Yolande de Villiers sanctioned for anti-doping rule violation

19 minutes ago, jcza said:

David George dodged the Epic ban, completed a number of events. 

yes apparently it was a matter of timing

If there are any cycling fans out there who think this person doesn't dope, they are seriously naive, have their head on the sand or are generally not knowledgeable about how racing bikes works and how to tell a doper. Firstly look at the events she does. Mostly all Dryland events, why? Her husband used to/ still does work for them and she is probably protected around any testing that will be prevalent at these events, if any. Secondly, according to her TUE, she has a heart condition and thus was using this medication. If I had a heart condition at 50 I certainly wouldn't be racing bicycles, would you? Thirdly, at 50, look at her results compared to the men, not the women, and tell me what your gut tells you about her performance. Fourthly, she tested positive 3 times in half a season, for me that is enough to suggest the old adage still stands, once a doper...

I think its embarrassing that she continues to race at this level without being tested regularly and continues to win prize money at Dryland events without any questions being asked, hence I am asking the question. Cheating to win money is bull**** and I think I am just putting this out there, because I know many are thinking it too. Just my POV..

13 minutes ago, FBSP said:

If there are any cycling fans out there who think this person doesn't dope, they are seriously naive, have their head on the sand or are generally not knowledgeable about how racing bikes works and how to tell a doper. Firstly look at the events she does. Mostly all Dryland events, why? Her husband used to/ still does work for them and she is probably protected around any testing that will be prevalent at these events, if any. Secondly, according to her TUE, she has a heart condition and thus was using this medication. If I had a heart condition at 50 I certainly wouldn't be racing bicycles, would you? Thirdly, at 50, look at her results compared to the men, not the women, and tell me what your gut tells you about her performance. Fourthly, she tested positive 3 times in half a season, for me that is enough to suggest the old adage still stands, once a doper...

I think its embarrassing that she continues to race at this level without being tested regularly and continues to win prize money at Dryland events without any questions being asked, hence I am asking the question. Cheating to win money is bull**** and I think I am just putting this out there, because I know many are thinking it too. Just my POV..

Well she is/was banned from the Epic so she can't really blamed for avoiding that can she? I have seen her win/podium in many non-Dryland events so I think the Dryland angle you have doesn't quite hold water. Also Dryland cannot protect her from SAIDS even if they wanted to, how would that even work in practice? Would they employ bouncers to keep SAIDS away from her at events?

On your second point - are you a medical doctor, do you know exactly what her heart condition is? Since when does any form of heart condition mean you can't race anymore?

I can go on but let me stop here, I don't know if she is doping or not, but I found her excuse in that incident plausible. What is obvious to me is keyboard warriors general hate of dopers being channeled onto her. In my biased view her doing so well at 50 is more an indication of the lack of competition in womens cycling on long distance marathon events in SA than her performing on some unobtainable exceptional level that can only be explained by drugs.

1 hour ago, FBSP said:

<snip>  Cheating to win money is bull**** and I think I am just putting this out there, because I know many are thinking it too. Just my POV..

cheating to win money? have you ever met people in general? if you haven't, I don't recommend it... along that path lies sadness and disillusionment. 

1 hour ago, Skubarra said:

Well she is/was banned from the Epic so she can't really blamed for avoiding that can she? I have seen her win/podium in many non-Dryland events so I think the Dryland angle you have doesn't quite hold water. Also Dryland cannot protect her from SAIDS even if they wanted to, how would that even work in practice? Would they employ bouncers to keep SAIDS away from her at events?

On your second point - are you a medical doctor, do you know exactly what her heart condition is? Since when does any form of heart condition mean you can't race anymore?

I can go on but let me stop here, I don't know if she is doping or not, but I found her excuse in that incident plausible. What is obvious to me is keyboard warriors general hate of dopers being channeled onto her. In my biased view her doing so well at 50 is more an indication of the lack of competition in womens cycling on long distance marathon events in SA than her performing on some unobtainable exceptional level that can only be explained by drugs.

This is the sad part of this sport ...

We will never know if she was guilty back then ... or just some admin issue.

But that cloud always hangs of her (and all who have had a positive test result)

Short of asking for a test at the finish line the question mark will always hang over her head.

37 minutes ago, lechatnoir said:

cheating to win money? have you ever met people in general? if you haven't, I don't recommend it... along that path lies sadness and disillusionment. 

