Westra admits using tramadol and caffeine as performance enhancers

After it emerged last week that he had used Therapeutic Use Exemptions (TUEs) to enable him to take cortisone injections, Lieuwe Westra has admitted to using the painkiller tramadol and caffeine pills as performance enhancing aids. The revelations come from Westra’s new autobiography, 'The Beast', which is due to be released on Tuesday.

In the book, Westra describes how, prior to the individual time trial at the 2016 Three Days of De Panne, he took a tramadol tablet and a 600mg caffeine pill – the equivalent of six cups of coffee. 

The tramadol helped him to push his pain threshold in the 14.2-kilometre time trial, while the caffeine was for more energy. Westra eventually finished third in the time trial, three seconds behind stage winner Maciej Bodnar, which was enough to seal him the overall win.

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Asked by Dutch publication Volkskrant if his so-called 'grey area' methods were excessive, Westra said no.

"People say: 'why do you use tramadol? Why a puffer? You do not have asthma anyway'," he told the newspaper. "The answer is simple: because it is allowed and because you will perform better. And if I do not, someone else will. That's what a cyclist thinks."

Neither caffeine nor tramadol is on the World Anti-Doping Agency's list of banned substances but both are on the monitored list. Caffeine was once banned but was removed in 2003 to prevent athletes who consume coffee, tea or certain fizzy drinks from testing positive.

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