[alistairSH]

It’s been 20 years since LA “won” the Tour. Do I think the sport has advanced much since these guys raced… https://cycling-passion.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/09/marco...

Absolutely, I do. The bikes are more aero. The position on the bikes is different - Pog rarely gets out of the saddle on climbs, where LA and Pantani were often slogging out of the saddle. The training plans and nutrition are absolutely superior.

Does any of this mean Pog or Jonas are clean? No. We don’t know either way. All I do know is the anti-doping program is one of the strictest in sports. If people still dope, there’s not much we can do about it. Regardless, I‘ll continue to enjoy cycling as entertainment - there’s no higher meaning to sports - it’s all for fun.

[deng]

Pog rides like Indurain, staying in the saddle and just punching the watts, that's nothing new. Ullrich adhered to that style and was handily beaten by Armstrong, because Ullrich couldn't match Armstrong's intermediate sprints out of the saddle. Maybe Ullrich's style is actually superior and Armstrong simply had the better juice, we'll never know.

These are just stylistic issues which might bring you a percent or two. The 10% we are seeing now is a world of difference on that level, especially because Pog simply exploded this year, beating both Giro and Tour without much trouble. I also heavily disagree with entertainment being the highest meaning of sports, because then I guess we would just all watch WWE or Peter Thiel's mutant games, but that's a topic for another day.