State of the Peloton 2026

[Shakes]

CW give it the old "I want to believe" line -
https://www.cyclingweekly.com/racin...r-but-lets-not-jump-to-suspicious-conclusions

And repeating all the marketing lines.

Lance did a TT on the Alpe. Obviously on EPO. You don't need to eat 160g of Carbs for that. Just full storage. Nonetheless Pogi - and others - blew that time out of the water. There is an increase in VAM only seen once before. At introduction of EPO.

However, people want to believe we are better and smarter than ever before. Everyone was a cave man just ten years ago, obviously. This time it's different.

 

[TrekCyclist]

Yes, there is no good explanation for the big colossal improvments on unipuerto efforts since 2020.
Not nutrition, not bikes, not Z2 training.
It has to be somthing medical, to get to this energy turnover. Ferrari had the numbers (for HCT 45, lets say) worked out quite well, no way to improve 10% or so compared to that. We know Riis had probably HCT > 55 to achieve similar VAM.

 

[Krzysztof_O]

Evolution, baby.

Yes, COVID triggered mutations created a new subspecies of homo sapiens. Pogi underwent the most favourable changes in the process. Welcome to the X-Men, the next generation.

 

[Mayomaniac]

Yes, COVID triggered mutations created a new subspecies of homo sapiens. Pogi underwent the most favourable changes in the process. Welcome to the X-Men, the next generation.

As long as Matxim isn't Magneto, ok...

 

[Krzysztof_O]

As long as Matxim isn't Magneto, ok...

Pogi is the ultimate mutant: Dark Phoenix. Mauro aka Professor-X helps mutants control their abilities. I dunno who is Magneto in this setup, might be Matxin indeed.

 

[AmRacer]

Pogi is the ultimate mutant: Dark Phoenix. Mauro aka Professor-X helps mutants control their abilities. I dunno who is Magneto in this setup, might be Matxin indeed.

Hm, Pogi as Dark Phoenix 🤔 something tells me this is wrong for a reason.

 

[Rob5091]

Lappi gets ahead of the testing by saying everyone was clean at the Tour. He will look a real chump if we hear in a month or so that someone was popped.
https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2...drug-testing-after-tour-de-france-controversy

Lappartient, speaking at the start of stage two of the Tour de France Femmes in Aigle, also said he supported night-time testing during races in “exceptional cases”. Lappartient added that the absence of any positive test announcements by the International Testing Agency (ITA) indicated that last month’s men’s Tour was drug free. “The ITA never make a press release about negative results, only about positive results,” said Lappartient. “We didn’t see any press release in the Tour de France, so it seems there was nothing in the Tour.”

 

[Mayomaniac]

Lappi gets ahead of the testing by saying everyone was clean at the Tour. He will look a real chump if we hear in a month or so that someone was popped.
https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2...drug-testing-after-tour-de-france-controversy

The random drug testing is performative, just like the covid testing a few years ago. No official positives, yet lots of riders were pulled out by their own teams.

 

[Ilmaestro99]

Giovanni carboni banned for 4 years. Interesting that the bio passport issue is from late 2024 when he was at Conti level.

Loses all results in 2025 with unibet

https://www.cyclingnews.com/pro-cycling/doping/four-year-ban-for-giovanni-carboni-in-biological-passport-doping-case/

 

[meat puppet]

Classic.

 

[Krzysztof_O]

Giovanni carboni banned for 4 years. Interesting that the bio passport issue is from late 2024 when he was at Conti level.

Loses all results in 2025 with unibet

https://www.cyclingnews.com/pro-cycling/doping/four-year-ban-for-giovanni-carboni-in-biological-passport-doping-case/

Finally a big fish is caught! The anti-doping system is working well.