Belgium cyclist Michael Goolaerts dies of a heart attack at 23

Well it is cycling.

Tragedy. Cyclists that dope don't take the amount of EPO that they took around 1990 when it was new and dopers were dropping like flies. In the mid-'90s, people with hematocrits at 60+% (Mr. 60%, Bjarne Riis for example, or Pantani as high as 64%) weren't dropping dead any more due to EPO, so that's probably less EPO than what some cyclists were taking around 1990. Now, dopers are microdosing and staying under 50%, I really don't think it's EPO.

zzzz wrote:

Tragedy. Cyclists that dope don't take the amount of EPO that they took around 1990 when it was new and dopers were dropping like flies. In the mid-'90s, people with hematocrits at 60+% (Mr. 60%, Bjarne Riis for example, or Pantani as high as 64%) weren't dropping dead any more due to EPO, so that's probably less EPO than what some cyclists were taking around 1990. Now, dopers are microdosing and staying under 50%, I really don't think it's EPO.

Yes, this might not be epo but with cyclists you can't rule out anything (stimulants etc).

zzzz wrote:

Tragedy. Cyclists that dope don't take the amount of EPO that they took around 1990 when it was new and dopers were dropping like flies. In the mid-'90s, people with hematocrits at 60+% (Mr. 60%, Bjarne Riis for example, or Pantani as high as 64%) weren't dropping dead any more due to EPO, so that's probably less EPO than what some cyclists were taking around 1990. Now, dopers are microdosing and staying under 50%, I really don't think it's EPO.

One day event? La Coca, si.

Could've also been a congenital heart defect.

zzzz wrote:

Tragedy. Cyclists that dope don't take the amount of EPO that they took around 1990 when it was new and dopers were dropping like flies. In the mid-'90s, people with hematocrits at 60+% (Mr. 60%, Bjarne Riis for example, or Pantani as high as 64%) weren't dropping dead any more due to EPO, so that's probably less EPO than what some cyclists were taking around 1990. Now, dopers are microdosing and staying under 50%, I really don't think it's EPO.

They were doping like crazy in the 90s - jacking crits upwards to 58% but they weren't "dropping like flies." Take a look at the Gewiss–Ballan team - the club Riis raced for in 94 & 95. Click on the systematic doping section and baseline Hcts and doped Hcts are listed for their top riders - it's utterly insane ?. And guess who the team doctor was? None other than Ferrari. ?

If you think it is just cycling you are very naive. Running at the top levels is every bit as dirty as cycling.

Tom Simpson died in the mid 60s right on Mont Ventoux, due in part to too many stimulants and dehydration. I would say it's unlikely and also unfair to immediately suggest Goolaerts was doing the same. Many young athletes die from hidden heart defects every year, in every sport. Ryan Shay is one we should remember.

cycle this wrote:

If you think it is just cycling you are very naive. Running at the top levels is every bit as dirty as cycling.

Just watched 'Icarus' over the weekend and I am now convinced pretty much every sport is dirty as hell.

I am not saying EPO, but it was EPO.

Tour da Lance wrote:

They were doping like crazy in the 90s - jacking crits upwards to 58% but they weren't "dropping like flies."

That's the time period where EPO dosage had already backed down from what people were experimenting with initially, having discovered the unsafe dosage that was causing deaths. Before that, from 1987-1992, when EPO was new on the scene, there were many suspected deaths in cycling due to EPO. There were maybe 40 suspicious deaths, thus my statement of dropping like flies.

There is almost no possible way this is EPO related. You aren't going to have a heart attack due to EPO blood viscosity issues when you're riding Roubaix. It's 2018 afterall, not 1998. Guys are no longer pumping themselves with 50iu/kg of EPO every other day for 6 weeks straight so they can pretend they too can ride like Spartacus.

If it's drug related my guess would be something more like Tramadol, an opiate which has been linked to heart issues and is still being abused in sport.

Wow another cycling death wrote:

Michael Goolaerts suffered a heart attack during the Paris-Roubaix one-day classic

http://m.france24.com/en/20180409-belgian-cyclist-goolaerts-dies-heart-attack-paris-roubaix

Is this just a tragedy or is cycling still as dirty as the old days?

The two are not mutually exclusive, but I would caution about jumping to any conclusions.

What evidence is there that cycling is any dirtier than track? Cycling certainly has had higher profile cases.

The really interesting part is the UCI instituted pretty aggressive screening for the top tier of cyclists.

Remember Ryan Shay dropped dead during competition. A few times a year someone dies at a US road race who is young and healthy.

Wow another cycling death wrote:

Michael Goolaerts suffered a heart attack during the Paris-Roubaix one-day classic

http://m.france24.com/en/20180409-belgian-cyclist-goolaerts-dies-heart-attack-paris-roubaix

Is this just a tragedy or is cycling still as dirty as the old days?

Reading the article, its tough to say exactly what the cause was. A heart attack would be unlikely in someone that young, unless on autopsy there was a stenosis blockage found in one of his coronary arteries, and he perhaps threw a clot that got stuck. Someone training like he obviously did would likely have seen evidence of narrowed coronaries however. More likely is that he had some kind of ventricular arrhythmia (V-Tach or V-Fib), that precipitated the arrest. I assume there will be an autopsy, that might not be conclusive however if it was an arrhythmia. Sucks however, whatever the reason.

OLD SMTC SOB wrote:

Wow another cycling death wrote:

Michael Goolaerts suffered a heart attack during the Paris-Roubaix one-day classic

http://m.france24.com/en/20180409-belgian-cyclist-goolaerts-dies-heart-attack-paris-roubaix

Is this just a tragedy or is cycling still as dirty as the old days?

Reading the article, its tough to say exactly what the cause was. A heart attack would be unlikely in someone that young, unless on autopsy there was a stenosis blockage found in one of his coronary arteries, and he perhaps threw a clot that got stuck. Someone training like he obviously did would likely have seen evidence of narrowed coronaries however. More likely is that he had some kind of ventricular arrhythmia (V-Tach or V-Fib), that precipitated the arrest. I assume there will be an autopsy, that might not be conclusive however if it was an arrhythmia. Sucks however, whatever the reason.

Over the years I have talked to some esteemed figures and my own doctor was an Olympic team Dr, and both he and Lydiard had said the same thing which is you can't kill yourself from exercise (especially in your early twenties etc) you would already know if you had a defect as a child, not many years into an elite career. Murray Halberg gives an excellent explanation early on in this

It is always too much reinfused blood, or too much synthetic blood products, or too many stimulants.

Stimulants and intense cardiovascular excercise = disaster. See Tommy Simpson.

who is the TdF rider who allegedly has a 73% hematocrit level?

I'm thinking that this poor kid's death isn't PED related. Odds are it's something like hypertrophic cardiomyopathy which seems to kill distance runners (based on a NEJM article.)

Kddkkd wrote:

who is the TdF rider who allegedly has a 73% hematocrit level?

In his own words