Football analyst launched doping accusation to Tadej Pogacar directly: "In a few years you'll hear who actually won"

Thank you Thijs for bringing some rationality back into this pointless rant. I know of no sport that doesn’t see continuous improvement, either steadily or in erratic steps, all I see is that the average amateur now beats champions of 2-3 generations ago, this says it ALL, humans progress, all the time when they apply the collected knowledge and methods. Coming from another sport I was always surprised at how backward cycling training was in comparison, all they’ve done is catch up. There have always been individuals who lead the way in progress whilst the lower levels take more time to catch up, but catch up they always do. The 4 minute mile or 10s sprint was once seen as unattainable, I’m pretty sure Van Gelder has never looked at a list of how many have now run faster. Next is the 2h marathon. Yes, there are dopers trying to skip the line but that doesn’t mean you can just blindly accused a winner or the best. Pog is no better than Vin in certain situations, no better than MVDP in others and isn’t unbeatable, are ALL of them doping then, with the same miracle product/technique? And why is it just them, you’d imagine if it was so effective and untraceable, they’d ALL be buyers.

Okay, so I completely agree that cycling history has shown that gains like these have ALWAYS been fueled by doping. However, personally in this case, I really don't care. Why, because this kid is so damn nice and fun and has been a positive force in cycling. Unlike Lance, who didn't care about anyone but Lance. Am I positive he is doing? No, and I'm happy to give him the benefit of doubt because he is such a fun kid.

😶‍🌫️

Who the fu*k is this clown? Football analyst = shit at sports.

Always a dirty dane

Make sure to add lots of baseless doping accusations below so that all your comments will get scrubbed by the administrators.

Forget for a second about climbing times, and look at some other numbers. Slovenia is a tiny country with a population of approximately 2.1 million people. Rather suddenly, despite its small population and its near complete lack of cycling history or development infrastructure, riders from that country have now won 8 of the last 15 Grand Tours -- and would probably have vastly more if Roglic crashed less-frequently, or Pogacar started more often. And are looking to make it 9 of 16 in a couple weeks.

That simply is not plausible.

In the long history of Grand Tours, only 6 other nations have won more than 7 -- the smallest of which by-far is 450% more populous than Slovenia, and it took the Swiss half a century to win 10, while Slovenia looks to win more than that in 5 years.

If Roglic hadn't crashed in the 2021 TdF which forced the battlefield promotion of Vingegaard, Slovenia would be sitting right now on at least 10 of the last 15 Grand Tours. That is way beyond plausible.

Both of those riders are also managing results that are nearly unprecedented at their ages, with neither being in the traditional prime for cycling. That adds to the implausibility of the situation.

The odds that two of the greatest cyclists the world has ever seen were both born and developed in the same tiny, non-cycling, country, within 9 years, are simply too long to even consider calculating.

The situation does not add up to anything legal, unfortunately. We will probably find out in a decade or two that someone in Slovenia, or working on their behalf, discovered a cocktail that works and doesn't trigger a positive test. There isn't much of a reasonable alternative -- just like there wasn't when Armstrong, also from a country with very little cycling development ( but 150 times the population ) dominated all comers.

Maybe van Gelder should also reflect on why Mathieu van der Poel had to urgently go to the toilet during his World Cup gold medal race. Was it from drinking too much water? Or something else? Toilet talk for van Gelder to reflect.

Needle in the buttocks, somewhere the testers never check........

For Cycling I hope neither are nor would dope. It would crush the sport and leave a permanent black eye.
The super teams of Visma and UAE most likely have a lot of doctors that push the limits with their riders.
Jonas and Pogi are both great for the sport and we have very entertaining Tours when they are both competing.
The irritating part is everyone loves to call Jonas out for doping the last two years and now Pogi.
These two athletes are generation talent. Let’s enjoy the battles between them.
It would be a shame to just call someone a doper with no scientific data to back their claims.

Lance Armstrong - Nuff said.

It sure won't be Vingegaard you Dutchie

Football analyst. LOL. Say no more.

Dutch, Belgians why do you cry so much? Mvdp dominated cross this year, demolishing wout and everyone else - is he doping too? Remco also beat pantani, is he doping too?

Strange how JV rides for a Dutch team and all these experts are Dutch...