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Tadej Pogacar and Mauro Giannetti

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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.
 
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.
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.
 
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.
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.
 
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.
But lets pop the occasional EPO positive in a cat 2.3 race, a junior event or a masters event.
 
But lets pop the occasional EPO positive in a cat 2.3 race, a junior event or a masters event.
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.
 
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.
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.
 
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.
 
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.
 
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.
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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