What we learned back in the Postal/Discovery days were that if it looks too good to be true then most likely it is. The dominance of Lance and his team was something to behold. I was sucked in, loved it, had my rose-colored-glasses on, I was a believer! Then that world came crashing down, and finally his confession on Oprah (of all places). Just like Floyd...he claimed, no, he swore he didn't cheat! He even wrote a book about it "Positively False" (I have it, and it's autographed btw). I certainly wanted to believe, and then HIS confession. It was Floyd's confession that really brought down Lance. Having the rug pulled out from under me, I am quite leery of believing again. Anybody who wins must be cheating. Wait...somebody has to win (except for those 7 years of Lance, where there is no winner, or 2nd, or 3rd...how can that be?)
But now everybody is saying he (Pogacar) is arguably THE greatest cyclist of all time! Just putting him on equal terms with the great Eddy Merckx makes me wonder....if Eddy wasn't cheating, then it's possible for one person to come along, an outlier, that is far and away better than everybody else. And if there was one, then there WILL be another, and another. Michael Jordon, Lebron James, Tiger Woods all come to mind...athletes that pop up every now and then, and suddenly everybody else is fighting for 2nd place. It appears that the only real question is how far in-between we have to wait for the popping up of these mutant otherworldly athletes is all that is up for debate. Every sport has them. Gosh, think back to Mark Spitz, remember him? 7 gold medals in one Olympics! Michael Phelps...he was quite a while after Spitz, and even more dominant! Katie Ledecky, wow was she amazing! My point here is that there will ALWAYS be people that rise above the best. Are they ALL cheating in any way? How on earth would we ever know?
So...that all said, IF Pogo isn't cheating, then he is that guy. If he IS cheating, then so are his top rivals.
Everybody is forgetting: yes, Pogo set THE FASTEST KNOWN TIME up the Tourmalet by 2 minutes and 20 seconds! WOW, that's quite the smashing of the record for sure! Hmmm...sure sounds like he must be cheating. But wait...Vingo was only 30 seconds behind Pogo at the top of the Tourmalet...so HE ALSO BEAT THE FKT by a minute and half! But wait, there's more...the group of the top contenders Del Toro, Seixas and Lipowitz were only about 90 seconds behind Pogo, so THEY ALSO beat the FKT by almost a minute! And then, just 30 seconds behind them were the rest of the top 10, Evenepoel, Ayuso, Skjelmose, the Durango Kid Sepp Kuss, and finally Martinez!
So the top 10 riders in this years Tour beat the old FKT up the Tourmalet. Thats pretty crazzy! Oh, wait, its also been the hottest Tour on record (and lets not forget that just a few stages later they set a new fastest average speed for a stage)! How is this possible? Are they ALL cheating? Or has the training and racers themselves adapted and are doing this fair and square? I certainly can't say they aren't cheating beyond the shadow of a doubt...I mean,, LA pulled the wool over most of us for 7 years in a row! But the Biological Passport that has been going on for a long time now, and would seem to rule that out.
Consider that just 20 years or so ago it was pretty well established that young racers were physically unable to do well in the Grand Tours, that it was only possible by the more mature and established racers (in their mid to late 20s). And now the youngest rider in the Tour since 1939 (Paul Seixas at 19 years old) just beat the FKT on the Tourmalet. Pogo's teammate Issac Del Toro is only 22, and Florian Lipowitz is 25 (the old guy other than Pogo).
And finally, just 2 days ago (the final stage before the 2nd rest day) Remco beat Pogo across the line to win Stage 15! Is that a chink in the armor of the seemingly invincible Pogocar? It's surely the first time this year that he seems human! And Remco? Wow, good for him! To finally shatter that belief that he can't win in the big mountains. What a confidence boost that must be! And confidence breeds confidence! With Vingo out of the race, Remco, by winning that stage has put himself firmly into 2nd place overall! Now he just needs to use that confidence and build on it. Can he hold 2nd place into Paris? That remains to be seen, we still have a LOT of climbing to do, the Alps await!
And to close, I have to admit it was VERY sad to see Jonas crash out. He was really showing signs of life again, and had his entire team on the front totally dominating Stage 15, right up to that dreaded corner, and now hes out with a broken collarbone. But when one door closes another one opens, and Remco has the chance to hold his position on the Podium.
OK, back to today's stage (the ITT, tho its an odd one, has a Cat 2 climb right out of the starting gate, a RIPPING descent, and finally a long flat to the finish). Who will win this one? Gosh, that's anybody's guess...its not a normal ITT, that's for sure.
Game ON!
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