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Matej Mohorič from Team Bahrain Victorious: The suspicion goes with you
Photo: BENOIT TESSIER / REUTERS
The look:
Tadej Pogačar straightened up before the finish line, looked back at his pursuers and clenched his hand into a fist.
The man in the yellow jersey won his third stage of this tour with another show of strength.
It could have been the news of the day - if it hadn't been for the doping raid.
The result:
Pogačar triumphed on the 129.7-kilometer 18th stage from Pau to Luz Ardiden ahead of Jonas Vingegaard and Richard Carapaz and made it clear once again who the strongest driver of this Tour de France is.
Read the stage report here.
The raid:
The mountain stage with the legendary Tourmalet should be the crowning end of the climbing part of the tour.
But the race faded into the background for the time being.
Because in the morning it became public that there had been a raid on the hotel of the Bahrain Victorious team on Wednesday evening.
The Marseille public prosecutor said there had been preliminary investigations into suspected doping against the team since the beginning of July.
Apparently, the investigators confiscated, among other things, training data from the drivers.
Nobody was arrested.
The team:
Matej Mohorič and Dylan Teuns have already won two stages for the team, Wout Poels is wearing the mountain jersey. As the leading team in the team championship, Bahrain Victorious is one of the most successful teams on this year's tour. Suspected doping is not entirely new to those responsible. In 2019, the Slovenian professional Kristijan Koren and sports director Borut Božič were banned for connections to "Operation Aderlass" - which is said to have existed before their time with the Bahrain team. With Gorazd Štangelj and Rolf Aldag, two sporting directors work for the team who have doped themselves as drivers.
Aderlass:
And then there is team manager Milan Eržen, perhaps the most important man in Slovenian cycling. During the trial against Eržen doping doctor Mark Schmidt, an investigator testified that Eržen wanted to work with Schmidt. Accordingly, he was interested in a machine that can be used to process blood. Schmidt is said to have rejected the request. Eržen has always denied the allegations.
Doping on the tour:
The days of the rolling pharmacy are long gone after the Festina and Lance Armstrong scandals, claim those responsible in cycling. In fact, there has been no positive doping result during the tour since 2012. And investigations against the Arkéa-Samsic team last year have not had any consequences either. So can you watch the tour without suspicion? No. The number of doping tests is not proof of a clean sport, this has been known since Armstrong. And given the unlikely good performance of a Tadej Pogačar from the UAE team, skepticism is appropriate.
When three argue:
the mountain jersey was more competitive than ever over the course of the tour. Nairo Quintana, Michael Woods and Bahrain professional Wouter Poels fought over the award as the best climber. Poels, who wore the jersey to Luz Ardiden, tried again for as many points as possible. But as it is when three argue: In the end, the fourth is happy.
Three jerseys for a hallelujah:
On the final climb to Luz Ardiden, Pogačar only had to fend off attacks from his competitors.
Instead, he attacked again in the last few kilometers and was the first to cross the finish line.
With that he will most likely win three jerseys in Paris: the yellow for the overall ranking, the white for the junior ranking and the mountain jersey.
"Since I started cycling, cycling has been a game for me," said Pogačar at the finish: "I enjoy playing."
No fun:
For sprinter Mark Cavendish, this last mountain stage was no game.
He and his helpers even dropped out of the group and was possibly afraid of exceeding the parental leave period.
But again the Brit made it to the finish on time.
Three more stages:
On Friday and Sunday Cavendish has the chance to celebrate the 35th Tour stage win of his career. Overall leader Tadej Pogačar can only be attacked in the individual time trial on Saturday. But since he's a good time trialist, the chances of his competitors catching up more than five minutes behind are zero.
