Judging by the results of the recent poll on this sub-forum, the vast majority of participants are certain that the UAE gang and Pogoclown are doing something "illegal". That's not the question, according to the predominant view here. The real question -- which is about 50-50 at this point -- is about the nature of this illegal stuff: is it of purely chemo-biological nature or there is a significant EM assist involved (i.e. the "motor").Evidence or proof? No. There's none of that. But to act as if there are no "indications" is absurd and so detached from reality that it's bordering on outright delusion.
- Pogi just had arguably the best season of all time.
- He sets record after record, whether it's climbs or average speeds, easily beating EPO-era guys like Pantani, Riis, etc.
- He "peaks" from February through October, something we've mainly seen from "suspicious" riders like Valverde.
- He excels in all thinkable terrain, there's absolutely no way people wouldn't question it if Froome or Contador had dominated spring classics like Pogi does, or if Cancellara or Boonen had started competing for Grand Tours.
- And then we can start listing all the suspicious people with whom he is associated:
- Mauro Gianetti, first and foremost. Famously almost doped himself to death. Was then part of the notorious Saunier-Duval.
- Matxin Fernandez, Gianetti's partner in crime at Saunier-Duval.
- Neil Stephens, DS at UAE in 2019 and 2020, was part of Festina, admitted to doping, and later part of Liberty Seguros, which had loads and loads of incidents.
- Fabrizio Guidi, DS at UAE, had several incidents in his career and was part of both Phonak and Polti.
- Manuele Mori, DS at UAE, was part of Saunier-Duval under Gianetti and Matxin alongside Bertogliati, and was involved in the Mantova investigation.
- Marco Marcato, DS at UAE, was part of Vacansoleil, involved with Dr. Ferrari.
- Aart Vierhouten, DS at UAE in 2022, was part of both Rabobank and Vacansoleil, the latter of which abused TUEs.
- Andrej Hauptmann, DS at UAE, DNS'ed the Tour in 2000 because of unnaturally high haematocrit values.
- Rubens Bertogliati, DS at UAE, part of the 2002 Lampre incident, later part of Saunier-Duval under Gianetti and Matxin alongside Mori.
- Martin Hvastija, Slovenian national team youth coach who worked with Pogi during Pogi's youth, was famously excluded from the Tour in 2004 after he was part of the Blitz investigation in Italy.
- UAE is generally just run by people who ran one of the absolutely most notorious doping-case-ridden teams in the history of the sport. I won't say that Pogi is guilty by association, but the mere fact that his bosses are Gianetti and Matxin makes it completely valid and legitimate to ask critical questions.
Odds are that I have forgotten other dubious associates.
Look, it's completely legitimate to say: There is no concrete evidence or proof. But to pretend that there are no "indications" is some grade-A BS. If the reasons listed above are not enough to merit the notion of "indications," then there has similarly never been any "indications" for the likes of Padun or Foliforov.
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