Commish is simply pointing out that virtually every TDF winner or podium finisher in the last ten years has either been proven of or suspected of cheating - Riis, Landis, Armstrong, Basso, Ullrich, Valverde, Rasmussen, Vino, Hamilton, Zabel, Millar, Mancebo and on and on. No, not everyone cheats, but the percentage of riders with a cloud over their head is very high.
I am absolutely convinced that latest from the times of Indurains domination every top tour rider was doped.
They didn’t even notice they were doing something wrong.
Their medical teams tried to keep them upright - massage was not all they did. They gave them infusions of saline solutions to keep them hydrated, indu had his nose channels drilled wider to keep breathing through his nose, they took aspirine to keep the blood flow high and to recover even faster- and they increased their numbers of erythrocytes against that short breath in the alps. That was just a logical step and so was the use of HGH and blood doping.
When the noose was getting tighter at a certain time (remember pantani ?) all they thought about was not - “what medical techniques can we still use and get away with”
but “what methods will others try to use and what chances do we let slip ?”
They are all objects of sports science and as such some pushed the borders even more then otheres - but pushing all borders to win that certainly is a mentality you just have to have as a tour cyclist it’s a contest in every dimension - that’s it’s beauty.
In logical consequence I don’t blame them because they fell for that trap. It was inevitable -somehow like leaving the cat alone with the tuna.
I just hate guys like the reporters from the german states broadcasting ARD and ZDF who all knew how things where going - knowingly exploitet these athlets and now certainly are leading the witchhunt.