by In the 12 years since Lance Armstrong’s lifetime doping ban rocked the sporting world and elevated the cancer survivor’s former hero status to professional cycling’s most notorious villain, the sport’s landscape has changed drastically. However, the impressive recent achievements of riders such as Tadej Pogačar, who broke Armstrong’s climbing record on Pla d’Adet, have rekindled suspicions.
There is no doubt that the level of professional cycling has risen beyond that of the EPO-driven era of the 1990s and 2000s, with Mathieu van der Poel breaking the speed records at Paris-Roubaix and the Poggio climbing record at Milan-San Remo Pogačar breaks Marco Pantani’s record ascent of the Plateau de Beille.
Radio France published a report on Friday looking at drivers’ possible methods of improving performance, finding little to explain the recent increase in speed.
The investigation found that the drivers may have been consuming a cocktail of legal painkillers, nutritional supplements such as ketones, asthma medications and possibly microdoses of illegal substances. It concluded that the tendency to “load riders with drugs” could lower the hurdles for anti-doping rule violations.
Reporters interviewed riders, team managers and anti-doping authorities and found that many riders are offered a wide range of medications that are not on the WADA list of banned substances, such as a combination of Voltaren (a prescription non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drug ). ), caffeine and paracetamol or, according to another rider, a mixture of paracetamol, caffeine, the bronchodilator theophylline and a muscle relaxant called thiocolchicoside.
“Drivers who wanted it helped themselves. It bothered me, it’s not my attitude,” explained the anonymous driver. “In any case, it is not thanks to this that some people climb the passes three times faster than they did 20 years ago!”
A separate report from Le Temps this year raised concerns about the possible use of the powerful opioid painkiller tapentadol in the peloton.
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Jean-Pierre Verdy, the former head of the French anti-doping agency, said the combination of drugs effectively amounted to legal doping.
“All drugs that relieve pain, that allow you to relax, eliminate cramps and recover a little faster… All these approved products taken together constitute doping,” Verdy told Radio France.
With a therapeutic use exemption, drivers can also take medications that are prohibited by law. The practice is sound, but it can be used to change the rules and allow the use of some substances that can be performance-enhancing without penalty.
“I noticed that 80% of the riders in the peloton were asthmatics and were able to take Ventolin with their TUE. But Ventolin, taken in high doses, is anabolic,” Verdy said.
The French cycling federation’s performance manager, Emmanuel Brunet, is concerned that the excessive use of drugs could lead to an arms race that could return professional cycling to its drug-addicted past.
“This is a big concern for us,” said Brunet. “One of the most devastating deviant effects is seeing the same thing in young people. We know that the trivialization of drugs in the past made doping easier twenty years ago.”
Riders continue to face pressure to perform to keep their jobs, a situation exacerbated by the UCI’s promotion/relegation scheme. Points correspond to a position in the WorldTour and participation in the Tour de France, which is important for sponsors and crucial for the future of the teams.
The use of ketones and carbon monoxide rebreathers adds another layer to the conversation. Ketones are believed to improve recovery, but like inhaling carbon monoxide, they can also increase the body’s production of EPO. Both practices can be expensive and the risk to athletes’ health is unknown.
The Radio France report says that the use of ketones also continues in teams that are part of the Movement for Credible Cycling (MPCC), which has advised against their use, as has the UCI, which began researching the supplement in 2021 has begun.
“Like the UCI, MPCC has asked riders and teams from the outset not to use ketones until research commissioned by the UCI is known,” said the organization’s president, Roger Legeay Cycling News. “This is a precautionary principle as we do not know whether there will be an improvement in performance and what the short and long term effects will be.”
“We should know a response and recommendations by the end of next year.”
The MPCC successfully campaigned for tramadol to be added to the banned list, but without a test for ketone use, a similar campaign against ketones would be difficult.
“To date, ketones are not banned by WADA, which has no intention of blacklisting them unless there is additional information on their dangerousness and performance enhancement,” Legeay said. “Unlike corticosteroids and tramadol, there is currently no method to detect the use of ketones.”
The UCI downplayed the possible performance-enhancing effects of carbon monoxide rebreathers, telling Radio France: “The scientific data does not allow us to attribute to carbon monoxide effects on performance greater than those observed after training at altitude.” , while WADA stated that it is “scrutinizing closely the possible excessive use of this device”.
Aside from these legal options, improved equipment with more aerodynamic bikes and clothing may account for some of the higher speeds, but Brunet still sees a gap in explaining the superior performances of riders like Pogačar.
“Among the World Tour teams, everyone has more or less the same type of tire, bike or clothing. Almost everything is made in the same place. If there is a difference it could probably be genetics,” but added: “We didn’t notice it when they were racing in the Junior and Espoir categories.”
Pogačar dismissed suspicions after capping his incredible 2024 season with a fourth win at Il Lombardia, saying: “Cycling is a sport where people have done everything they could to get better in the past , without knowing what it is doing to them.” Health, and they risked their lives…
“We now know that cycling is a really dangerous sport. As with a heart accident, you must not exceed your limit, you must remain healthy. And if you want to risk your health for a ten-year career, then so be it. A waste of your life and it can be stupid.
