Everyone's looking for an edge wrote:
On your second point: He had 3 blood screens over 3 weeks (one per week) before he started the EPO dosing regjme. That would have been enough to establish a baseline Hct/Hgb and determine his baseline Off-score. He says he had one blood draw per week over the next few months of the dosing period. Say, for example, he was doing a much higher dose and increases his retics, and Hgb 15% - 20% over baseline that would have been enough to breach the upper parameter and raise a red flag warranting target testing. Depending if it was a one time breach or a pattern of continual breaches, it could open a passport hematological case. At the very least it would be construed as "likely doping."
Remember the Savinova case where her ABP was never flagged but when reviewed retrospectively by anti-doping experts, 2 out of 3 deemed the data as "likely doping," especially the IC blood draws after she won gold at 2011 WC & London. Of course, "better to be lucky than good" doper Poistagova had a completely normal appearing passport though she admitted to using EPO (and roids) in the lead up to London.
And in closing...remember what the professor and one of the leading expert on the effects of rEPO said; "more oxygen, more power, the faster you go." ?
So there's athletes with Hct readings of 53, and they are "trained properly" but still no red flags. BTW you can't impress everybody.