Tadej Pogačar at today’s Tre Valli Varesine with his face being like 'Sorry guys, but I will beat you everyone again.' 😅 …although that the race was than cancelled because of the rain. Grazie per la foto Paolo Geminiani. 🙏🏼
"Given cycling's past the question is not an illegitimate one" - Christian Prudhomme honest about Pogacar doping doubts
CyclingThursday, 10 October 2024 at 09:58
There is no doubt about who the best cyclist on the planet is in 2024. Becoming the first rider in a generation to complete the sport's mythical 'Triple Crown', nearly everything Tadej Pogacar has touched has turned to gold this campaign. As is often the case in cycling however, such all-conquering dominance always tends to bring questions related to the sport's murky past.
Infamous doping scandals involving some of the sport's biggest names, such as the likes of Lance Armstrong, Marco Pantani and Alberto Contador among others, whenever a new superstar emerges to take control of the peloton, some voices are always quick to bring up the question of whether they are doing so legally. In recent years, Jonas Vingegaard has had to deal with such doubts as he secured back to back Tour de France titles but in 2024, the cloud of doubt has descended onto the Dane's great rival, Tadej Pogacar.
Pogacar reclaimed the Maillot Jaune this year, winning the Tour de France for the third time in his career in typically scintillating style. In an interview with La Dépêche du Midi, the race director of the French Grand Tour, Christian Prudhomme was asked to tackle the doping question and whether or not he'd be surprised to find out in future that Pogacar had in fact been cheating.
"Given cycling's past, and not so long ago, the question is not an illegitimate one," admits Prudhomme, choosing his words carefully. "I don't have an answer. I can see that he gives a pretty impressive performance in competitions. The controls exist, we fought with ASO to have independents, and now it's the case with ITA. That's it..."
Nevertheless, Prudhomme does see similarities to the legends of the past in Pogacar this year. "We're back to what we were used to, that is to say champions who are there from the beginning to the end of the season and with this will to win everything," the Frenchman concludes. "Which makes him similar to Eddy Merckx but also to Bernard Hinault... For years, I heard Bernard say that the guys had to rediscover their sense of the game and enjoy themselves. That's exactly what Pogacar does."
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- Thanks Dadmobk22-12-2024
- Hard to believe with the advancment of modern medicine he can not find a cause for this.frieders321-12-2024
- You continue to platform these two cheats. With that in mind I can no longer use your site. I know my leaving means little, but, sometimes you have to take a stand. See ya!DJ21-12-2024
- Look at what Froome’s won since his last TdF, stop denying there is still more than possible one outcome to the future.Mistermaumau21-12-2024
- Bruyneel understands nothing about clean competition.Sweep21-12-2024
- Exactly. Remco won 3 WT races/stages last year compared to Pogocar's 19. Remco's single stage win in last years TdF earned him a meager 12 seconds over Pogocar who shellac'd him by 9 minutes in GC.Sweep21-12-2024
- Fortunately and as you point out, more than one strategy is possible and worth trying and I’m sure all concerned riders are well informed and counselled on this subject and don’t need such basic personal advice through media from an outsider.Mistermaumau21-12-2024
- The main SPOTY award is "decided" by public vote but the BBC "expert panel" decide who you can choose from, that choice has an equal split of genders and is focussed on the sports BBC show and a disabled athlete. Oh yea the ubiquitous "Pub Games" candidate there too, Darts and Snooker are not sports. The other awards are decided by the "Expert Panel" again it's about the sports BBC show, cycling has had it. Cav got his for his years and achievements in the sport, not just that 35th TDF win. Unless the BBC get access to Pro Cycling it will never feature "adequately" on SPOTYslappers6621-12-2024
- Ahhh..... you have to understand the "strange" diversity concepts of the BBCslappers6621-12-2024
- Avoiding him is a good strategy, you get more wins and then you can compete in the TDF relatively relaxed. Pit yourself against Pogi and not only there will be no wins, it will be considerable mental setbackabstractengineer21-12-2024