The media pit is back! Micheal, Zach and Bill spend some time breaking down the Denise Betsema doping case and aftermath before doing a deep dive on the Nommay World Cup. We also get more into cyclocross advanced analytics, which you can read all about in Zach’s great article on Cross Metrics you can find here.
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I am sorry that you have heard from me before. Firstly huge thanks to the coverage from the wide angled podium which I am really enjoying. I have just started listening to the slow ride podcast and I am already completely hooked.
The immediate and often aggressive reaction to the Betsema announcement suggested that people and often riders don’t want other riders to be able to appeal and they don’t believe in due process.
Someone has to say this. The UCI statement started the misleading information on this case. This was then perpetuated by the KFC tweet. Firstly the reference to two failed drug tests. The tests were only a few short weeks apart from each other and as the rider was unlikely to be aware of the first result before the second test and if she was on the same supplements its hardly surprising that there were two failed tests. They were not 6 months or a year apart so to make it sound like repeated failed drug tests is misleading. Secondly the reference to the sanction of a ban for six months between April to October 2019 makes it sound like no real sanction was applied. However, because she was provisionally banned until a decision was made she missed almost the entire 2019/20 season or 5/6 of it. This was definitely a sanction in practice. Betsema also seems to have lost all of her UCI points from what I can see on the UCI rankings which loses her any world ranking, puts her at the back of the grid and precludes her entry to World Cup events. In this way the KFC tweet could actually be called BS. You did not correct this at all on your latest podcast.
Betsema did suddenly emerged from nowhere although she must have had the skills (which I don’t think drugs can give you), she had been selected for the Dutch team for the European Championships in 2018/19 and she had raced competitively in mountain bike racing previously but its still a dramatic rise I agree.
The UCI statement did not reflect the true situation and started the misinformation. We will apparently also learn more when information is released if there are no appeals to the UCI decision. It could have been handled better by the rider and her representatives if – as you have said – there had been some words of sorrow that this happened (although she had definitely expressed how upset she was), if she had waited until after the World Championships to start racing again and if she had not come back in the same team and had perhaps started as a solo rider until the end of this season at least.
Many Europeans like me hate failed drug tests as much as Americans. I get a very heavy heart every time. But some rider comment (particularly it seems North Americans) in this case seems sanctimonious, unpolite and sometimes even callous.
Don’t forget Katie I think has won that course a couple of times