The cycling world will be visiting Zurich from Saturday for the World Championships. The once so beleaguered sport has been spared major doping scandals in the recent past. Why the top stars around Tadej Pogacar still have doubts.
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- From Saturday, the 2024 Road and Para-Cycling World Championships will take place in and around Zurich. Among the elite athletes, Tadej Pogacar is one of the big favorites for the world title.
- However, this year's winner of the Giro d'Italia and the Tour de France continues to raise doubts with his outstanding performances - even though he has never been caught in a doping test.
- Cycling expert Henri Gammenthaler puzzles over the Slovenian's performances and explains why, despite the lack of scandals, there could well be doping offenders among the cycling elite.
Cycling star Tadej Pogacar has been regularly crushing his rivals this year, taking overall victories at the Giro d'Italia and the Tour de France in outstanding style and is looking to crown his season in Zurich and finally become world champion for the first time. After the recent demonstration of power in Montreal, there is little to be said against this.
The Slovenian's performances are so good that they always give rise to discussion. At this year's Tour, for example, he covered the climb to Plateau de Beille in just 39:50 minutes - 3:44 minutes faster than the previous record holder Marco Pantani. What some people subsequently praise as the greatest climbing performance in cycling history is proof to others that something is wrong.
Impossible performances
Henri Gammenthaler
Henri Gammenthaler analyzes cycling events for "blue Sport". The Zurich native was once a rider himself, and later a TV and radio pundit and commentator for the Tour de Suisse.
"It's not physiologically possible to improve like that. They're giving us the runaround," says Antoine Vayer in an interview with the NZZ. The former coach was part of the French team Festina when their systematic doping was uncovered during the 1998 Tour de France, and has made serious accusations against Pogacar and his team. He has no proof for his statements. "What we see with our own eyes is enough proof," says Vayer.
This does not apply to the doping hunters. Despite better and more frequent controls, neither Pogacar nor other top riders have tested positive for doping in the recent past. In general, the number of proven doping cases at the Tour de France has decreased in recent years.
"The stars are being prepared with substances that are not detectable in any medical tests," says cycling expert Henri Gammenthaler when asked about this. There are many ways of gaining an advantage, he says. "One thing is clear to me: these inhuman performances are impossible without medical support."
One step ahead
However, Gammenthaler can only speculate about the methods used by the top riders and their legality. What he does emphasize is that the riders are monitored around the clock these days and are supported and advised by a professional environment. "Nothing is left to chance. And the hunted are often one step ahead of their hunters. "
On the sidelines of the Tour de France in July, a method of inhaling carbon monoxide to boost performance is causing quite a stir. The carbon monoxide rebreathing device, which is actually used to measure blood levels, also allows the release of small amounts of carbon monoxide. When this is inhaled, the oxygen content in the blood drops, which stimulates the formation of red blood cells and can therefore have a performance-enhancing effect.
When asked, Team Emirates, among others, admits to working with such devices. However, they claim that they only use them to measure blood values. That is enough for the moment. The procedure is not yet on the World Anti-Doping Agency's banned list.
