Tadej Pogacar sprints away from Jonas Vingegaard.Bild: keystone
Faster than Marco Pantani! A statement that not only arouses admiration, but also automatically triggers the reflex that something might be amiss when Tadej Pogacar and Jonas Vingegaard fly up the mountains.
18.07.2024, 11:3318.07.2024, 12:10
follow me
Every year, July is the peak of doping rumors. No Tour de France goes by without the performance of the top stars being questioned, whether justified or not.
On Sunday, overall leader Tadej Pogacar broke a record set by Italian Marco Pantani in the notorious EPO era on the way up to the Plateau de Beille. The Slovenian Pogacar mastered the almost 16-kilometer climb, which had an average gradient of almost 8 percent, 3:44 minutes faster – despite the headwind.
Impressive performances in the Pyrenees
At this level, it’s a trip around the world. The blog «Lanterne Rouge» wrote of the “best climbing performance in the history of cycling” and based this on calculations that showed that Pogacar achieved a performance of 6.98 eW/kg in just under 40 minutes. And that at the end of an extremely tough stage in which over 5000 meters of altitude had to be overcome over 198.5 kilometers.
eW/kg
The e stands for étalon (French for standard). The actual values achieved are calculated for a weight of 60 kg, which means that the eW/kg value is comparable for all drivers.
Solo ahead: Tadej Pogacar storms onto the Plateau de Beille.Bild: www.imago-images.de
Jonas Vingegaard, last year’s winner and current second overall, reached the finish line on this mountain 1:08 minutes following Pogacar. His performance was also exceptionally good. “I was super, super strong on the last mountain and that was one of the best performances of my life,” said Vingegaard. But Pogacar was even better, even though it was a very hot day.
How is that possible? The answer is quickly found at the bar and in the comment columns: doping.
What carbon monoxide is used for
For those who share this opinion, the latest revelations come at a good time. The “Escape Collective” revealed a few days ago that several teams, including Pogacar’s UAE-Emirates and Vingegaard’s Visma – Lease a Bike, are experimenting with carbon monoxide. This is not prohibited.
Gave it his all: Vingegaard takes a deep breath at the finish.Bild: keystone
The teams use carbon monoxide rebreathers, which cost around 50,000 euros. They claim that they use the devices for performance diagnostics. “It is not therapy, but a diagnostic tool,” explained Adriano Rottuno, UAE’s chief physician. At the beginning and end of a high-altitude training camp, measurements are taken with the device to record progress. “There is nothing suspicious regarding it,” said Jonas Vingegaard in the Danish newspaper Politiken.
Meanwhile, several insiders have anonymously expressed their concern to the Escape Collective that the device might be used for another purpose. By regularly inhaling carbon monoxide, the maximum oxygen uptake, the VO2Max, might be increased. There is no evidence that this is done. If it were the case, the doping rules would at least be scratched, because it might be interpreted as a kind of artificial manipulation of the blood, which is prohibited.
Pogacar and the car exhaust
The soup may not be eaten as hot as it is cooked. Doping expert Raphaël Faiss from the University of Lausanne told «Libération», there is a performance-enhancing effect, but it is only of limited use. And Tadej Pogacar? When asked regarding it on Tuesday, the wearer of the Maillot Jaune did not want to go into the topic of carbon monoxide in detail: “I heard that and thought of a car exhaust. I don’t know anything regarding it and can’t comment on it. Maybe I’m just uneducated.”
Field within a field: the peloton in Burgundy.Bild: keystone
There are other answers to the question of how it is possible to ride a bike up a hill so quickly. The short version: Development has progressed in many areas.
Maintain and optimize details wherever possible
Bicycles are better today than they were in the days of Lance Armstrong, Jan Ullrich and Marco Pantani (just as their bikes were better than those of Ferdy Kübler, Fausto Coppi and Eddy Merckx). Bicycles are much more aerodynamic today, which means less power is needed to move them. Power that can be saved on the flat and then used on the mountain.
Nothing is left to chance: jerseys, helmets, socks, gloves, sunglasses – all the equipment is optimized for aerodynamics. Team Sky, led by Chris Froome, coined the term “marginal gains”: many small improvements should add up to a bigger one. The tires, for example, are much wider today than they were ten or twenty years ago.
The training methods have also changed. While the motto used to be “the longer, the better”, today the program increasingly includes interval training or longer endurance sessions in a relaxed range below the anaerobic threshold. After the stages, as soon as they have reached the finish line and before the awards ceremony, the stars are already back on a bike to speed up their regeneration by doing a relaxed ride on the roller.
Progress in nutrition
In addition, great progress has been made in the nutrition of racing drivers in the recent past. Kristof de Kegel, Performance Manager of Alpecin-Deceuninck with World Champion Mathieu van der Poel, spoke regarding it in the CH Media newspapers. He broke the record at Paris-Roubaix this spring, winning the cobbled classic following 260 kilometers with an average speed of 46.8 km/h.
