American cyclist Chris Horner released his biological passport data today. The move is designed to quiet skepticism surrounding his recent Vuelta a Espana win,
“I’m going to release all my biological passport, from 2008, the inception of the biological passport. I don’t know how many guys have done that in the past, but I’m going to release all of mine,” Horner . “I think it’s just necessary. Clearly there are a lot of people out there that think the result wasn’t done clean at the Vuelta. I think this will clear up any matter at all, and they’ll have no leg to stand on from this point on.”
Throughout the Vuelta, pundits and critics were skeptical that 41-year-old Horner was racing clean. They pointed to his remarkable climbing performance and the comments he made regarding Armstrong. The situation briefly became more tense when drug testers went to the wrong location following his Vuleta win. The United States Anti-Doping Agency has since cleared him of any wrongdoing.
Horner is the second high-profile rider to release his physiological this year. After winning the Tour de France, Chris Froome selectively released his power data. While the analysis came back “clean,” critics were disappointed with Froome’s Team Sky for selectively releasing the data and choosing an analyst who had previously supported Lance Armstrong.
It’s unclear how far releasing the biological passport data will do to quiet the critics. On Twitter, anti-doping expert Michael Puchowicz wrote: “maybe it can’t rule things out fully but can be much more reassuring than sky releasing power data to Grappe behind a curtain,” alluding to the selective release of Froome’s power data.
Armstrong famously released blood values from his comeback attempt, but the data had the opposite of the desired effect, leading people to speculate that Armstrong was doping.