Cycling, Pogacar still distances himself from doping: "I don't understand these suspicions"

Rome, 3 November 2024 - When cycling is dominated by a clear and unchallenged domination, suspicions, a legacy of a bygone but not so distant era, are never lacking. He knows this well. Tadej pogacar, who had already expressed his opinion on the issue a few weeks ago, stating bluntly that he would never want to put his health at risk by taking prohibited substances: a clear and peremptory reply which, however, was not enough to definitively close the matter.

"It's up to us to regain trust"

This time it's the newspaper that's back on the attack Le Figaro, to which the Slovenian was once again terse. "I honestly don't understand these suspicions about me." And to think that not even Christian Prudhomme, the patron of Tour de France, in recent weeks had rushed to the aid of the winner of this year's edition, stating in turn that he considered certain fears and ulterior motives legitimate in light of what happened not long ago: the other side of the coin, according to Prudhomme, sees a cycling in which the controls have increased out of all proportion. In the middle between these two positions there is exactly pogacar, who diplomatically tries to put out any outbreak. "In my opinion, cycling has suffered a lot during the years of doping. There was no longer any trust in this sport and it is up to us to regain it. We do our races with the hope that people will start to believe in us and forget about lance Armstrong".

Tour Hope for Froome

In its time too Chris Froome he was hit by the mud of suspicion, even if in that case it weighed on the then TeamSky were mostly the afterthoughts linked to the so-called mechanical doping. Since then, the world has changed for the naturalized British Kenyan, thanks to that fall that occurred at Tour of the Dauphiné 2019 from which he has never fully recovered: if the dreams of glory are now gone, the hope of the runner of theIsrael Premier Tech is to carve out at least another token for yourself Tour de France. "I have not been chosen for the last two editions, but it is not a gamble to hope to be in the 2025 to try to be a protagonist in a stage or maybe to help a teammate, as it could be Derek Gee. The rest is history and my regrets are tied to the 2019, when I really had all the credentials to win". On the sidelines of the Saitama Criterium 2024, Froome analyze the track in the next Great Boucle, which will see the return of several classic peaks. "The Mont Ventoux holds a special place in my heart: when I won there in 2013, I understood that I could triumph in Paris. In 2016 instead I was the protagonist of that accident with the motorbike: the road was blocked and there was no point in running, but it was my impulsive reaction and in the end that scene entered the history of Tour de France".

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