Should You Be Suspicious Of Pro Cycling?

What are your thoughts on present-day pro cycling? 🚴‍♂

I think you miss the point about scepticism. It is not about a shift in performance across the whole peloton, as described so well in your video. It is about one man riding away from everyone, world champions and record holders etc, time after time at the end of a gruelling day. When top time-triallists are sitting and vomiting at the end of a hard TT, and one man thrashes them all and jumps off his bike to do a celebratory dance, you tend to wonder what is his magic ingredient. I suspect it is a chemical one.

Are these efforts believable, yes (maybe)… for a days efforts, yes (maybe).

Where we run into “issues” is when we look at the big one day races & the grand tours (where the big money, notoriety, & continued big dollar sponsorship is).

One or two big days will leave the biggest genetic mutant destroyed. To believe that a chosen few can destroy the rest of the field, and recover day after day, while getting stronger is, well, not believable.

The speeds are not normal (shocker, human physiology has not changed since the 60’s and “nominal” or whatever term gains is BS.)

The doping game is next level. In the example of podicar, he is the LA of the modern day – talent, yes. Genetics predisposed to optimal performance via (new age) doping and walla, podidope, vanderpol, evenpole, etc.

Sorry folks, what you are witnessing is fantasy and WWF all the way.

Relax, relax, relax, guys! We all know it's all about those crank arms…. 🤓

I love riding on a newly surfaced road, it is so much faster. The roads are better now, especially on roads that are not ridden as much, like in the hills. Be interesting to now what difference this makes in watts.

Historically, cycling has never been clean. Why should it be now?

Very informative episode. Thanks

Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me.

Science has taken some of the fun out of it. Cycling is like Formula 1 now, and almost costs the same.

I've been in this sport for 47 seasons now. Raced for many years as a cat 1-2-pro. I raced clean. I know people who didn't. I don't think pro cycling has ever been clean and I'm sure it never will be. No one will tip their hat until they get popped. The Omertà. No amount of training/diet/tech can bring speeds up to what we know were the dark years. IMO the UCI should either crack down and stop turning a blind eye to it, or remove the banned substances and bring Pharma sponsorships into the sport, and if someone grows a second penis or arm, so be it. At least that way we'll know how you won. Nothing can change my mind about what I've seen and think. If performances are unbelievable it's because they are just that… not believable.

I don't really care about the speeds of the peloton. It's the 20min 7W/kg new "standard" that I find suspicious. I simply find it hard to believe that this increase on the previous 6W/kg norm can all be explained by individualised training plans, altitude training, heat training and more professionalism.

Lance Armstrong was a scapegoat for an entire peloton that was racing illegally. Unfortunately the “Armstrong” era will always cast a long shadow!

The more energy gels they can swallow is like fuel injection on your car.

Guys, its not the SPEED. Its w/kg. We have guys now pushing 7w/kg for the same time as the dopers of the past. To think that lance could have done 7w/kg without the drugs, but with "today's training" is about as ignorant as it gets. We see dopers getting caught all the time today, and yet they aren't even the fastest guys😂 Somehow we have guys who are at the top who are clean but out climbing (on w/kg) the dopers. So if today's riders WERE doping they would be pushing 8w/kg?!? Thats 500w for a 64kg rider. So where are the dopers getting caught pushing that power? They don't exist, because we are already on the juice guys. Would you bet your life that the top riders are clean? I think not.

Well, I was in college when England's first pro cycling hero Tommy Simpson overdosed on Mont Ventoux and I'm still not over that! So I am happy to see such amazingly detailed responses from so many cycling fans giving carefully considered reasons why this show was pretty much one-sided from the starting gun. My small contribution is to collect all the dozen comments in favor and list them here as a brief survey of those who believed the presenters point of view. IMHO they all look like Slovenian AI or a robo operation in Moscow to me, just one line and not a single fact or logical thought, only formulaic words of congratulations on being the world's best online bike team……..Judge for yourself: "Really loving all of Connor's Videos recently/Great Vid. as per usual/ Love it!!! Very interesting, good research, well structured. Please do more like that, great stuff!/Conor is such good presenter. Great episode folks/Great video GCN/Great program! Really appreciated, for I'm a cyclist fan/former weekend warrior. Keep up the good work! Bravo/i really hope this video ages well/Great piece. The heat training section was super informative./Thanks Conor and crew , I see money being a big factor as well /This is a very well-done piece of work. Thank you, Conor & team/Finally a credible channel that has the guts to discuss the obvious." What do you think?

Finally a good GCN video again!