Tadej Pogacar and Mauro Giannetti

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Or simply cycling can't afford another major scandal and so market interests have taken over, amongst the federation and journos alike. The war on doping thus succombs to don't spit on the plate from which you eat. Taking access to professionalism as explaining the ridiculous feats of today, is only a means for them (the UCI and journalism) to justify not fighting against it.
If cycling can survive Armstrong it can survive anything. Lance Armstrong was the biggest star cycling has ever had, even people who had no interest in cycling knew who he was and his story. Let's be real, unless you are either Slovenian or a cycling fan, the chances are that people have never heard of Tadej Pogačar.
 
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If cycling can survive Armstrong it can survive anything. Lance Armstrong was the biggest star cycling has ever had, even people who had no interest in cycling knew who he was and his story. Let's be real, unless you are either Slovenian or a cycling fan, the chances are that people have never heard of Tadej Pogačar.
It was mostly commercially driven and in this America excels. For the rest of the word at the time, outside cycling, most only knew of Armstrong through Nike publicity and it didn't increase the audience.
 
It was mostly commercially driven and in this America excels. For the rest of the word at the time, outside cycling, most only knew of Armstrong through Nike publicity and it didn't increase the audience.
Armstrong was a big deal over here as well. My grandfather who wasn't even into cycling had his book at home and 8-year-old me was begging him to let me read it (he thought it wasn't appropriate for one as young as me, but I got him around after a couple of months). I still saw kids who weren't even into cycling wear Livestrong wristbands years later, and everybody knew who he was. Part of that's of course because Ullrich was huge at the time, so cycling got plenty of attention anyway, but Armstrong's story still had a big impact on its own (Remember, Ullrich didn't race in '99).
 
Armstrong was a big deal over here as well. My grandfather who wasn't even into cycling had his book at home and 8-year-old me was begging him to let me read it (he thought it wasn't appropriate for one as young as me, but I got him around after a couple of months). I still saw kids who weren't even into cycling wear Livestrong wristbands years later, and everybody knew who he was. Part of that's of course because Ullrich was huge at the time, so cycling got plenty of attention anyway, but Armstrong's story still had a big impact on its own (Remember, Ullrich didn't race in '99).
In Italy, as in much of Europe, Armstrong outside the cycling community was marginal at best.
 
Tadej is just a phenomenal athlete and probably the GOAT of cycling .Just get that into your head and stop with these ridiculous doping accusations which are based on nothing .
If you bury your head in the sand much more you'll pop out of the ground somewhere in Australia. Why are you even here? I'm sure there is a Pogacar is the Goat circlejerk thread on the forums here somewhere, you'll feel right at home.
 
Protected is maybe overstating it in my view, but they're definitely not trying all that hard to find anything.

I try to just assume people in cycling are neither especially corrupt or especially incorruptable, and just try to have a holistic view of how it would work if everyone is just self interested mostly.

Cycling has experienced that when it tries to do a better job policing itself, it only gets a worse reputation. In addition, 'demand' for antidoping and questions about doping are much more determined by whether the dominant champoins are well liked or not rather than if they're completely ridiculous or not.

Pogacar ticked so many boxes in his first years that made him very appealing for many casual fans so they bought in completely, and now that it's gotten ridiculous to the nth degree to the nth degree, it's too late to take that emotional investment back.
If it is too late to take that emotional investment back, I wonder how much active damage control is going on now to ensure nothing is exposed and the impression is given that the UCI has everything under control? The whole strategy and communication about motors seems to fit this picture. Most likely there is nothing at all going on but the show, including the useless checks using tablets, seems to fit in a strategy were they want to paint a picture of a clean sport.
 
If it is too late to take that emotional investment back, I wonder how much active damage control is going on now to ensure nothing is exposed and the impression is given that the UCI has everything under control? The whole strategy and communication about motors seems to fit this picture. Most likely there is nothing at all going on but the show, including the useless checks using tablets, seems to fit in a strategy were they want to paint a picture of a clean sport.
Everything makes so much more sense if all that *** is performative.
 
It's all fun and games until the viewership drops because people don't want to watch this absurdity any more. It's ridiculous. Merckx' 1969 season doesn't even come close.
None of this lets Pogi, UAE or Gianetti off the hook but objectivity is important. Merckx was still more ridiculous and there were none of the "methods" and sophistication around back then that we suspect today. I think blood doping had been tried but I haven't read anywhere that Merckx was into that or that blood doping was responsible for his records.

But I am glad there were no online cycling forums back then ;)

Objectively Pogacar is still a long way short of Merckx best seasons. Below tables are from PCS. And according to a Google search 1969 wasn't Merckx best year - 1972 and 1974 were.

Also check how many racing kilometres and days Merckx was doing compared to what they are doing now (assuming Pog is typical for the top riders today):

Pogacar
2024​
9959 km in 58 days | PCS points: 4588 | UCI points: 11655
2025 (7-Oct)8394 km in 49 days | PCS points: 4646 | UCI points: 10880
Merckx
1974​
15958 km in 93 days | PCS points: 5564
1973​
14655 km in 87 days | PCS points: 5707
1972​
14385 km in 80 days | PCS points: 6275
1969​
12145 km in 73 days | PCS points: 4734
 
None of this lets Pogi, UAE or Gianetti off the hook but objectivity is important. Merckx was still more ridiculous and there were none of the "methods" and sophistication around back then that we suspect today. I think blood doping had been tried but I haven't read anywhere that Merckx was into that or that blood doping was responsible for his records.

But I am glad there were no online cycling forums back then ;)

Objectively Pogacar is still a long way short of Merckx best seasons. Below tables are from PCS. And according to a Google search 1969 wasn't Merckx best year - 1972 and 1974 were.

Also check how many racing kilometres and days Merckx was doing compared to what they are doing now (assuming Pog is typical for the top riders today):

Pogacar
2024​
9959 km in 58 days | PCS points: 4588 | UCI points: 11655
2025 (7-Oct)8394 km in 49 days | PCS points: 4646 | UCI points: 10880
Merckx
1974​
15958 km in 93 days | PCS points: 5564
1973​
14655 km in 87 days | PCS points: 5707
1972​
14385 km in 80 days | PCS points: 6275
1969​
12145 km in 73 days | PCS points: 4734
In those days training was equal to racing so Merckx raced 1.5x as much.

I am not sure what you want to prove but in those days doping had indeed not the sophistication as it has today so it is more probable that Merckx indeed was a once in a 50 years outlier. We also should emphasize that the world was "smaller" back then and the average competitor was likeky not on the same level as it is today although also Merckx' eating and training habits were amateur level versus the current methods. On top of that, we have no data that can prove Merckx had similar insane climb records as Pogacar. This would also be difficult to compare as we need to correct for technology improvements and the amateur food/training level of that time (compared to what we have now). Merckx was also riding in a time where an all-round rider (sprint, TT, endurance, climbing) had more chances to win a GT versus somebody with insane watt/kg capabilities.