Fair points. And I’m probably being selfish. But I’ll try to counter some of your points.
Yea, but they were also super exciting to watch. And I’m a huge Roglic fan who was really pulling for him to win. Doesn’t take away from that final TT stage was probably one of my favorite Tour stages to watch in history. That will forever be remembered just like MVdP’s stage 2 win. If it came out that he was doping, I would still look back in awe at that stage. Yea it would have been cool for Küng to get a win, but it was still exciting.
I agree. But Im also realistic in my goals. I grew up watching Bonds and McGwire bombing HRs. I still liked watching them and never once thought about using PEDs or lamented the fact that I couldn’t get there unless I did. I knew I’m not gifted enough to be a pro.
Totally agree. Not much to argue there. And this is where I know I’m being selfish. Because it’s not my body. I would never dope because I don’t want the health risks. But I don’t care if other people do unless it’s harming me. Which in this case it doesn’t. Now if somebody drinks or shoots up and gets behind a wheel of a car, that’s a different story. But for me, drugs in sport doesn’t affect me. And that’s why I know my opinion won’t be shared by many. I know I’m selfish. And I get why people don’t support PEDs.
He’s a 20 year old kid who doesn’t speak English as his first language. I’d give him a break on this. It’s up to his team to get the optics right though the fact that the team can’t do that is troubling.
GCN having Pogi as topic today, too, confirming he outclimbed the Sky train or the Schlecks and Contador, despite soloing and having ”a massive headwind”
In the EPO era, it was T for training and recovery and EPO or transfusions for more red blood cells and a higher VO2max on race day. Plus, corticosteroids to get emaciated and gain a favorable power to weight ratio. In his book, Hamilton, says that all the other drugs they were doing were a distraction.
If Cav was on a different team and winning against the sprinters who started the Tour and were favorites, I absolutely think people would be questioning that. It’s still possible he’s riding dirty, but while these wins are exciting and he may break the record, it’s not like he’s beating Caleb day after day while following an inexperienced and weak lead out train.
So, I honestly don’t care in particular about Pogacar and whether he dopes or not. The bigger picture is more interesting. I mean:
Is Pogacar the only guy doping? (Of course, that sounds ridiculous.)
We’ve seen many absolutely amazing performances this year. MVDP, WVA, Bernal, Ganna. So, they are all doped?
That leads to the next question - is doping individually sponsored? Why is Ganna on fire and Rohan Dennis on the same team not? Bernal firing on all cylinders in the Giro but if Sky/Ineos has the best drugs then what is going on with Carapaz and Geoghanhart?
To climb mountains fast you need a favorable power to weight ratio and a high VO2max. How are they doing it these days? I know they do a ton of altitude training these days. Supposedly they can’t do EPO though maybe can get away with microdosing. Supposedly they can’t do blood bags. A super high hematocrit would be detected. I’m just wondering out loud how they can turn the levers physiologically.
WVA had a faster sprint than Cav but he had no leadout train. He hawked Cav’s wheel all the way to the end but started his sprint too late. With the same leadout train WVA wins today head to head against Cav.
You have to hand it to Quick Step. They know how to win races.
Sonny Colbrelli stage 9. Wow! Is he considered a pure sprinter or rouleur? Either way, I’ll have what he’s having.
Using PED’s is systemic in our culture I’m afraid. I have so many stories (people I know) who are either cyclist or just regular gym going 9-5 stiffs using T it’s disheartening. My entire time racing bikes I have been 100% against PED’s and have lost many friends because I distanced myself when I found out they were cheating. As recently as 2020 I left a group that was peppered with dopers. The older I get the more guys I hear about. If I want to have any friends left I guess I need to just let it go and I mostly have. I don’t get it but, I’m done trying to understand.
For pros I can almost understand why they do it. And former team mate (dif sport before his cycling career) Tyler Hamilton sort of outlines in his book how grey it can be. If Tyler can get sucked in anyone can.
I am always surprised that this still sounds like a ridiculous conspiracy to people.
Cycling has been steroid-ridden for much longer than it is supposedly clean
we had the topic of basically all top level sprinters having tested positive for steroids
other sports like weight lifting, bodybuilding, powerlifting, strongman are all but officially drugs or go home
the EPO-epidemic in long distance running in Kenya and Ethiopia is pretty well documented
several nations have been found guilty of organizing nation-wide steroid programs for (!)yes(!) top tier athletes
it was confirmed that pretty much all the Russian top tier Olympic athletes were pretty recently involved in steroid abuse in one way or another and that not only Russia, but also officials of the Olympics have helped cover it up
Certain sports, like bodybuilding, weightlifting, endurance sports, sprinting, throwing (other strength related athletics) will always be easier to identify dopers in, than in more technical sports.
Weightlifting, bodybuilding, running and GT/ track cycling are mostly determined by physical performance, with technique really taking a back seat role here.
Saying things like:
7 Wkg FTP
running a sub 2:55/km pace for the marathon
having a lean mass index of over 30
deadlifting 850 pounds
… naturally is impossible!”
Is just a lot more quantifiable and potentially accurate than saying:
scoring 50 goals in a La Liga season
a triple double average season in the NBA
scoring perfect scores on the uneven bars
… is naturally impossible.
Our sport is very quantifiable making potential doping a lot easier to identify. Also, having good genetics, training very hard and structured, and taking steroids is much likelier in making you the next Lance Armstrong than making you the next Michael Jordan. The incentive in cycling to dope is high, as there is a lot to gain and gains a relatively directly translated into performance.
Doesn’t mean everyone who sucks is clean and everyone who wins is on the stuff.
Complete outliers however make it suspicious, thougH.