“A few years ago we thought that a person might consume around 60 grams of carbohydrates per hour. Then the stomach says: ‘That’s enough!'” said de Kegel. “We have now discovered that with the right mixture of carbohydrates you can consume up to 120 grams per hour. Some riders can even manage more.” Those who can consume more carbohydrates perform better.
Drinking a lot is the order of the day: Mathieu van der Poel is handed a bidon by a supervisor.Bild: keystone
The days when riders stuffed themselves with as much spaghetti as possible for breakfast are over. Today, rice is increasingly recommended because it is gluten-free and easy to digest. The teams have nutritionists on board who use the data collected from the athletes’ bike computers to calculate exactly what each rider will have for dinner and how much.
The fear of starvation
During the stages, it is also recorded exactly when something is eaten and what is drunk. Usually, it is energy bars and gels with lots of carbohydrates. This is to prevent a rider from suffering from hunger pangs because his reserves are suddenly empty and he seems unable to move.
Each approach alone may not explain the faster times compared to before. But when taken as a whole, it is certainly understandable: better bikes, better equipment, better training, better nutrition – better performance.
There are also external factors such as the weather. Whether the sun is shining, whether it is raining, which way the wind is blowing has a big influence. The same goes for the condition of the road; not everywhere is equally smooth. And it is a factor whether a pass is on the agenda at the beginning of a stage or as a final climb; cycling is ultimately a lot to do with tactics. That is why comparisons across eras are a nice game, but Pogacar’s opponent is not Pantani, but Vingegaard.
No one puts their hand in the fire
And what if the teams have discovered other means of improving performance in addition to the carbon monoxide rebreather? Ones that have not yet been proven? The hunters are always panting following the hunted, that is the nature of things. And the hunters seem to have it even harder than before. At least that is what Mario Thevis, the head of the doping control laboratory in Cologne, said. in the NZZ: “The possibilities for influencing performance through unauthorized means and methods have become more extensive.”
Clever training methods, sophisticated nutrition, optimized equipment. And a trip to the pharmacy? No one who knows the history of professional sport would bet on that. But until the opposite is proven, the presumption of innocence applies.
Tadej Pogacar Breaks Records: Doping or Just Incredible Fitness?
Tadej Pogacar sprints away from Jonas Vingegaard.Bild: keystone
Faster than Marco Pantani! A statement that not only arouses admiration, but also automatically triggers the reflex that something might be amiss when Tadej Pogacar and Jonas Vingegaard fly up the mountains.
18.07.2024, 11:3318.07.2024, 12:10
follow me
Every year, July is the peak of doping rumors. No Tour de France goes by without the performance of the top stars being questioned, whether justified or not.
On Sunday, overall leader Tadej Pogacar broke a record set by Italian Marco Pantani in the notorious EPO era on the way up to the Plateau de Beille. The Slovenian Pogacar mastered the almost 16-kilometer climb, which had an average gradient of almost 8 percent, 3:44 minutes faster – despite the headwind.
Impressive Performances in the Pyrenees
At this level, it’s a trip around the world. The blog «Lanterne Rouge» wrote of the “best climbing performance in the history of cycling” and based this on calculations that showed that Pogacar achieved a performance of 6.98 eW/kg in just under 40 minutes. And that at the end of an extremely tough stage in which over 5000 meters of altitude had to be overcome over 198.5 kilometers.
eW/kg
The e stands for étalon (French for standard). The actual values achieved are calculated for a weight of 60 kg, which means that the eW/kg value is comparable for all drivers.
Solo ahead: Tadej Pogacar storms onto the Plateau de Beille.Bild: www.imago-images.de
Jonas Vingegaard, last year’s winner and current second overall, reached the finish line on this mountain 1:08 minutes following Pogacar. His performance was also exceptionally good. “I was super, super strong on the last mountain and that was one of the best performances of my life,” said Vingegaard. But Pogacar was even better, even though it was a very hot day.
How is that possible? The answer is quickly found at the bar and in the comment columns: doping.
What Carbon Monoxide is Used For
For those who share this opinion, the latest revelations come at a good time. The “Escape Collective” revealed a few days ago that several teams, including Pogacar’s UAE-Emirates and Vingegaard’s Visma – Lease a Bike, are experimenting with carbon monoxide. This is not prohibited.
Gave it his all: Vingegaard takes a deep breath at the finish.Bild: keystone
The teams use carbon monoxide rebreathers, which cost around 50,000 euros. They claim that they use the devices for performance diagnostics. “It is not therapy, but a diagnostic tool,” explained Adriano Rottuno, UAE’s chief physician. At the beginning and end of a high-altitude training camp, measurements are taken with the device to record progress. “There is nothing suspicious regarding it,” said Jonas Vingegaard in the Danish newspaper Politiken.
