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Isn't the profile of doping a bit different these days though? My "doping for dummies" understanding is that performance drops as fatigue sets in because red blood cells die off (or become less effective?) under sustained stress. Back in the super-dirty years riders could just top up with EPO every day to keep their levels high. I thought these days they were a bit more careful and favored one or two transfusions of refined blood at critical points in the race, leading to a boost in energy literally overnight.
Anyway, I agree that this year's Giro was genuine edge of the seat stuff and there's not a lot of point us spectators letting thoughts of doping spoil the excitement when all or none of the top contenders might later turn out to be dirty.
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having off days and good days in GTs is far more an indicator of being clean than consistent high level performances.
ooh, bad news for Kruijswijk, better keep his samples ;)
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jimmy_james
peter_v
@bashthebox
Agreed, in 2014 Nibbles looked pretty imperious.
I mean, fuck knows really. He could be doped up to the eyeballs - but that rather begs the question of if he's prepared to dope to salvage his Giro, why wasn't he doped in the first place to ensure a win from the off? It's not like there wasn't huge pressure and expectation on him.
If you want to get your tin foil hat on, then know that most commentators seem to believe that having off days and good days in GTs is far more an indicator of being clean than consistent high level performances. Floyd Landis is the exception that proves the rule, I guess - only he was doing it in one of the dirtiest years during the dirtiest era, so there you go.
There's no way of knowing for sure. What we do know is that this race has been fucking exciting, the lead changing hands 6(?) times. No wait, did Dumoulin win the opening TT? Maybe it's 7. Actually that's just 7 different jersey wearers. Think it changed hands more than that.
It's been amazing, anyway. Sport should be a spectacle, and this Giro has been smashing.