Just for more context - here is Yolande's grand winnings at this weekends Dryland event

I wonder how much is left after deducting the bribe to SAIDS and paying the bills of her drug suppliers 😉

2 hours ago, FBSP said:

If there are any cycling fans out there who think this person doesn't dope, they are seriously naive, have their head on the sand or are generally not knowledgeable about how racing bikes works and how to tell a doper. Firstly look at the events she does. Mostly all Dryland events, why? Her husband used to/ still does work for them and she is probably protected around any testing that will be prevalent at these events, if any. Secondly, according to her TUE, she has a heart condition and thus was using this medication. If I had a heart condition at 50 I certainly wouldn't be racing bicycles, would you? Thirdly, at 50, look at her results compared to the men, not the women, and tell me what your gut tells you about her performance. Fourthly, she tested positive 3 times in half a season, for me that is enough to suggest the old adage still stands, once a doper...

I think its embarrassing that she continues to race at this level without being tested regularly and continues to win prize money at Dryland events without any questions being asked, hence I am asking the question. Cheating to win money is bull**** and I think I am just putting this out there, because I know many are thinking it too. Just my POV..

Hoop jy het bewyse vir al die goed wat jy sê of wel vermoed.Jy klink Redelik Seker van jou stellings…hoop jy ken n goeie prokureur…of advokaat.Plus jy beskuldig hier n instansie soos Dryland ook.

Sterkte

"Thirdly, at 50, look at her results compared to the men, not the women, and tell me what your gut tells you about her performance." This is the sentence that needs to be unpacked i.e. are her performance levels and times unnatural for a 50 year old ?

I regularly see her name pop up in the news, amazing how she does it. To be that quick, top 6, men and woman, that is scary fit. I don't know what to say to be honest, maybe she trains everyday and is super fit. But she does basically beat any other woman racer almost every time hands down. And to do that at 50 is remarkable. 

Remember when Emma letters were a thing? Was Kevin Evans wasn't it? 

Sorry to get a bit off topic.

The sad part is that SA has unfortunately got a very very very bad reputation as regards to positive doping violations.

If you look back over last 10 years,for such a small country the amount of + tests in cycling ( road and Mtb) is astounding)

6 hours ago, Jewbacca said:

Is Davey George allowed back?

If memory serves, he was even banned from being present as a business owner/mechanic for Gear Exchange in the early days. (My memory often doesn't serve, so please do correct me).

There were quite a number of ex dopers on the start list last year. I remember (again, ol and fuzzy brain) there was a BikeHub discussion about it.

All I'm going to say is that I would pay good money to watch Lance and Flloyd pair up and race the grand masters together

F*** floyd

LAnce and George H would boss them all

28 minutes ago, stringbean said:

Sorry to get a bit off topic.

The sad part is that SA has unfortunately got a very very very bad reputation as regards to positive doping violations.

If you look back over last 10 years,for such a small country the amount of + tests in cycling ( road and Mtb) is astounding)

Don't agree, we have a relatively large population index and geography, along with one of the biggest growth rates in cycling sport.  As far as doping goes SA has to date approximately 20-30 published cases max over the last ten years. Across all cycling disciplines and sanctions.

There are some Euro nations with a smaller population sample and cycling population that could be argued as worse. 
Then if we look at Spain, Belgium, Italy, etc as examples, the number of cases is pretty scary, particularly among amateurs. In many respects nowhere near as transparent either. 
So please define "very very very bad" and "astounding." 

6 minutes ago, Danger Dassie said:

Don't agree, we have a relatively large population index and geography, along with one of the biggest growth rates in cycling sport.  As far as doping goes SA has to date approximately 20-30 published cases max over the last ten years. Across all cycling disciplines and sanctions.

There are some Euro nations with a smaller population sample and cycling population that could be argued as worse. 
Then if we look at Spain, Belgium, Italy, etc as examples, the number of cases is pretty scary, particularly among amateurs. In many respects nowhere near as transparent either. 
So please define "very very very bad" and "astounding." 

I think you have a good point, especially amongst the not pro fish n chips riders.

There was a newspaper article here in 🇨🇭 recently which said that Dr’s will no longer allowed to prescribe steroids without a genuine reason, they mentioned a figure of 100’000 sports people could be affected and no longer be allowed to use steroids under their Drs supervision….. the point of the article was that the new legislation might be dangerous because these sports people would resort to other sources without proper supervision.

14 minutes ago, Danger Dassie said:

Don't agree, we have a relatively large population index and geography, along with one of the biggest growth rates in cycling sport.  As far as doping goes SA has to date approximately 20-30 published cases max over the last ten years. Across all cycling disciplines and sanctions.

There are some Euro nations with a smaller population sample and cycling population that could be argued as worse. 
Then if we look at Spain, Belgium, Italy, etc as examples, the number of cases is pretty scary, particularly among amateurs. In many respects nowhere near as transparent either. 
So please define "very very very bad" and "astounding." 

Surely also a function of how many test are conducted? It should be based on percentage of tests. The countries who carry out the most test will have a greater chance of more postives?

5 hours ago, lechatnoir said:

money... causes all kinds of changes to standards... both performance and moral. I'm trying to not be surprised.

