"If I put the same watts on the bike that Lance Armstrong had in 2000, I'll climb the Alpe d'Huez five minutes slower" - World Tour pro on doping questions in cycling
CyclingTuesday, 04 March 2025 at 09:10
French cyclist Nans Peter, currently with Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale and a stage winner in the 2020 Tour de France, was asked about doping in cycling and brought up a curious example with Lance Armstrong as a model.
The man from Grenoble, who will turn 31 on March 12, is clear that cycling is one of the sports most closely monitored by the anti-doping authorities in words to Radio France:
"To answer the question of doping, I hope there is no doping. After that... no, it's impossible. In any case, I hope it will be very limited. We have a lot of controls, more than in any other sport, a lot of vigilance. I think we are one of the cleanest sports. Unfortunately, we have been victims of the image of a doping sport".
It speaks of a new generalized strategy for performance enhancement that has nothing to do with doping he argues: "I think we've replaced this form of doping, which was all about performance, with optimizing aerodynamics, weight, nutrition and altitude training. Today, that's how you achieve performance."
And he gives an example of how he believes cycling has evolved in terms of materials in recent years, comparing the material he has with that of the beginning of the century: "Tomorrow, if I put the same watts on the bike that Lance Armstrong had in 2000, I'll climb the Alpe d'Huez five minutes slower than I did on my bike today. But in reality, it will be five minutes. It's huge."
Obviously, it is clear that the technological evolution of cycling is enormous, but it was also enormous in the 90's if we compare it with those of 20 years earlier. The sport never stops evolving in all aspects and to say that the improvement in nutrition and materials is something of this era is not true. When Miguel Induráin brought out the famous 'sword' bicycle for the time trials in the nineties, it was a huge leap. As were the helmets and the change of materials in the jerseys.
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Armstrong would be considered fat in today's world of gc contenders
No doubt he’d have found a mixer for his cocktail to take care of that ;-)
Anyone know from when on and in which situations they started/were allowed to change bikes for the climbs?
i think his numbers
are off, likely by a significant margin. i believe it’s generally accepted that lance armstrong averaged about 6.5w/kg after his comeback from cancer. his best time up Alpe d’Huez is 37:36, one second slower than the all-time record still held today by marco pantani. during that roughly 40min effort on the Alpe, armstrong averaged 495w.
these are just the numbers. everyone can decide for themselves what they mean to the argument being made by the rider from Ag2r.
All It tells is that he does not know the physics behind cycling, parroting some of the marketing spiel of the bike manufacturer.
What a BS. Politt spreads the same BS too saying Armstrong raced a 9kg bike. It’s necessary to investigate the last 2 seasons. Before that the climbing times were at least little bit believeable. Now Pogacar destroys each and every climbing record from the murkiest era by multiple minutes riding effortlessly. Day in day out, entire season. Arrogantly saying it’s because of nutrition, changing coach, shorter cranks, better bikes and some more BS. As if all of this didn’t exist 3 years ago. Behind the scenes Mauro Gianetti, unrepentant doper who nearly killed himself while doping, is rofling and leading Pogacars team to even more success.
Pogacar won the first Tour on a bike with cables out, needless to say that things have developed a bit
I predict this post and thread getting deleted. In the past when comments turn towards evidence free accusations of doping then the comments end up being mass deleted.
The sport does more than any other I can think of to level the playing field. After that, it plays out on the road. If you don't like it, don't watch.
There's no reason we can't live in the real world while enjoying the doped up sport.
You can enjoy it by all means but will you also take responsibility for the consequences of encouraging it through that? Because we all pay the price of the way it affects people, moods, behaviour, illness, violence, crime, social degeneration, etc, no real good comes of it or what do you feel there is to gain from it other than experiencing a momentary emotional high some might not be able to achieve any other way?
As if all of this didn’t exist 3 years ago...it DIDN'T !
The carbs per hour loading now is fairly new so try and stick to the facts! And the aero improvements are being improved on ever year.
5 minutes is pure exaggeration. That too on a guy who was close to he climbing record.