British fan passes vial of pills found during Paris-Roubaix to UK Anti-Doping

Analysis has found these to be nothing more than M&Ms and Tic Tacs...

http://www.cyclingnews.com/news/no-banned-drugs-in-paris-roubaix-vial-fo...

IF these are banned drugs, i would suggest the rider can't be punished for THIS case, but i wouldn't be surprised that someone might be on the receiving end of a lot of attention from the vampires for a while.

I'm sure this will probably get more news column inches than the actual Paris-Roubaix got..

It's interesting the way people have turned this around on the chap. He seems to have tried to do the right thing. He spoke to soigneur who ignored him and then got in touch with British Cycling/UKAD. I don't know when he got involved with the press but it's not un-news worthy.

It will be interesting to find out what he has got there. But it is likely to be no more than pain killers.

+1 for the Flying Scot's comment. Seems like a daft way to handle the 'issue', if indeed that's what it is.

What's to say the vial hasn't been tampered with after it was picked up?

Unlikely to be something illegal, a finish bottle is the most likely explanation. He's done the right thing and it's pleasing to see Cookson engaging directly.

Publicity hunting? FFS....
I wonder how easy people think it would be to flag up something like this, during a race on foreign soil? If it was me I would have absolutely zero confidence that anything would happen as a result or me approaching a steward, gendarme or anyone else in a hi-vis tabard. Does anyone really think that Rider X is suddenly going to be marched off to a lab post-race just because a fan starts waving a plastic vial around? Seriously? At least this way there's a good chance of some testing being carried out. Yes, there are chain of custody issues that would make it impossible to instigate proceedings if it really is a banned substance but I'm sure the people in charge of the bio-passport would be very interested and Mr Crashy might find himself being visited out of competition more than he finds comfortable.

Would the writing usually be in English?

I'm guessing it's a 'finish bottle' - crushed up pain killers and caffeine tablets, or a 'test product' with similar ingredients. Apparently pain killers in cycling is rampant. Some are legal and some aren't, but the subject is controversial. Taylor Phinney gave a good interview on the subject - google 'taylor phinney drugs' and you'll find it (a velonation article I think). BTW, I reckon Phinney is the cleanest rider in the peloton!

If it was me, I'd have kept it with the photos as a souvenir.

The contents of the vial may prove to be perfectly legal but this is not good news for the image of cycling.

If the vial contents are above board then surely the team/rider involved can publicly step forward and tell us what was in the vial and it's purpose. If the vial is entirely innocent then the best action for the sport is to be transparent and open and about it.

As photographs exist of the rider dropping the vial then this is not going to end nicely......

Doesn't matter what it is, the rider involved can simply say that it was antacid to calm his stomach after taking gels/carbo bars all day and having his innards rattled around, then say that the spectator who has retrieved it has contaminated it with [insert whatever you want] and no doping agency would be able to prosecute.

I suspect he was probably a well-meaning enough chap but he just hasn't thought through the ramifications of going to the press with it. I mean, even on here, people are automatically assuming it must be doping so imagine how it would look to the normal punter on the street?

Missed opportunity here to blackmail the team/rider who dropped the vial! "Yes I'll gladly trade my evidence for one of your swish €8000 bikes..."

Mind you there are some teams I'd rather not play that game with!

I tend to agree with others who say this is just someone playing for publicity. He took pictures of a vial falling from a pocket, then didn't tell the authorities but proceeded to remove it from the scene and transport it across the channel before waiting a week and contacting a newspaper. I'm not saying events didn't happen how he says they did, but if his first priority was a proper investigation he went about it just about the worst possible way.

I like how he managed to get his job title and company name in there too. Nothing like a bit of free publicity.

It obviously did no good to the rider as, if i've read the article correct, he has taken pictures but one is missing where he nearly gets hit by the broom wagon, where seems to indicate it happened near the rear of the race / peloton.

Although i could be wrong and he waited till all the riders had passed before going to pick it up.

In the end i hope its nothing serious.

Maybe it was just Essence du Lance, a new fragrance for the podium...

Whatever the substance is there is probably no effective "chain of custody"

I hope do that the results of it's analysis are published, otherwise there will be yet another smoking gun, for the rumour mungers to play with.

I find it hard to understand a cycling fan behaving in this way, unless he was hoping for some publicity (at the expense of the sport he was there supporting!?)

"Yeah, Mr Customs official I found it on the road, it's not mine!"

"Is that right sir" (sound effect of rubber glove being slipped on)

I don't want to add fuel to the fire, but magnesium tablets or any other non banned substance is unlikely to have the words "TEST PRODUCT" clearly labelled across the vial. Just saying.

It seems a bit daft that he didn't report it on the day (when the rider could have been tested) and dafter still that he seems to have taken this unknown substance back through UK customs?