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Most memorable doped perfomances?

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Now, they may have access to confidential information and that is why they engaged in this raid. But otherwise it is pretty hilarious to imagine that they watched this Tour and thought, "Arkea Samsic, now that is the team that looks the most suspicious!"
I'd have to say that elephant in the room of "Why" was pointedly not addressed in the article. Not even a "no information on why Quintana was targeted was immediately available" or some other...you know...journalistic remark was given.
 
I agree with you that it's top 10 and likely top 5.

Sounds like you started watching about the same time I did.
I would say top 5 easily due to the importance. Landis and his ride is on another level at #1 for me, but there are few other performances that are more shocking than that TT. I was sure that he was pacing himself poorly and I though Roglic was going to pull him back. At one point on the early part of the climb, they showed the virtual difference in GC and he was losing seconds with every pedal stroke and then it was clear that it was Heras/ Nozal redux from that point.
 
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I would be willing to listen to arguments that the Froome raid is #2. Being in the USA, sad to say that I did not see that one live*. I would agree that a common bond of Landis, Froome, and Pogacar was that the effort was somewhat counter to form which adds to the spectacle.

*Armstrong scandal really killed cycling as a sport story in the USA. The TT wasn't even mentioned in the sports-scroll on ESPN or on their home page. I watched it on DVR Sunday morning because I knew I would not be spoiled by anyone because few care about it any longer. The glory days were OLN showing all three grand tours and a bunch of classics. Thin gruel these days.
 
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Froome was getting stronger as the race went on and he won on Zoncolan in the week before the raid – hardly terrible..

Race was blown to pieces already on lower slopes of Finestre, Yates dropped, then it was pretty much a Froome vs Dumoulin TT, with Dumoulin getting some attacks instead of any help.

Still a crazy performance, yes, but I don't think it's the same level as a good-but-not great TTer who looks to be getting weaker during the race smashing some of the worlds top TTers by 1:20 and 2 minutes...
 
Froome was getting stronger as the race went on and he won on Zoncolan in the week before the raid – hardly terrible..

Race was blown to pieces already on lower slopes of Finestre, Yates dropped, then it was pretty much a Froome vs Dumoulin TT, with Dumoulin getting some attacks instead of any help.

Still a crazy performance, yes, but I don't think it's the same level as a good-but-not great TTer who looks to be getting weaker during the race smashing some of the worlds top TTers by 1:20 and 2 minutes...

he got dropped from the 3rd GC group on the Sappada stage the day after Zoncolan, he was the absolute worst rider actually riding for GC at that point. his TT wasn't even that good, and then yes he kinda came alive on Prato Nevoso, but nothing that foreshadowed anything close to what he did the next day. at least Pogacar was consistently one of the strongest riders the entire race.
 
Froome was getting stronger as the race went on and he won on Zoncolan in the week before the raid – hardly terrible..

Race was blown to pieces already on lower slopes of Finestre, Yates dropped, then it was pretty much a Froome vs Dumoulin TT, with Dumoulin getting some attacks instead of any help.

Still a crazy performance, yes, but I don't think it's the same level as a good-but-not great TTer who looks to be getting weaker during the race smashing some of the worlds top TTers by 1:20 and 2 minutes...

That Zoncolan perfromance came completely out of the blue though. There were two sprint stages preceding the Zoncolan stage, but before that there was no sign whatsoever that Froome was getting better. He was every bit as bad in stage 11 (Osimo) as he was in stage 9 (Gran Sasso), if not even worse. And then, three days later he suddenly beat everyone on Zoncolan, inluding Yates who was absolutely flying at that point of the race. Only to regress to his erstwhile level the day after.

The heist on Finestre inevitably eclipsed everything else , but the Zoncolan stage was as clear a targeted day as they come. Given the context it came ,in hindsight, much more against the dynamic of the race thaneven the circus on Finestre.

Pogacar's TT clearly will be a staple of this topic for years to come, but putting it above that 2018 Finestre stage is clearly down to heavy recency bias.
 
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I'd say by pure performance in the last 18 years, these TTs made me say "WTF" out of loud:

2004 Besancon
2007 Albi (Vino+Rasmussen)
2009 Mendrisio
2009 Annecy
2013 Mont-Saint Michel
2003 Tour de France Ullrich TT, forgot the name of the place

And, Saturday will be a part of one of these performances.
 
My top 4: Landis 2006 TDF ride to Morzine; Froome 2013 TDF on Mt. Ventoux; Froome 2018 Giro stage 19; Pogacar 2020 TDF stage 20. Obviously, these are subjective selections, and only one (Landis) was busted for PEDs after the event. Honorable mention: Froome 2011 Vuelta (first sighting of the New Froome at age 26 after an almost invisible professional cycling career to that point).
 
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I'd say by pure performance in the last 18 years, these TTs made me say "WTF" out of loud:

2004 Besancon
2007 Albi (Vino+Rasmussen)
2009 Mendrisio
2009 Annecy
2013 Mont-Saint Michel
2003 Tour de France Ullrich TT, forgot the name of the place

And, Saturday will be a part of one of these performances.
Annency doesn't even come close tbh. It was barely an outlier He beat Cancellara but overall gaps in that ITT were really small
 
Can I nominate Nairo for the most forgettable doped performance? I mean come on, if they found something compromising that would actually say a lot about the current state of the sport. Doped Nairo, a shadow of his former self. What would be the conclusion for the others then? Especially for the two Slovenians or WvA?

Maybe some of their gear was intercepted before he fell off a cliff

If my unsubstantiated nonsense is correct, then Nairo's Nettle Stings will go from one of the least memorable doping performances to taking it's place in the annals of most memorable doping excuses, alongside Michael Rasmussen's affair and Santambrogio's fertility problems
 

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