There is a Colombian rider doing time for trafficking snowflake powder… he unfortunately lost more than his racing licence… I don’t think his had any personal visits from the UCI! 😂😂😂

6 hours ago, Jewbacca said:

Is Davey George allowed back?

If memory serves, he was even banned from being present as a business owner/mechanic for Gear Exchange in the early days. (My memory often doesn't serve, so please do correct me).

 

31 minutes ago, SwissVan said:

F*** floyd

LAnce and George H would boss them all

 

Didn’t Caden and George win the masters cat a few years ago and on the last day nogal . Flew under the radar and took it in the line this not giving keyboard warriors the opportunity to protest the injustice of an ex doper winning their beloved team build bos erase that conquers all.

4 minutes ago, DieselnDust said:

Didn’t Caden and George win the masters cat a few years ago and on the last day nogal . Flew under the radar and took it in the line this not giving keyboard warriors the opportunity to protest the injustice of an ex doper winning their beloved team build bos erase that conquers all.

"they had a great week". never came back so probably wasn't actually as much fun as the media machine made it look.

5 hours ago, FBSP said:

If there are any cycling fans out there who think this person doesn't dope, they are seriously naive, have their head on the sand or are generally not knowledgeable about how racing bikes works and how to tell a doper. Firstly look at the events she does. Mostly all Dryland events, why? Her husband used to/ still does work for them and she is probably protected around any testing that will be prevalent at these events, if any. Secondly, according to her TUE, she has a heart condition and thus was using this medication. If I had a heart condition at 50 I certainly wouldn't be racing bicycles, would you? Thirdly, at 50, look at her results compared to the men, not the women, and tell me what your gut tells you about her performance. Fourthly, she tested positive 3 times in half a season, for me that is enough to suggest the old adage still stands, once a doper...

I think its embarrassing that she continues to race at this level without being tested regularly and continues to win prize money at Dryland events without any questions being asked, hence I am asking the question. Cheating to win money is bull**** and I think I am just putting this out there, because I know many are thinking it too. Just my POV..

I couldn't agree more. I've several times watched her drafting and no other women in sight, within the men or behind one man (husband?). I've believed there's a smelly rat for a long time in that only certain somewhat obscure events make up the majority of her races.

I say let her race the Epic and she gets tested like (hopefully everybody else) and see how she does. In my mind you can't trust a doper - If you were the MD of a co. and someone in Finance defrauded the co. would you keep them in your employ, or employ a convicted fraudster?

3 minutes ago, love2fly said:

I couldn't agree more. I've several times watched her drafting and no other women in sight, within the men or behind one man (husband?). I've believed there's a smelly rat for a long time in that only certain somewhat obscure events make up the majority of her races.

I say let her race the Epic and she gets tested like (hopefully everybody else) and see how she does. In my mind you can't trust a doper - If you were the MD of a co. and someone in Finance defrauded the co. would you keep them in your employ, or employ a convicted fraudster?

When she drop Robyn and Amy then I start to eat popcorn faster 

1 hour ago, wattnow said:

Surely also a function of how many test are conducted? It should be based on percentage of tests. The countries who carry out the most test will have a greater chance of more postives?

This could be one of the reasons why more people test positive in European countries...

I read an article years ago (2005 or 2007) in a Bike Magazine, about how doping was so prevalent in the European teams because many of their riders were from poor Eastern European countries. This was before the testing standards were raised. The young riders showed some talent and made the team as Domestiques. With their cycling contract, they could support their entire family (parents and siblings)  back home. It was a financial decision... Dope and stay in the team or don't dope and go back home to be a minimum wage worker in a tile factory.

6 minutes ago, wattnow said:

Surely also a function of how many test are conducted? It should be based on percentage of tests. The countries who carry out the most test will have a greater chance of more postives?

For sure, for SAIDS a case could be made that overall they operate more proactively than some other federations on testing. Particularly given the resource challenges, which everyone has, but for SA it's more nuanced. 

16 minutes ago, DieselnDust said:

When she drop Robyn and Amy then I start to eat popcorn faster 

She beat both at SA XCM Champs 2021, as well as Hayley Preen, Sarah Hill and Theresa Ralph (Robyn was disqualified due to a route error). Also narrowly lost to Robyn in a sprint finish at Race to the Sun one year, if I recall. I think the comment earlier in the thread about lack of depth in the ultra fields is fair but it isn't just at this level she is winning. I don't think anyone at the ultras ever gets tested in either the men's 

On these Stats, I don't see anything strange, me  thinks some people's partners are miffed because they cannot beat her.... CSA and SAID must do their testing ( we know that they also do not have the funds to test so catch 22)

https://mtbdata.com/riders/yolande-de-villiers