Italian road racer positive: Marta Bastianelli tests for fenfluramine

Italian world road race champion  Marta Bastianelli will be gearing down now that she tested positive prior to the Olympics.  The young road race champ tested positive for the 'stimulant' fenfluramine on July 5.  CONI (the Italian Olympic Committee) declared her ineligible for the upcoming Beijing Games.  To VirginMedia:

World road race champion Marta Bastianelli has failed a doping test, the Italian cycling federation confirmed on Monday.

The Italian rider tested positive for illegal stimulant flenfluramine following a drug test on July 5 at the European under-23 championship in Verbania.

The sample will now be sent for a counter-analysis.

It is expected Bastianelli will be replaced for the Olympic Games.

These doping disqualification do not bode well for the Olympics and for the sport of cycling.  Maybe the cyclists simply need to strap on a LZR racing swim suit which easily passes the master of the Olympics, and may cut through air better than old cycling suits.

Gianni Petrucci, president of of the Italian Olympic Committee (CONI) was damning of Bastianelli, saying she had "betrayed" her colleagues.

"If the analysis is confirmed we will be inflexible. Marta Bastianelli has betrayed CONI, the federation and the world of cycling," he told Italian newspaper Corriere della Sera.

"We will also have to weigh up the eventual damage to the image of Italian sport, seeing as she had already signed the contract all Azzurri athletes heading to Beijing had to sign."

The president of the Italian cycling federation, Renato Di Rocco, was less harsh in his view of the outcome, and revealed the federation would request more tests.

"She has been incredibly naive," said Di Rocco. "She has tested positive for flenfluramine, which is a component in diet products. She only eats salad.

"Now we will immediately call for a counter-analysis. But the problem is not only the Olympics, which she as world champion was obviously due to take part in. The problem is for her image and for that of cycling."

Remember fen-fen, pulled for cardiac problems.  That drug concoction contained fenfluramine, which means it could be deleterious to the heart.

The distinctive valvular abnormality seen with fenfluramine is a thickening of the leaflet and chordae tendineae. Roth suggested a mechanism by which fenfluramine damaged the valves

Comments

[Yes]

It does not take a genius to know that she is taking steroids. Her jaw is growing out of her face. It looks very unatural.

[Millard Baker]

Apparently, she did not take Fenfluramine. She admitted to taking Benfluorex. Benfluorex, while not explicitly banned, is structurally similar to Fenfluramine. This resulted in a positive doping result.

This happens when two drugs share structural similarities. For example, individuals consuming herbal ephedra or synthetic ephedrine products have been known to test positive for amphetamines during urinalysis.

[Millard Baker]

To yes, neither does it take a genius to realize that Fenfluramine is not an anabolic steroid.

[Steroid Nation]

Thanks for the information on the drug she ingested. Millard. I looked up the structure of the two drugs; the two appear to be compounds of the phenethylamine group, and very similar to amphetamine structure.

These drugs affect monoamine neurotransmitters, or catecholamines -- dopamine, epinephrine, norepinephrine. The drugs improve concentration, increase motor coordination, decrease appetite (her application), and enhance energy.

I once got into a big debate with a very vocal M.D. whether this class of drugs was PED. Of course there are, but he was the 'teacher' but didn't know the literature about PEDs.

A friend who is a cyclists understood the race racer's dilemma -- they are called upon to cycle inhumane distances at high speeds. Thus they abuse 'stimulants' for focus, energy, and to reduce appetite.

This drug class can be very dangerous when used in competition...like Cory Stringer showed.