Tour de France: Victim of the “Armstrong era”? Pogacar and the doubts

Tadej Pogacar was well prepared. After all, the question of credibility is traditionally one of the annoying duties that a winner of the Tour de France has to deal with. So the three-time champion got going – much more determined than in the past. “It’s not worth taking something that puts your health at risk. It’s just stupid,” said Pogacar.

No doping evidence

Now cleverness is not necessarily a factor when it comes to doping. Lance Armstrong thought he was extremely clever for years and eventually collapsed under the weight of the evidence. Pogacar leads the seven-time Tour winner when it comes to doubters. “I understand people. There will always be questions because they won’t forget the Armstrong era,” said the 26-year-old.

The fact is: So far, there has been no evidence of doping by Pogacar himself, even though a man with a bad reputation like Mauro Gianetti is in charge of his UAE team. Gianetti was once in charge of the scandal-ridden Saunier-Duval team, but always protested his innocence.

And yet questions are the logical consequence of Pogacar’s performances, with which he pulverized the best times in the mountains from the time of unbridled doping in the peloton. And Pogacar is the first rider after Marco Pantani, who was proven to have doped throughout his career, to win the Giro d’Italia and the Tour in one year.

Envy through success

Comparisons are always tricky, of course. The wind direction and previous load alone can make a significant difference. Nevertheless, critical voices are being raised that this cannot be achieved with better equipment, better nutrition and better training. Pogacar, who has a mischievous charm, doesn’t care. “I don’t care,” said the Slovenian. “I know who I am and I know that there will always be doubts.”

Instead, Pogacar turns the tables. This envy, these doubts, they are all the result of his success. The competition seems to have accepted that, to their chagrin, a once-in-a-century talent has simply made its way into their generation.

“To say he is one step above everyone else is an understatement,” said Romain Bardet. The Frenchman was once considered the hope of the Grande Nation. On Sunday he competed in his last Tour; second place in 2016 was his best result.

Showman Pogacar

The superiority and above all the insatiability – Pogacar won six of 21 Tour stages this year – inevitably lead to Eddy Merckx. The cannibal, the greatest in cycling – until Pogacar came along. At 25 years and ten months, Pogacar is a three-time Tour winner, Merckx only achieved this at 26 years and one month. It is probably only a matter of time before the man from Komenda equalizes the Belgian’s five overall victories.

Pogacar himself doesn’t like the comparisons. And Bernard Hinault, France’s five-time Tour winner, also sees little point in them. “We can’t do that. He will go down in history as one of the greatest,” said the 69-year-old about Pogacar.

Merckx seemed shy, withdrawn, and hardly showed any emotion. Sometimes you had the impression that he was bored all day. Pogacar is the other extreme. He likes the show, the jokes, and his lightness is almost obtrusive. He is enormously popular in the peloton.

World Cup title in focus

There are some of Merckx’s records that even Pogacar will not reach. The 51 victories in the five so-called monuments of cycling are hardly imaginable in today’s age of extreme specialization. Pogacar prefers to concentrate on winning each of these important races once, which would be an enormous achievement. He still has to win Milan-Sanremo and Paris-Roubaix, but he has already ticked off the Tour of Flanders, Liège-Bastogne-Liège and the Tour of Lombardy.

Pogacar’s biggest goal now is the rainbow jersey. “I would like to win the world championship,” he said. He will have the chance to do so in Zurich in September. The demanding course should suit him. He also wants to do the Vuelta, the third major national tour. But not this year, that would be too much even for him.