FDJ trainer Frederic Grappe has said that Tour de France winner Alberto Contador should to release physiological data in order to assuage suspicions, saying that if he is clean, this would show the world of cycling what he is capable of.
The Frenchman was commenting about the triple Tour winner to Cyclismactu, saying that he found it difficult to understand how he could improve ‘by ten percent’ between the Critérium du Dauphiné and the Tour de France.
Grappe suggests a way to remove any questions. “I am not accusing, I am just asking questions and I ask someone to explain. Contador will not give his VO2 Max, he said it is known to everyone but nobody really knows. So why does he not communicate, why does he say nothing about his own potential? It's a shame!
“In my opinion, a performance must be validated and for that reason, riders must be clear about all this. In his position, if everything is okay, I would communicate my physiological and biomechanical data without problems.”
Contador is currently the subject of an inquiry by WADA and the UCI after testing positive for Clenbuterol. He said that the substance was inadvertently consumed in tainted meat, and rejects suggestions that he received a blood transfusion during the Tour. He has volunteered to provide his past samples for retesting, and said he will also allow them to be preserved until such time as the testing methods further improve.
If he is innocent, Grappe’s request for the public disclosure of physiological data may be a good way for the Spaniard to renew public faith in himself. Calculations based on VO2 Max can be used to verify if power outputs are achievable without using banned methods.
Another French trainer, Antoine Vayer, previously claimed that the Spaniard showed an extremely high power to weight ratio when climbing to the summit finish of Verbier during the 2009 Tour de France. Some commentators claimed afterwards that the calculation that a VO2 Max of 99 ml/kg/minute was flawed due to the inaccurate estimation of data.
Triple Tour winner, Greg LeMond, previously recommended that the Spaniard disclose his VO2 max in order to prove that his success is due to talent alone.
Grappe detailed why he was surprised by the increase in performance shown by Contador between the Criterium du Dauphiné and the Tour de France.
“My role is not to judge the riders, but rather to analyse and understand how they achieve their performance,” he said. “And there I wonder. For example, what concerns me is the level of performance Contador between the Dauphiné and the Tour de France. I will not go into detail, but overall he has improved his performance level between nine and ten percent, it is huge at this level. We see very clearly that at the Dauphiné, he is level with guys like Jerome Coppel, Van den Broeck, Van Garderen or Brajkovic.
“I'm just trying to understand things. You can not gain ten percent of performance in two weeks between the Dauphiné and the Tour. Why? Because efforts that are effectively at the limit are related to VO2 Max, and these efforts are relatively stable. We must think about the performance gap between the riders, compare the performance of the rider compared to others. And that's where it is a problem.”
His contention is that sudden increases of form of that magnitude should be analysed. Grappe does state that in the case of illness, variations can be seen; it is worth considering that Contador complained on several occasions this spring that he was suffering from allergies. This was seen most notably in the Critérium International, where he lost contact on the mountain stage and finished the two-day event in 15th place overall.
Gilbert impressing with his development:
Looking at other riders, Grappe applauded the performances of Cadel Evans and Philippe Gilbert. He said that the former had a superb season and rode with great flair in the rainbow jersey of world champion. As for Gilbert, who was with the FDJ team for several seasons, he believes he has succeeded in making the most out of a very gifted potential, and that is why he is performing so well.
Grappe said that the double Tour of Lombardy winner has, “developed a maximum tolerance of lactic quality that I think is the best in the world in recent years. He has managed to develop to a level that has rarely been seen in the history of cycling. He is now above the rest, and his qualities are known to everyone as he scares a lot of riders.
“It's something I notice because this year he really explodes, he does practically what he wants and that level is quite striking. But it should be noted that he had this potential since being young. He only had to develop it to his maximum.”