"Given cycling's past the question is not an illegitimate one" - Christian Prudhomme honest about Pogacar doping doubts

Thursday, 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.

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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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40 Comments

Spike0311 11 October 2024 at 02:27+ 48

I love cycling and have been watching for years, but it is true that the spector of cheating hangs over the sport. In a day where seemingly every edge from diet to sleep to individualized training at a micro level, it just seems unlikely that 1 rider would be this much better than everyone else. Jonas Vingegaard can climb as well, but he can't sprint or compete in the classics against Poggi. Van der Pol and Van Aert can maybe match his power, but they are just too big to climb like he does. In track and field, no one wins the 5000m and the 400m. I hope he is clean, and it is great to see how much he loves to race, but I will always be suspicious.

Mistermaumau 26 October 2024 at 19:05+ 3552

Maybe not the 400 and 5000 but everything from 1500 to marathon has been done and she’d probably also manage the 800 based on her PB from 2017 when she stopped doing those.

We should always stay suspicious but some people consider that to mean baselessly accusing. There are plenty of dopers so we also don’t need to focus on anyone in particular before they give us valid reasons to. Somebody has to be the best and when someone has a good streak it’s often for several reasons, including rivals not being up to scratch at that time.

Veganpotter 10 October 2024 at 23:41+ 607

They're definitely all doping. But Tadej isn't doing the equivalent of winning the 5k and 400m. He's more of winning the marathon and 10k which is still not something you expect but more comparable.

frieders3 11 October 2024 at 16:45+ 1257

'all' doping? You're bias and lack of any substanial proof is astounding !

You must be doping with these comments.

Nonfictionone 10 October 2024 at 02:33+ 24

Yes it is definitely not true. There would be some who are not. All the prolific winners you are aware of are.

FredMan 10 October 2024 at 16:03+ 115

A lot of pundits claim, without any semblance of proof except "unbelievable performance", that all cyclists dope, even those who don't win. That certainly says a lot about the work of the anti-doping regulators. But let's talk about doping, per se.. If an athlete takes anything that is not allowed by the doping regulators, that's doping. If somebody discovers any miracle method of enhancing performance that is not yet in the "disallowed" list, that may fall under "nutrition" or TUE, rather than doping. To say that everyone is doping, when we have all these anti-doping regulators doing all these tests on all participants to ensure fair competition, is just ridiculous. I've heard it said that dopers are smarter than the doping regulators, but this is just plain stupid. Why don't we just legalize doping then. Then we can just enjoy the show, and not have to wonder if Tadej or Jonas or Remco is doping. Because all of them are doping anyway, so everything is fair competition.

FredMan 11 October 2024 at 15:10+ 115

Maria Sharapova was banned for taking Meldonium in 2016. Ten years prior to that, she was prescribed the drug by a family doctor to treat some health issue. It was not yet on the prohibited list at the time, but in 2016, WADA included it in the "disallowed" substances list. She failed to take notice of the updated "banned" substances list and suffered the consequences. She later won her case on appeal. My point is, it is not doping if it is not on the "disallowed" list provided by WADA. But I digress.. I don't condone doping. I used hyperbole because I find it unfair that we should consider "all" cyclist to be doped, when their training regimen and diet and machinery is more than enough to beat the crap out of any doper. We have been raising the specter of doping as if it were " the be all and end all "of cycling. Let UCI and WADA deal with the doping problem and treat all competitors who are tested regularly as clean.

jamminator 10 October 2024 at 16:16+ 24

That's a great point: Pog is not training any different, harder, or more than half the peloton. Almost every rider is following the same basic training and diet methodology these days, especially since WorldTour team doctors, coaches, and physios jump around teams. Every WorldTour team is designing their rider's lifestyle around racing. Even superior genetics will only carry you so far, but for Pog, that seems inhuman.

OCexile 12 October 2024 at 04:16+ 576

i think it’s interesting, and ONLY interesting, that the most infamous doper of all time — armstrong — actually DID train differently. he was light years ahead in preparation for the specific, singular goal of winning the tour. he did prep for that in a way nobody had ever thought out bothered to do before. he was TRULY a “stop at nothing” to win guy. megalomaniacal, ruthless, probably sociopathic, but NOT LAZY…