Saved by a doping test: The professional driver was treated for cancer after abnormal blood results
This article was originally published in The print edition of Cycling Weekly as part of the long term MY FITNESS CHALLENGE series.
It was May 2022 and Torstein Træen was in the Sierra Nevada mountains of Spain for a hearty breakfast with his Uno-X Pro Cycling teammates. He remembered the date. “It was Friday the 13th – we were joking that something bad was going to happen today,” recalls the 27-year-old Norwegian over the phone from a winter training camp in Altea, Spain. Træen vividly remembers the moment his phone rang as he headed back to his room to get ready for the day’s tour. It was Knut Rønning, the team’s doctor. “He asked me if I had read the email in my inbox and I said, ‘Yes, yes’.” But Træen had skimmed it and missed the importance of the email. Rønning put it bluntly: “You sent back a positive result for hCG from the Volta a Catalunya.”
The letters “hCG” stand for human chorionic gonadotropin, a sex hormone that triggers critical processes in women during pregnancy, but is usually only found in very small amounts in men. It is on the WADA Prohibited Doping List for Male Athletes because hCG products stimulate testosterone production.
Træen froze. The Friday the 13th joke at the breakfast table wasn’t that funny anymore. “I was totally shocked,” says Træen. There were only two plausible explanations: either he had an unexplained positive drug test, or the results indicated a health problem. Rønning was still on the line, but the rest of the conversation is now hazy in Træen’s memory. He only remembers Rønning’s firm instruction: “He said I had to go to the doctor now and I asked why. “You could get sick,” he said. I told him I felt unwell after Catalunya, but he said, ‘No, you could get really sick’.”
Rønning didn’t reveal at the time that hCG might indicate testicular cancer, and only later learned the driver experienced mild pain in his testicles, shrugging because he “didn’t think it was a problem.” Now that was definitely a problem. Træen booked the first available flight home to Stavanger and was face to face with his GP less than 72 hours after Rønning called. “I was pretty nervous,” he admits. “When we did the ultrasound and blood tests a few days later, nothing really showed. A second ultrasound was booked two weeks later.”
Those fortnights slowly passed, and as the pain in his testicles increased, everyone involved strongly suspected that testicular cancer was actually the cause of the elevated hCG levels in his blood. “It was hard just waiting and not knowing what to do. I had to train, but I didn’t feel like it,” Træen recalls. During his next scan, the doctor’s brusque manner at the bedside left no doubt as to the seriousness of the situation. “He said to me, ‘I’m going to make sure you don’t die of cancer,'” Træen recalls. “I knew then that it wasn’t looking good. I laughed because I didn’t know what else to say.”
Just a few weeks earlier, Træen had put in some of his best performances: ninth on GC at the Volta a Catalunya and the KOM jersey at the Tour of the Alps. Now he was doing his best to focus on the very high testicular cancer survival rates, with about 90% of men treated for testicular cancer surviving at least 10 years after their diagnosis. “I was pretty sure everything would be fine,” says Træen. “The word ‘cancer’ is really scary, but I was just thinking about cycling and back.”
Over the next six weeks blood tests were his only constant and it was difficult to focus on training – especially when his girlfriend Susanne Andersen, who also rides for Uno-X, was at the RideLondon Classique. “I was left alone for a couple of weeks,” says Træen. “I ordered takeout almost every day. I could go three days without training and then I would train for the next four days. It was like being in the off-season – not doing much, but eating a lot. Everyday life was hard.”
Under the knife
Eventually, the tests revealed a course of action. “The surgeon said she wanted to remove my left testicle,” says Træen. “They still weren’t sure if it was cancer, but they wouldn’t be able to tell until they took it out and looked inside.” Træen took a pragmatic view. “Losing a testicle isn’t that bad,” he says, but admits in the next breath that he took the risk to his fertility. “I had a lot of things to do growing up. They told me that after that everything would be fine and function normally, but I had to go to a sperm bank just in case.”
(Image credit: Torstein Træen)
On June 23, 41 days after the Friday 13th call he will never forget, Træen went under the knife. And thank God he did. On July 5, he received a call from the hospital. “When they removed my left testicle, they found a 15mm cancerous tumor in it,” he reveals. There was no evidence the cancer had spread – he was in the clear. Træen posted on Instagram: “I have 99 problems but cancer is not (anymore).”
Did the doping control save his life? “I’m not sure,” he says, “but it certainly saved me from chemotherapy and I’m really blessed for that.” Træen believes the cancer caught up the day he peed in a pot in northern Spain was at an early stage. “Two weeks before Catalunya, I was tested by Anti-Doping Norway and they found no trace of hCG,” he explains, “so we got it right at the start, which means I didn’t need chemo or complicated surgery.”
Check your balls
Testicular cancer is relatively rare, accounting for only about 1% of all cancers in men. However, it tends to affect younger men, ages 15 to 40, and rates are rising. All men are recommended to perform a testicular self-examination once a month, preferably after a warm bath or shower when the testicular skin is relaxed. Examine one testicle at a time by gently rolling it between your fingers – look for and feel for any lumps, bumps, or changes in size, shape, or firmness. If you notice any changes or lumps, it is important to seek medical advice as soon as possible.
What was it like getting back into training after the surgery? “The first ride I was like, ‘Oh shit, that really hurts!’ A more padded saddle helped ease the agony.”Now I can go six hours without pain,” says Træen.”It’s still a problem on the TT bike, but we’ll fix it.”
A gradual return to training followed, and on August 18, just four months after winning the mountains classification at the Tour of the Alps, Træen took to the starting line of the Baltic Chain Tour along with five development riders from his team. “It was strange to be back, but I was really happy,” he smiles.
A fortnight later he was third at the Lillehammer GP; in October he finished seventh overall in the Cro Race and then finished third in the Tour de Langkawi in Malaysia. It was a remarkable return to form. “The team was shocked that I did well in Croatia because the course was more powerful there. I was just happy to be there and to drive in the final.”
As the 2023 season begins, Træen’s eyes are on victory and maybe even a place in the Tour de France – his Uno-X team has secured a wildcard entry. Any lasting effects of his ordeal? “Now when I’m having a bad day, I realize it’s not that bad,” he says. “It definitely changed me. I’m grateful to be able to do what I love – because I’ve found that cycling, like life, can be taken lightly.”
(Image credit: Team Uno-X)
View of the team doctor: “Openness was the key”
For the Uno-X team doctor Knut Roenning, no rider from the Norwegian team had ever returned a positive doping test result or been diagnosed with cancer. I learned a lot at work.
“We realized early on that being open and talking about everything is important – symptoms, processes, nutrition, mental health and general health. But we also had to refrain from sharing information with everyone until we had more clarity,” says the Danish doctor. “I’m proud of how our entire team handled it.”
Træen was treated in his native Norway, but Rønning was a vital lifeline from across the North Sea. “My work consisted of supporting him continuously on the phone, clearing up some of his worries, explaining every step and answering questions.
“I think he put on a brave face. I’m sure it was a lot more of an emotional rollercoaster ride than he let on. Having his girlfriend with him was a great emotional support, which means he wasn’t sitting in his apartment just thinking and worrying.”
The full version of this article was published in the February 16, 2023 print edition cycling weekly Magazine. Subscribe online and get the magazine delivered to your home every week. (opens in new tab)
