuck in my throat ... I had a stiff neck for two weeks.

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Must be Mad | 7 years ago
0 likes

Hmmm,  marginal gains?

Quote:

Joking aside,  if they really are trying out anything that is not banned to see if it helps, that is totally unethical.   Definitely on the dark side of the grey area between cheating and not cheating.

If its not banned, then its definately not cheeting. No grey about it.

unethical? How so?

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kcr replied to Must be Mad | 7 years ago
1 like
Must be Mad wrote:

Hmmm,  marginal gains?

Quote:

Joking aside,  if they really are trying out anything that is not banned to see if it helps, that is totally unethical.   Definitely on the dark side of the grey area between cheating and not cheating.

If its not banned, then its definately not cheeting. No grey about it.

unethical? How so?

Yes, if it's not on the proscribed list, it's OK to use it. That's a pretty clear rule. The list is a living document and substances are always being reviewed as knowledge of doping practices and medical treatment advances.
Talking about grey areas and unethical practice just muddies the water.

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davel replied to kcr | 7 years ago
4 likes
kcr wrote:
Must be Mad wrote:

Hmmm,  marginal gains?

Quote:

Joking aside,  if they really are trying out anything that is not banned to see if it helps, that is totally unethical.   Definitely on the dark side of the grey area between cheating and not cheating.

If its not banned, then its definately not cheeting. No grey about it.

unethical? How so?

Yes, if it's not on the proscribed list, it's OK to use it. That's a pretty clear rule. The list is a living document and substances are always being reviewed as knowledge of doping practices and medical treatment advances.
Talking about grey areas and unethical practice just muddies the water.

We have pro teams' recent history of EPO and roids for breakfast, and blood transfusions for dinner.

We have the exploitation of TUEs and the authorities' lethargic response to it.

And the water remained Highland spring-like in its purity and clarity. But uh-oh, some fans want to chat about boundaries and ethics - THAT will muddy it.

Ooookaaaay.

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Edgeley replied to Must be Mad | 7 years ago
4 likes

Must be Mad wrote:

Hmmm,  marginal gains?

Quote:

Joking aside,  if they really are trying out anything that is not banned to see if it helps, that is totally unethical.   Definitely on the dark side of the grey area between cheating and not cheating.

If its not banned, then its definately not cheeting. No grey about it.

unethical? How so?

Because the purpose of sport is to compete and win using the human body and permitted equipment, not to see who has the best ability to use drugs that aren't banned until the point that they are banned.  That's why.

 

Just because something isn't banned, it doesn't mean it is right.

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PaulBox replied to Edgeley | 7 years ago
0 likes

Edgeley wrote:

Must be Mad wrote:

Hmmm,  marginal gains?

Quote:

Joking aside,  if they really are trying out anything that is not banned to see if it helps, that is totally unethical.   Definitely on the dark side of the grey area between cheating and not cheating.

If its not banned, then its definately not cheeting. No grey about it.

unethical? How so?

Because the purpose of sport is to compete and win using the human body and permitted equipment, not to see who has the best ability to use drugs that aren't banned until the point that they are banned.  That's why.

Just because something isn't banned, it doesn't mean it is right.

I hear where you're coming from, but for me it is just a little too utopian or perhaps naive.

This is professional sport, which, due to the amount of money involved, is effectively pretty big business. If you're not succesful what's the point? Why would a sponsor want to back a team who never win? No podium time? No jersey being zipped up before it crosses the line?

So, where do you draw the line? Is a multivitamin tablet ok? Maybe a couple of BCAA tabs? 

Permitted equipment might not include "dietry supplements" in your book, but to a pro a legal tablet is just as important to a secret new aero profiled hadlebar. And until they become illegal, they are legal.

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Edgeley | 7 years ago
5 likes

Joking aside,  if they really are trying out anything that is not banned to see if it helps, that is totally unethical.   Definitely on the dark side of the grey area between cheating and not cheating.

Of course it may not be true - look what paper it is reported in.    But if it is, it is pretty disgusting. 

 

 

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Jackson | 7 years ago
4 likes

Sounds like they've just gone to Dr Freeman "take these jiffy bags down the pharmacy and get us one of everything not on this list"

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The_Vermonter | 7 years ago
3 likes

Whatever gains in endurance would surely be washed away in a cross-wind.

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MrB123 | 7 years ago
18 likes

Apparently Chris Froome couldn't stop looking at his stem after taking it.

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cdamian | 7 years ago
1 like

I wonder if they used different shorts & saddles for those tests.

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Mungecrundle | 7 years ago
6 likes

Looks like Team Sky have let everyone down except for the wives and girlfriends.

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flathunt | 7 years ago
9 likes

something something helmet debate something.

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PeterM | 7 years ago
2 likes

 

There must be a joke in there about Team Sky and big cocks somewhere.....

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SingleSpeed replied to PeterM | 7 years ago
4 likes

PeterM wrote:

 

There must be a joke in there about Team Sky and big cocks somewhere.....

Knock Knock

Who's there?

Bradley Wiggins

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Anyone seen my ... (not verified) | 7 years ago
4 likes

I would imagine its fairly easy to detect in tight fitting shorts....

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psling | 7 years ago
6 likes

Could be a bit of a let down if it doesn't work though.

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julianman | 7 years ago
5 likes

In a sport where lightness and stiffness of the equipment is key, this hardly comes as a suprise.

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handlebarcam replied to julianman | 7 years ago
1 like

julianman wrote:

In a sport where lightness and stiffness of the equipment is key, this hardly comes as a suprise.

Yeah, but this drug causes things to become vertically stiff and laterally compliant, not the other way around.

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PaulBox | 7 years ago
17 likes

THey will probably receive some stiff critisism for this...

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