French anti-doping experts suggest a so-called "magic box" might be behind Tadej Pogacar's great performances

Sorry but that is a distorted way of presenting things, they have never really been legal, they were just not regulated (yet). You obviously can’t ban something before it exists. Other things that weren’t and aren’t banned have been at times, alcohol, under (a different) -age sex and marriage. Legislation is a complicated matter especially worldwide. We find it incredible a 12 year old can be forced into sex through marriage in underdeveloped countries and yet, coming from the worlds’ « moral guide »… In California, for instance, the general marriage age is 18, but children may be married with parental consent and judicial approval with no minimum age limit.[49] As of June 2024, in the states that have set a marriage age by statute, the lower minimum marriage age when all exceptions are taken into account, are: 4 states have no minimum age (effectively 0). 2 states have a minimum age of 15. 21 states have a minimum age of 16. 10 states have a minimum age of 17. 13 states have a minimum age of 18. From 2017[50][51] to 2024,[52][53][54][55][56][57][58][59][60][61][62] several states changed their law to set a minimum age, to raise their minimum age, or to make more stringent the conditions under which an underage marriage may occur. In the absence of any statutory minimum age, some conclude that the minimum common law marriageable age of 12 for girls and 14 for boys may still apply.[63][64] « In California, for instance, the general marriage age is 18, but children may be married with parental consent and judicial approval with no minimum age limit.[49] As of June 2024, in the states that have set a marriage age by statute, the lower minimum marriage age when all exceptions are taken into account, are: 4 states have no minimum age (effectively 0). 2 states have a minimum age of 15. 21 states have a minimum age of 16. 10 states have a minimum age of 17. 13 states have a minimum age of 18. From 2017[50][51] to 2024,[52][53][54][55][56][57][58][59][60][61][62] several states changed their law to set a minimum age, to raise their minimum age, or to make more stringent the conditions under which an underage marriage may occur. In the absence of any statutory minimum age, some conclude that the minimum common law marriageable age of 12 for girls and 14 for boys may still apply.[63][64] »

I know we're off-topic but, hey, Jerry Lee Lewis and Edgar Allen Poe. They both did the biathlon by marrying 13-year-olds who were also relatives. And of course it's still business as usual in many if not most African and Asian countries, and, yes, in some parts of America. Yet the newspaper the Guardian (good for cycling stories if nothing else) loves Poe but relishes calling Epstein a pedophile, despite there being no indication anyone nearly that young was involved.

Yeah, ok, but you have to kind of admit there’s some difference comparing 2 persons 200 years apart. We can take this back in time to when life expectancy was twenties for many parts of populations so almost nobody could have procreate let alone raise a child according to today’s standards. We have other issues today needing updating, like adjusting the age of retirement (or at least the distribution over time of retirement income) according to ever longer life expectancy. Did you know that for many decades the retirement age in Bolivia ended up being higher than the average life expectancy so most people got sweet f.a.

Wtf . Get a life nothing to do with the subject

Mainly things like you just listed didn't have a true "test" available to the UCI/ASO. Doping has been around as long as the TDF for the most part. Jacques Anquetil, Eddy Merckx, Bernard Hinault, Greg LeMond, Miguel Induráin and more all used something. Most of the time the UCI didn't have a test for it. I remember EPO being talked about 10yrs before anyone was tested in a major cycling event. Riders at times had to set alarms to wake up and ride for an hour or so at night. Why? So there blood didn't thicken and cause it to not flow correctly and kill them. Riding a bike on rollers every few hours was the only thing that they knew worked. Cycling is a dirty sport. But, we love it and the drama and amazing rides. And the riders are willing to risk everything to win. To be the best at the sport