Meanwhile, several insiders have anonymously expressed their concern to the Escape Collective that the device might be used for another purpose. By regularly inhaling carbon monoxide, the maximum oxygen uptake, the VO2Max, might be increased. There is no evidence that this is done. If it were the case, the doping rules would at least be scratched, because it might be interpreted as a kind of artificial manipulation of the blood, which is prohibited.
Pogacar and the Car Exhaust
The soup may not be eaten as hot as it is cooked. Doping expert Raphaël Faiss from the University of Lausanne told «Libération», there is a performance-enhancing effect, but it is only of limited use. And Tadej Pogacar? When asked regarding it on Tuesday, the wearer of the Maillot Jaune did not want to go into the topic of carbon monoxide in detail: “I heard that and thought of a car exhaust. I don’t know anything regarding it and can’t comment on it. Maybe I’m just uneducated.”
Field within a field: the peloton in Burgundy.Bild: keystone
There are other answers to the question of how it is possible to ride a bike up a hill so quickly. The short version: Development has progressed in many areas.
Maintain and Optimize Details Wherever Possible
Bicycles are better today than they were in the days of Lance Armstrong, Jan Ullrich and Marco Pantani (just as their bikes were better than those of Ferdy Kübler, Fausto Coppi and Eddy Merckx). Bicycles are much more aerodynamic today, which means less power is needed to move them. Power that can be saved on the flat and then used on the mountain.
Nothing is left to chance: jerseys, helmets, socks, gloves, sunglasses – all the equipment is optimized for aerodynamics. Team Sky, led by Chris Froome, coined the term “marginal gains”: many small improvements should add up to a bigger one. The tires, for example, are much wider today than they were ten or twenty years ago.
The training methods have also changed. While the motto used to be “the longer, the better”, today the program increasingly includes interval training or longer endurance sessions in a relaxed range below the anaerobic threshold. After the stages, as soon as they have reached the finish line and before the awards ceremony, the stars are already back on a bike to speed up their regeneration by doing a relaxed ride on the roller.
Progress in Nutrition
In addition, great progress has been made in the nutrition of racing drivers in the recent past.
Kristof de Kegel, Performance Manager of Alpecin-Deceuninck with World Champion Mathieu van der Poel, spoke regarding it in the CH Media newspapers. He broke the record at Paris-Roubaix this spring, winning the cobbled classic following 260 kilometers with an average speed of 46.8 km/h.
“A few years ago we thought that a person might consume around 60 grams of carbohydrates per hour. Then the stomach says: ‘That’s enough!'” said de Kegel. “We have now discovered that with the right mixture of carbohydrates you can consume up to 120 grams per hour. Some riders can even manage more.” Those who can consume more carbohydrates perform better.
Drinking a lot is the order of the day: Mathieu van der Poel is handed a bidon by a supervisor.Bild: keystone
The days when riders stuffed themselves with as much spaghetti as possible for breakfast are over. Today, rice is increasingly recommended because it is gluten-free and easy to digest. The teams have nutritionists on board who use the data collected from the athletes’ bike computers to calculate exactly what each rider will have for dinner and how much.
The Fear of Starvation
During the stages, it is also recorded exactly when something is eaten and what is drunk. Usually, it is energy bars and gels with lots of carbohydrates. This is to prevent a rider from suffering from hunger pangs because his reserves are suddenly empty and he seems unable to move.
Each approach alone may not explain the faster times compared to before. But when taken as a whole, it is certainly understandable: better bikes, better equipment, better training, better nutrition – better performance.
There are also external factors such as the weather. Whether the sun is shining, whether it is raining, which way the wind is blowing has a big influence. The same goes for the condition of the road; not everywhere is equally smooth. And it is a factor whether a pass is on the agenda at the beginning of a stage or as a final climb; cycling is ultimately a lot to do with tactics. That is why comparisons across eras are a nice game, but Pogacar’s opponent is not Pantani, but Vingegaard.
No One Puts Their Hand in the Fire
And what if the teams have discovered other means of improving performance in addition to the carbon monoxide rebreather? Ones that have not yet been proven? The hunters are always panting following the hunted, that is the nature of things. And the hunters seem to have it even harder than before. At least that is what Mario Thevis, the head of the doping control laboratory in Cologne, said. in the NZZ: “The possibilities for influencing performance through unauthorized means and methods have become more extensive.”
Clever training methods, sophisticated nutrition, optimized equipment. And a trip to the pharmacy? No one who knows the history of professional sport would bet on that. But until the opposite is proven, the presumption of innocence applies.
