Suspicious Blood and Performance in Professional Cycling
Published online on April 22, 2012
Abstract
In this note, the authors analyze whether the International Cycling Union’s "index of suspicion," which reflects the extent to which a rider is suspected of using doping, correlates with performance during the 2010 Tour de France and the 1-year period before and after the 2010 Tour de France. Though our point estimates suggest a medium-sized performance improving effect of being suspected of doping, the index of suspicion can only explain a very small part of the variation in performance. This could be because the current doping practice in cycling has little effect on diverse rankings in these races.