“I believe in pro cyclists now, even if they have management who’ve doped in the past” – British ex-pro makes impassioned defence of Pogacar and UAE amid rising online doubts

Tadej Pogacar put 2:38 into Jonas Vingegaard with a 43-kilometre Tourmalet assault on Thursday at the 2026 Tour de France. By Friday, the scale of his dominance had pushed cycling’s oldest questions back into the centre of the race conversation.

Amid a fresh wave of online suspicion surrounding Pogacar and UAE Team Emirates – XRG, British former professional Daniel Lloyd has delivered an impassioned defence of the current peloton, including the riders competing under managers and directors implicated in cycling’s doping era.

UAE dismantled the GC group on Stage 6 before Pogacar attacked five kilometres from the summit of the Col du Tourmalet. The world champion then extended his advantage on the descent and final approach to Gavarnie-Gedre, reaching the finish 2:38 ahead of Vingegaard.

Pogacar now leads his principal rival by 2:42 overall, while teammate Isaac del Toro sits third at 3:27. The Slovenian also broke the existing Tourmalet climbing record during a performance that immediately generated renewed doping accusations across social media.

Those suspicions remain unsupported by evidence of wrongdoing by Pogacar or the current UAE team. They have nevertheless become sufficiently prominent for the likes of Tom Dumoulin to be asked directly about the subject, and for L’Equipe to describe Pogacar as a champion who remains surrounded by suspicion.

Lloyd has now put his own faith in the modern peloton firmly on record. “I’m going to stick my head above the social media parapit again, and say that I think what you are witnessing in cycling now is predominantly clean,” he wrote on X. “I believe in the pro cyclists now, even if they have management or directors who’ve doped in the past. They’re answering the questions and suspicions from a previous generation of dopers, who I also don’t think should (all) be condemned. I’ll write an X essay next week, if anyone is interested.”

Lloyd’s intervention followed Pogacar’s Tourmalet exhibition but also addressed the wider mistrust created by cycling’s past. The former Cervelo TestTeam and Garmin professional argued that riders should not automatically inherit suspicion from managers and directors whose careers stretch back into a very different era of the sport.

“Also, people that have doped in the past probably wouldn’t now,” Lloyd continued. “They got caught in a culture at the time where it was expected. Before social media. It’s never entirely excusable, because there were people who tried to compete clean or just said no and walked away from the sport and lost out on money and a career.”

The discussion soon turned directly towards the figures behind Pogacar’s team. UAE team manager Mauro Gianetti previously led Saunier Duval and Geox-TMC, while Joxean Matxin also occupied a senior position within the Saunier Duval structure. The team’s connection to that period has long featured in the suspicion directed at UAE, resurfacing whenever Pogacar produces another extraordinary performance.

One respondent told Lloyd that he had “extreme issues” trusting management with links to Saunier Duval and Geox, particularly when it was now overseeing the most dominant team and rider in professional cycling.

“I understand that,” Lloyd replied. “They doped, for sure. Excessively. But I don’t think that any of them, shoved into the modern world, would be diving towards doping products."

“I also think they’re jealous of the current generation that they don’t have to make that choice," added the former Eurosport pundit. “Again, I might be wrong, and this could be the end of me, but that’s my hunch.”

Lloyd also challenged the argument that widespread doping once created a level playing field. Although many of Lance Armstrong’s closest rivals were caught or implicated themselves, that defence excludes the riders who refused to participate and consequently lost opportunities, contracts or entire careers.

“For example, Lance still thinks he won those Tours legitimately, and he did compared to those behind him, but what about the people who’d said no and weren’t racing?” Lloyd asks.

Lloyd admitted that he had written the posts after drinking and promised to publish a longer, sober explanation next week. That follow-up will arrive with Pogacar already 2:42 clear after just seven stages and the debate around his dominance showing no sign of disappearing.