Video: Shakedown Day - EWS Zermatt 2019

 Be pissed at the team managers who weren’t on top of their shit. The rules are in place and banned drug lists are easily accessible. I would have liked to see the Maes train roll crush the 2019 EWS just as much as anyone, but this is more on the team for not looking up what drugs are banned and filing appropriate paperwork than the UCI. Downvote if you must, but its the way it is. If the UCI let this slide they would have to let the next one slide too, and the next one might have been using the probenecid to mask a steroid. Rules are there for a reason and shouldn’t be bent just because a crowd favorite and dominating rider is effected by them.

 I am still pissed at all of the idiots who keep bringing this up to dilute the series and undermine the excellent riding. This continuous blaming UCI/rules for an unequivocal violation is sad for Sam or Flo who have earned the title.

Shame on the half assed media for not doing any real reporting. It was biologically impossible for Maes to test positive in Derby based on his publicly reported timeline (14 days after his last dose). Therefore he took probenocid significantly longer than his sob story states... because pinkbike et al refused to address this fact and call Maes and GT out, the title for Sam or Flo will be tainted.

 @ppp9911: yup, Sam has been drug tested uncountable times over a long career and he and his team have had their shit together. That's part of winning just like going fast on the bike.

 @ppp9911: Hypothetically, how long are testing protocols likely to be able to detect presence of probenecid after an athlete finishes taking a dosage proportionate to Maes?

 @Benlow: Half-life is about 8 hrs though much higher for metabolically active athletes. His last dose was 14 days before Derby started (Based on the press release). That absolute maximum that could have remained in his body would be 0.01 picograms (best case scenario for Martin). Even the best molecular or mass spec tests cannot detect that amount. So the only conclusion is that he was taking a masking agent much longer than reported (The clinical rationale for probenocid was extremely weak to begin with)

Pinkbike/Vital/Etc. refused to even speak with any key informants (people familiar with testing, pharmacologists, etc.) AND refused to ask GT or Martin about it directly. This is a major disservice to all the other racers and fans.