Question Tadej Pogacar and Mauro Giannetti

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GuntherL

Jul 16, 2011
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It's about time we address Pogacars remarkable rise since he joined UAE in 2019.

His first season as a junior wasn't anything special, but we have to remember that he was born later in year (September) which is a disadvantage at that age.
In his second season he definitely proved his talent by winning the Giro della Lunigiana.
However, in the entire season he only won two stages and never put any distance on his competitors.
His time trial abilities were less impressive. A 25th and 68th spot.

His first season as a U23 rider wasn't too great either.
He won a few youth jerseys, but didn't record a single stage win.

His second season was definitely better, but still hit and miss.
He won the Tour de l'Avenir, but didn't record a stage win.
He also finished 7th at the WC road race.
Promising, but not exceptional.

Then he moved to UAE. Its CEO is Mauro Gianetti, possibly the dirtiest rider and sports director in history.
Suddenly he started to win stage races (Algarve, California, and individual mountain stages in the Vuelta against the likes of Valverde and Roglic.
He also became a much better time trialist beating Mohoric and Tratnik in the Slovenian championship.

Give me a break.
 
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armchairclimber

armchairclimber

Jul 16, 2011
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Well, I'm a fan of Pogacar. Had him in my CQ Manager team last season and he did what I considered to be amazing things all season. I thought he was at least as impressive as Evenepoel, MVP and WVA in a stage race context.
However, yesterday, I just had to laugh. I thought the timings must be wrong. Out of this world.

"You'll need a performance like Froome's on the Finestre if you want to be in Yellow tomorrow"
Pog : "Hold my beer".

I have to say, it was hellish entertaining though. Watching Roglic go boom after looking ridiculously serene all tour and seeing the JV wheels fall off was actually quite funny.
 
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Red Rick

Red Rick

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Feb 20, 2012
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rghysens said:
That was 14 and 9 years ago. Somehow the anti-doping efforts seem to have slown down the last years. Froome was caught with his hand in the cookie jar and he got a pass.
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They never even busted Horner which might suggest incompetence.

But I really doubt there's one measuring stick at this point (we do our sorrow best to catch you and if you go over that ridiculous line you've gone too far) and there's many different measurment sticks based on hands in cookie jars and up asses.
 
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bob.a.feet

bob.a.feet

Jun 12, 2016
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Red Rick said:
They never even busted Horner which might suggest incompetence.

But I really doubt there's one measuring stick at this point (we do our sorrow best to catch you and if you go over that ridiculous line you've gone too far) and there's many different measurment sticks based on hands in cookie jars and up asses.
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After the Armstrong fiasco pretty much no major player has been busted. Being one of the only sports that actually busted it's dopers only served to give cycling a reputation for being the dirtiest sport in the world. I think now they are, for the most part, taking the approach of every other sport and just letting it slide. So far it's working; despite the incredible performances, the general consensus is that cycling is much cleaner now.
 
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Red Rick

Red Rick

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bob.a.feet said:
After the Armstrong fiasco pretty much no major player has been busted. Being one of the only sports that actually busted it's dopers only served to give cycling a reputation for being the dirtiest sport in the world. I think now they are, for the most part, taking the approach of every other sport and just letting it slide. So far it's working; despite the incredible performances, the general consensus is that cycling is much cleaner now.
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But lets pop the occasional EPO positive in a cat 2.3 race, a junior event or a masters event.
 
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bob.a.feet

bob.a.feet

Jun 12, 2016
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Red Rick said:
But lets pop the occasional EPO positive in a cat 2.3 race, a junior event or a masters event.
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Haha yes, just like how André Cardoso was supposedly the only doped rider in 2017.

If you bust Pogacar, it's international news and the sport is rotten to the core.

If you bust an unsuspecting small fry, it shows that the anti-doping measures work and that cycling is cleaning up its act.

They're only problem now is those pesky journalists.
 
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MartinGT

MartinGT

Jul 4, 2010
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DFA123

DFA123

Nov 7, 2010
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rghysens said:
That was 14 and 9 years ago. Somehow the anti-doping efforts seem to have slown down the last years. Froome was caught with his hand in the cookie jar and he got a pass.
Click to expand...
You have to be doping and be stupid to get caught if you are a big name. Injecting a BB laced with testosterone of clenbuterol mid-race levels of stupid. If your blood values are just a bit up and down on the passport, or if you're caught with some grey area TUE, then there is room for plausible deniability. And the governing bodies are more than happy to let it slide.
 
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BlueRoads

BlueRoads

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If they bust someone big I think a young rider from Slovenia who has not fans of many years would be better than a US or French rider who has been dominating the sport for 8 years. So... I'm not sure Pogacar would be the most protected one. But let's not pretend it is that easy. Maybe they are keeping some things under the table, but first of all they have to catch someone and they have to prove it was 100% doping. Hints just aren't enough. 95% are not enough.
Dopers will always be ahead, because if their stuff does not work, well, than it does not work. If the anti-doping tests do not work 100% they are pretty useless.
 
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samhocking

Mar 13, 2013
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People seem to forget Dr Schmidt of Aderlass was Lampre's Dr in 2013 & 2017 and became UAE. I would argue Schmidt was still working for them in-between those official years though.
I feel sorry for Pogacar. He's not only got to explain the teams direct connection to Dr Schmidt, he's also got Mauro Gianetti (Ricco, Cobo, Piepoli, Mayo etc) as the boss of UAE but also Matxi Fernández (Ulissi, Ubeto, Vaccher, Molano). Then even a UAE rider caught up within Aderlass itself with Durasek obviously. Tough year ahead for him I feel if journalists want to use that ammo above.
 
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Saint Unix

Saint Unix

Feb 14, 2014
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samhocking said:
People seem to forget Dr Schmidt of Aderlass was Lampre's Dr in 2013 & 2017 and became UAE. I would argue Schmidt was still working for them in-between those official years though.
I feel sorry for Pogacar. He's not only got to explain the teams direct connection to Dr Schmidt, he's also got Mauro Gianetti (Ricco, Cobo, Piepoli, Mayo etc) as the boss of UAE but also Matxi Fernández (Ulissi, Ubeto, Vaccher, Molano). Then even a UAE rider caught up within Aderlass itself with Durasek obviously. Tough year ahead for him I feel if journalists want to use that ammo above.
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Add to the fact that all the shady people involved in the team have numerous doping busts on their record and I wouldn't be feeling confident that a positive test or a triggered bio passport wouldn't pop up at some point. Clearly not the best at doping under the radar.
 
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luckyboy

luckyboy

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