My knowledge of cycling history before the 90s is rather limited so I would appreciate if someone could help me with something.
In the past 20 years we have seen various big ITT powerhouses that have done well in GC in the three GTs. I'm thinking of guys like Indurain, Olano, Ullrich, Honchar etc. I.e. riders that don't have a typical climbers body who instead climbed mountains like they were time trials.
Did these types of performances exist before the doping/EPO era?
The reason I ask is because it seems like most of these types of riders that have podiumed a GT have been linked to some type of doping. Which is why I wasn't surprised to hear that Karpets (who at 80kg should normally be nowhere near a GT top 20) is linked to the most recent investigation.
So my question is whether the epo-doping era made this type of rider viable in the GTs or if these types of riders have always existed.
In the past 20 years we have seen various big ITT powerhouses that have done well in GC in the three GTs. I'm thinking of guys like Indurain, Olano, Ullrich, Honchar etc. I.e. riders that don't have a typical climbers body who instead climbed mountains like they were time trials.
Did these types of performances exist before the doping/EPO era?
The reason I ask is because it seems like most of these types of riders that have podiumed a GT have been linked to some type of doping. Which is why I wasn't surprised to hear that Karpets (who at 80kg should normally be nowhere near a GT top 20) is linked to the most recent investigation.
So my question is whether the epo-doping era made this type of rider viable in the GTs or if these types of riders have always existed.