irror CYCLING
GETS STRICTER ANSGENDERS
HORMONE testing is the protocol for evaluating high testosterone levels in women with differences of sex development.
Cycling, follow the same policy for UCI-sanctioned licenses and events. In lower levels of competition, however, USA Cycling and other national federations have a separate set of guidelines for non-elite and elitelevel racing. At USA Cycling, elite-level racers must comply with IOC’s transgender guidelines, but those guidelines make up one of five criteria in place for non-elite racers. As Cyclingnews reported last November, USA Cycling’s non-elite criteria used to determine a member’s eligibility in a chosen gender include evidence of one or more of the following: 1) Does the member’s gender in their “everyday life” match his or her racing gender; 2) Has the member obtained civil documents with his or her racing gender identified (i.e., state ID, driver’s license, birth certificate); 3) Attestation of gender identity from a medical professional; 4) Attestation of gender identity from a certified counselor, public official, school administrator, or other academic advisor; and or 5) Compliance with IOC guidelines.
If the UCI Management Committee approves the new max threshold of serum testosterone of 5 nmol/L, these regulations would be applicable to cycling in general, including national governing bodies, such as USA Cycling.
SEMENYA VS. IAAF
THE move to reduce the serum testosterone threshold from 10 nmol/L to 5 nmol/L for transgender females to compete in the female category of sport comes off the back of the highprofile case involving track and field athlete Caster Semenya and the IAAF, which was heard at the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) in May. Semenya appealed the IAAF’s new regulations that decide the eligibility and legality of females who have higher testosterone levels—due to one of seven differences of sex development (DSD)—to compete certain events in the women’s category of Athletics. The IOC and IAAF refer to females with hyperandrogenism conditions as “intersex” or DSD athletes. It believes that females who have natural testosterone levels higher than the average
healthy female (0.4 nmol/L to 2.0 nmol/L), and closer to the range of healthy male (7.0 nmol/l and 30 nmol/l), and whose androgen receptors can uptake the testosterone, have an unfair advantage over peers in their category. The IAAF moved to restrict the testosterone levels of these individuals to a maximum threshold of 5 nmol/L before they are eligible to compete in events from the 400 meters to the mile. These individuals would have to take medication to reach a reduced testosterone level to be eligible to compete. Even though the CAS ruled in favor of the IAAF, after a lengthy deliberation, it also said that it had “serious concerns” about the application of the new regulations, as reported on BBC Sport. Cyclingnews understands that the new transgender regulations considered in cycling will be different from those applied to DSD athletes in track and field. However, the IAAF’s new regulations for DSD athletes, gave a general idea of the admissibility of eligibility regulations based on maximal plasma testosterone limits for the transgender rules in other sports.
The UCI has supported and adopted the existing IOC’s guidelines, which stipulate a maximum threshold of testosterone of 10 nmol/L, because it believed that the regulations took into account the most recent scientific and medical advancements. However, the scientific and medical studies that were used by the IAAF to determine serum testosterone thresholds have been disputed. In addition, testosterone thresholds are thought to be somewhat arbitrary to some scientists and medical experts. The UCI now supports the IAAFs/IFs consensus to reduce serum testosterone threshold to 5 nmol/L for eligibility of transgender females to compete in the female category of cycling. Pending approval from the UCI Management Committee, new regulations could come in affect as soon as next year. The UCI told Cyclingnews in March, however, that it has not to date considered specific eligibility rules for DSD female athletes for cycling competitions. Cyclingnews
gets Hour Record l pursuit standard Championships that I’m a decent road rider, too,” Ganna pointed out. Ganna is the first Italian to hold the individual pursuit world record since Andrea Collinelli in 1996, with La Gazzetta dello Sport suggesting his record is one of the best Italian performances of the 2019 season behind Alberto Bettiol’s Tour of Flanders victory and Elia Viviani’s European road race title. Viviani suggested that Ganna’s physiology means he was born to be the fastest individual pursuiter in the world. Italian National Coach Marco Villa is convinced that Ganna can go even faster and break the fourminute barrier for the individual pursuit. Lambie’s record of 4:05.423 was achieved at an altitude of more than 2,500 m at the Pan-American Championships in Bolivia, while conditions in Minsk, which lies 280 m above sea level, were not perfect. “If he went to altitude now he’d break through the four-minute wall,” Villa told La Gazzetta dello Sport. “We knew he could do this record because his time of 4:07:456 [set at sea level at the World Championships in Pruszków] was, in calculation, better than the American’s time.” Cyclingnews
Saturday, November 9, 2019
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GEORGE BENNETT has been riding with side stitch issues for several years and has been diagnosed with slipping rib syndrome.
