“The extraordinary performance is not, by itself, a smoking gun”: Sports scientist dismisses doping allegations surrounding Tadej Pogacar's dominance

Tadej Pogacar's commanding performances at the 2026 Tour de France have once again fueled speculation on social media, with some fans questioning whether the Slovenian's dominance can be achieved naturally. To address the most common accusations, Danish researcher and sports scientist Andreas Breenfeldt Andersen offered his perspective, emphasizing that there is currently no evidence pointing to cheating.

One of the most frequent claims is that Pogacar is simply "too good" compared to the rest of the peloton. According to Andersen, exceptional athletes have always existed across sports. "There is a good reason why this discussion keeps returning whenever a rider is so much better than everyone else," Andersen told Ekstrabladet.

He acknowledged that both Pogacar and Jonas Vingegaard are operating above the rest of the field, but believes the Slovenian's superiority alone is not proof of wrongdoing. "The extraordinary performance is not, by itself, a smoking gun. The fact that he is so much better than the others is not sufficient reason for suspicion."

The researcher compared Pogacar to other sporting legends such as Lionel Messi, Cristiano Ronaldo, Michael Phelps and Stephen Curry. "Sometimes a phenomenon appears with the perfect combination of qualities. I think we're dealing with an athlete in Pogacar who is phenomenal and possibly the greatest cyclist the sport has ever seen."

Another recurring topic on social media is the perception that Pogacar appears to sweat less than his rivals despite producing enormous power outputs. Andersen explained that sweating varies greatly between individuals and cannot be used as evidence of doping.

"Sweat production is very individual from person to person. Teams now spend much more time heat training. Riders become better at sweating efficiently while retaining their electrolytes. To say that because he doesn't appear to sweat as much, he must be doping, is like comparing apples and oranges."

Another popular theory is that Pogacar could be using an undetectable substance that current anti-doping tests cannot identify. Andersen admitted such a possibility can never be completely ruled out, but stressed that it is impossible to substantiate. "Maybe he is. But it's a free argument to make because it can never be disproven."

He added that modern anti-doping methods have become increasingly sophisticated, making doping almost impossible. "Now they have started using artificial intelligence to screen for drugs. For example, you ask it to look for all chemical substances that could resemble EPO. You know what all the substances on the banned list look like chemically, and you can feed that to a computer and ask it to look in the samples for anything that could resemble them."

Andersen also understands why UAE Team Emirates XRG attracts additional scrutiny given the past involvement of some senior figures in professional cycling during the sport's doping era. "Several people within UAE have been involved in some of the worst doping periods in cycling, so I understand why people are skeptical."

"However, it is a peculiarity in cycling that it is almost a requirement that you have a background in the sport to be a sports director and at the same time you have been involved in some of the worst doping that has ever happened. I also find that a bit strange."

Regarding suggestions that the team's financial power could influence anti-doping authorities, Andersen refused to speculate. "I won't comment on whether UAE, with all their oil money, could influence the UCI. That's pure speculation."

Finally, Andersen rejected the idea that Pogacar never experiences difficult moments during races. He pointed to the Slovenian's collapse on the Col du Granon in the 2022 Tour and also last year's Montmartre stage.

"But you could say: Pogacar was put down by Van Aert on Montmartre as late as last year. Was it Pogacar who had a bad day? Or was he just tired? We don't know, but he certainly wasn't flying."

"So we've probably seen him have less good days, but we can't take the tactical and strategic out of it either. If he's having a bad day, UAE knows it, and then they run accordingly. And then people don't necessarily know if he's feeling bad," he concluded.