deValtos said:An issue here is that there is only one brand of winners to make comparisons against.
There have been countless dopers who have made smooth progressions and there have been countless dopers who have made rather erratic progressions.
As for clean winners who do we compare against ? Looking back over the past 50 years I guess you can use Lemond. Evans and Sastre are doubtful. Wiggins if you believe him. There's pretty much no one.
To say Froome's progression shows doping by use of comparison to previous riders makes little sense when all the comparisons are to dopers. Who's to say a clean rider can only progress smoothly ?
Of course the fact that there's hardly any clean comparisons to make is pretty damning.
If you follow that thought... why weren't there any clean winners.
Because only people who doped were able to reach those speeds. Only people who doped were able to finish 10 minutes down on those speeds.
So froome and Wiggins can't be compared to any clean athlete because everyone who achieved what they did, or came close to achieving what they did, was doped. Yes I find that interesting too.