Tour De France 2020

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tbc
A friend of mine (knowledgeable on cycling, not prone to doping hysteria, definitely not an Ineos fanboy) has raised some doubts about Roglic and Pogacar and just how dominant they have seemed, especially on climbs that may have been better suited to Colombians, and despite Bernal's "great numbers" (/Trump).

His arguments are:
1. Bernal is an excellent rider but was still getting distanced with some ease
2. Overall higher VAM/faster climbing than in previous years (I haven't checked this)
3. Coronavirus providing possible lack of testing
4. The probability of a relatively small country without a huge cycling history producing two world-class GC contenders at the same time
5. Roglic not really looking like a super-lanky skellington like previous riders who've dominated the Tour.
I replied:
1. Roglic and Pogacar also have form as superb riders
2. A long rest rather than riders and support trains with classics/Giro in their legs
3. Coronavirus also provided massively varying experiences for the riders - so differing form now is also expected
4. Slovenia has mountains. Also Uruguay in World Cup 2010, Wales and Iceland in Euro 2016
5. He's lighter (65kg) than Dumoulin (69kg) and Thomas (71kg)
I don't think he's fully convinced that its dodgy, and I don't think I'm fully convinced that it's not.

Is it?

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miro_o in reply to @tbc

I think it’s totally rational to ask questions of any winning riders. The sport has historically been dominated by dopers. Nobody should be surprised or offended - suspicion is baked-in to any achievements. That will only fade with time.

I don’t think it’s necessarily true that Covid meant bypassing anti-doping. SLOADA appear to have continued testing. Riders may even have been easier to keep track of.

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