The astonishing exit of Jonas Vingegaard on doping

Benefits that constantly raise questions. While he was only ten seconds ahead of Tadej Pogacar three days ago, Jonas Vingegaard crushed his competitor in the last two stages and now has a lead of 7 minutes and 35 seconds over his pursuer. Enough to spark debate among cycling enthusiasts on the stratospheric performance of the Dane. Once again, at the end of this Wednesday’s race, the Jumbo-Visma rider answered the doubts of the spectators. “I understand it’s hard to trust cycling with what’s happened in the past. But I can tell you with my hand on my heart: I don’t take anything and I wouldn’t take anything that I wouldn’t give to my two-year-old daughter.”, he assured. This is not the first time he has spoken on this subject. “I completely understand the questions about this because of the past of our sport. It’s even good to be skeptical because otherwise it will happen again”said Jonas Vingegaard during a press conference held a few days ago.

“All I can say is that I’m not taking anything. It’s true that we are going fast, even faster than them”, he continued, referring to former cyclists who admitted to having resorted to doping. To explain how he could break the records of former doped champions, he had advanced several arguments. “The equipment, the nutrition, the training, everything has changed and that explains why the performance is improving. But it’s good to be skeptical”, he concluded. Christian Prudhomme, the boss of the Tour de France, also spoke on the question of doping, this Wednesday, July 19, on France Info. “Obviously the questions are not illegitimate on the various suspicions”he conceded in the preamble. “The checks are carried out by an independent agency, which was perhaps not the case before. The ITA (International testing agency, editor’s note) tests not only in cycling but also in around fifty disciplines (…) The yellow jersey is tested every day, as the bikes are checked every day”added the boss of the Great Loop.

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