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EORGE BENNETT (Jumbo-Visma) went under the knife three weeks ago in a bid to finally end a long-suffering condition that has held back his cycling career. The New Zealand rider has been riding with side stitch issues for several years and has been diagnosed with slipping rib syndrome. The condition means that whenever Bennett pushes himself in racing he is often forced to back off due to a stabbing-like pain in his chest. At the recent Rouleur Classic in London, where the Jumbo-Visma rider showcased bike storage brand Velohawk, Bennett showed off the scars from his recent surgery, with two long sets of stitches under his rib cage. “I had a big operation a couple of weeks ago and I hope that will help. I’ve had the side stitch for ages and it slowed me down a lot this year,” he told Cyclingnews. “Every time I go hard I get this stabbing pain in my side. The surgery is pretty drastic measures but I’ve essentially had three ribs removed. That makes it sound worse than it is but each one was around 8 centimeter long and made up of cartilage.” Bennett was discharged from the hospital the day after his surgery but he has not yet regained the health needed to jump back on the bike. However, the 29-year-old is hopeful that he will return to training in the coming weeks. “I’ve had a couple of operations before, some exploratory work all hoping to fix the stitch but we’re optimistic that we’ve now found the fix. I’ve been optimistic a few times and had surgery before but it’s not worked but I almost think that I can ride a bike in a week or so.” The decision to go under the knife was not one Bennett made lightly. “For me, I love cycling and it’s an easy job for me. I don’t struggle to find the passion for it but it’s not sustainable when every time you go hard you feel a knife in your stomach. “We sat down, talked with the family and my girlfriend, and decided that I’m not halfway through my career and that my best years are still ahead of me. I want to be able to make the most of it. If this works it will open up a lot more doors for me. I back off in training not just racing because of this, so we’ll see how this goes.” Assuming Bennett can return to training in the next few weeks, the Kiwi has an important off-season ahead of him. The 2019 campaign
Bennett: I had three ribs removed was far from a disaster for Bennett, with key super-domestique roles for in both the Tour de France and the Vuelta a España. He was instrumental in setting up third place for his team at the Tour and battled through illness at the Vuelta to cement his place as one of the best riders on the team. However, the respected all-rounder failed to win a race, with his best individual performance coming at the Tour of California, where he finished just off the podium in fourth place. With Primož Roglič winning the Vuelta, Steven Kruijswijk claiming third in the Tour de France and Tom Dumoulin joining from Team Sunweb during the winter, Bennett understands that his options might be limited next season. However, if his surgery is a success then he might reach the form that carried him to eighth overall at the 2018 Giro d’Italia. That said, opportunities in Grand Tours will be limited and with the Tour of California off the calendar, he may need to rejig his program if he is to find his own chances. “The loss of California throws a spanner in the works and with the team we have now it’s not up to me,” Bennett said when asked about his targets for next year. “The team will prioritize, as they should with Tom, Primož and Steven, and I don’t see myself as having those opportunities next year. “Maybe Tour Down Under I will, but I have to adapt and if I want a chance on this team now I need to target those races where Steve, Primož and Tom aren’t racing. I won’t get a shot at a Grand Tour. I know that. They deserve that, and I’m a fan of the best guys getting the best support. “I feel like I left this year a bit empty-handed. It wasn’t bad but I’ve been frustrated at times. That might be an exaggeration but at the Tour, for example, I had a really good level and it was great to be part of a team that got third, but there’s still no results chalked up to my name. “It’s the same at the Vuelta. I was sick, crashed a few times but it was still nice to be part of a team that won. That was amazing but I left without having my own breakthrough.” Chances may be hard to come by in 2020, but if Bennett’s surgery goes as planned then it represents a breakthrough in itself.
Cyclingnews
VINOKOUROV CLEARED
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RUSSELS—A judicial official says former Olympic cycling champion Alexander Vinokourov and fellow rider Alexandr Kolobnev have been cleared of corruption charges in a suspected case of race fixing. The pair faced up to six months in jail after being accused of fixing VINOKOUROV the result of the 2010 LiegeBastogne-Liege race. In a message to The Associated Press, Liege prosecutor’s office Spokesman Catherine Collignon said they were given “the benefit of the doubt.” Both riders had denied accusations that
Vinokourov paid Kolobnev €150,000 to let him win the race. Prosecutors had also requested that Vinokourov pay a fine of €100,000 ($110,000), and Kolobnev faced a fine of €50,000 ($55,000). Vinokourov won the 2006 Spanish Vuelta and four individual stages at the Tour de France between 2003-10. He was given a two-year ban after testing positive for blood doping at the 2007 Tour but came back to win the men’s road race at the 2012 London Olympics. He now serves as team manager for Astana, where he spent much of his professional career.
Riders learn karate, play football and darts before Saitama Crit
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YUKIYA ARASHIRO (from left), Lilian Calmejane, Michal Kwiatkowski, Matteo Trentin and Marcel Kittel display their karate skills.
HE eve of the Tour de France Saitama Criterium was marked by the usual spectacle of professional cyclists dipping their toes in Japanese culture, with karate on the menu on Saturday along with—somewhat less traditionally— football darts. After riding with local children in the morning, the riders attended the team presentation in Saitama’s Super Arena in the afternoon, where they were called on stage in front of a crowd of guests and fans. Michal Kwiatkowski, Matteo Trentin, Marcel Kittel, Lilian Calmejane and Yukiya Arashiro then donned white robes for a demonstration of the martial art of karate. After being taken through a couple of the defensive and offensive moves, they all punched through a sheet of polystyrene. “I think I’m ready now for the real brick,” exclaimed Kwiatkowski, to the
crowd’s delight. Next came football darts, a game where you kick a soft football at a giant velcro dartboard. Egan Bernal, Primoz Roglic, Romain Bardet, and Jakob Fuglsang were up against a selection of players from the Urawa Red Diamonds team. With Bardet—socks pulled up over his knees a la Thierry Henry—and Roglic both hitting trebles, the riders beat the footballers at their own game as the Pet Shop Boys’“Go West,” a tune heard on terraces throughout Europe, rang out across the arena. The footballers then tried to beat the riders at their own game, going head to head in a 500-meter sprint on a static bike. An under-saddled Fuglsang and an over-geared Bardet were roundly beaten but Roglic and Bernal showed no mercy and peddled at full pelt to turn it around. Cyclingnews