How clean was the Tour?

[Crackle]

It's cleaner, maybe the cleanest it's been, maybe very clean. It has seen, by most peoples opinion, 3 clean winners in the last three years but is it completely clean.

Well we don't know what we're looking for anymore. Once it was too good to be true, explosive sustained attacks which subtly altered to more gradual attacks in the latter stages of a climb as big bags of EPO were replaced with microdosing but now, who knows.

Now we could be looking at skinnier riders, better recovery, increased power but not so much as to make it suspicious. An ability to take on an increased training load and sustain it into a race. One day glories, as opposed to three week glories. In short new drugs, new methods, which make it less certain what we're seeing. It won't have completely gone away but I bet there are still riders seeking a peak, just a smaller peak, which you can get away with if everyone else is clean.

 

[Pedrosanchezo]

Loved this:
http://www.podiumcafe.com/2013/7/22/4546576/what-we-talk-about-when-we-talk-about-chris

+1

Good read and welcome change of pace.

 

[smutchin]

is it completely clean.

No.

Look at the Giro - Santambrogio and Diluca were relatively easy to catch because they're clowns, but I'd be very surprised if they were the only two up to no good.

Likewise, I think there were very probably dopers in the Tour, they just haven't been caught yet.

Pseudoscience bullshit blogs aren't the way to catch them though - if anything, they provide the real dopers with a smokescreen.

 

[Strathlubnaig]

Interesting listening here from Kimmage, podcast around 11 or 12 minute mark.

 

[deptfordmarmoset]

I've written this before in another thread, but I think it bears repeating.

Froome and the whole of SKY have repeatedly and firmly nailed their colours to the mast over doping. They insist they are clean, and after the Armstrong fiasco, remember he to repeatedly claimed to be clean, and the damage to Lance himself, I very much doubt they are 'doing an Armstrong' over this.

The damage to the brand, the members of the team and the sport would be so great if they are doping I suspect they are in fact, clean. Much to some peoples future disappointment.

Yes, it doesn't bear thinking of if someone from TeamSky got caught - because it's not just Sky. British Cycling are interwoven with their success; if Sky falls in the Astérixy kind of way, the whole edifice, medals and all, will come tumbling down. The whole renaissance of cycling in Britain, and I don't mean just pro riders, would be fatally compromised. And that's before you try to imagine the backlash.

 

[Boris Bajic]

I imagine it is pretty clean, but I cannot possibly know.

I thought Indurain was clean when he was still riding - now I do not.
I thought Roche was clean in '87 - now I do not.
I thought (laughably) that Pantani was clean in '98 - now I do not.
I thought Riis was clean - now I do not.
I thought Evans was clean and suspect that now he is - but I no longer think he was clean when I thought he was clean.
I never thought Ullrich was clean, but I have a suspicious eye when it comes to East Germans (Voigt is in that camp too as are all the Kazakh goombahs).

But I enjoyed all the Tours those guys did well in and I enjoyed this Tour. It is of no consequence to me whether the Tour is completely clean, mostly clean or a little bit clean. I imagine the curve is headed the right way and that is fine with me.

I wouldn't be at all surprised if the bigger (wealthier) teams were using some sort of micro-dosage to tweak performance but clear the tests. I'd do that if I were sure I'd get away with it.

As has been said in this thread and elsewhere, the 24-hour low after a tough day looks promising.

 

[raindog]

I wouldn't be at all surprised if the bigger (wealthier) teams were using some sort of micro-dosage to tweak performance but clear the tests. I'd do that if I were sure I'd get away with it.

Seriously, would you? That's interesting. I'm a basically honest person (too honest, maybe?) and I really couldn't cheat to gain an advantage in a sporting competition.

 

[Howard]

Seriously, would you? That's interesting. I'm a basically honest person (too honest, maybe?) and I really couldn't cheat to gain an advantage in a sporting competition.

Prisoners' Dilemma init. Primer article in the Economist.

 

[oldroadman]

I despair sometimes. The tour is clean but dull. So a lively non-dull tour is riddled with drugs, is that it. Pathetic. All these half baked trolls are just spreading rumour because they are simply keyboard warriors. As Brad noted, when someone has actually achieved something by hard work in any walk of life they tend to respct others who have done the same.

 

[smutchin]

http://cyclingtips.com.au/2013/07/the-secret-pro-post-tour-de-france-edition/

Of course we in the peloton suspect certain riders are doping. We see each other day in and day out, and when some unnamed French team who had some issues in the Dauphine takes the piss out of the rest of the peloton in previous years then is back to normal this Tour and riding with a little less panache, we have to ask the question.

Ouch!

 

[Crackle]

http://cyclingtips.com.au/2013/07/the-secret-pro-post-tour-de-france-edition/



Ouch!

I presume that's Europcar and Rolland is it.

 

[Hont]

That's a good read. I too, assumed it was Europcar.

 

[smutchin]

I don't think you need to be a rocket surgeon to work that one out.

 

[raindog]

http://cyclingtips.com.au/2013/07/the-secret-pro-post-tour-de-france-edition/
Ouch!

Do we know if this is legit? First time I've seen it. I mean, is it really a "Secret Pro" or a journalist pretending to be? Sorry if I'm being naive.

 

[Pedrosanchezo]

I presume that's Europcar and Rolland is it.

I thought Voeckler but it is worth noting that there were some questions regarding Rolland's test results post Dauphine.

Here is a link to Cortisol levels and Europcar.