164. Doping, with James Witts

This week, James and Will are joined by journalist, author and cyclist, James Witts. James writes for a host of prestigious titles including the most prestigious of them all, Cyclist magazine, along with The Guardian, GQ, Rouleur and Men’s Health to name but four more. James also edits the annual official Tour de France guide and has penned four books including his most recent, Dope, which explores the doping landscape of sport, from opium and the Ancient Greeks to modern athletes and micro-dosing EPO.

In this episode, James explains what constitutes a banned substance; how performance enhancers such as EPO work; how the biological passport catches cheats; how evasion might still happen at altitude camps; and what ‘legal’ methods athletes might still use. We also discuss the recent night-time testing at the Tour de France and what it might mean; how anti-doping agencies are funded and why that model is so murky; why athletes dope in the first place (it’s not what you might think); and that million-dollar question – is cycling actually clean?

Dope by James Witts (Blink Publishing) is out now

We also discuss the tragic news of the death of cyclist Finlay Tarling at the Volta a Portugal. A GoFundMe page in memory of Fin has been set up here.

Chat begins at 7.11

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This episode is brought to you by Boyd Cycling, whose full range of hand-built wheels can be found at boydcycling.com...

...and the Maserati Grecale SUV car. For more information, go to maserati.com

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