The all-in-one consolidated Tour De France thread Page 6

Froom's wattage has not been released so no-one can know what it is.

You're probably referring to the Antoine Vayer article where he estimated that Froome produced an average power output of 446 watts on the final climb to Ax 3 Domaines which would obviously point to the use of peds. Since Vayer used to work for Festina he no doubt has plenty of experience dealing with incredible statistics. :)

The trouble with this kind of speculation is that it can be way off. There are too many variables - rider weight, bike weight, kit weight, rolling resistance, drag, wind resistance and direction, energy saved from drafting/wind cover... It's unlikely that even Sky have all the figures, which is why they are reluctant to put them in the hands of people who think they're experts because they did the etape or they came second in a club race.

The tour has arguably never been 'clean' in the strictest sense of the word but I believe it is at its best ever and Froome's dominance is not down to drugs. To explain it as such would have to mean that Sky were the only team doping which is palpably absurd.

Quote: Godot Taxis @ July 24 2013, 4:22 PM BST

The tour has arguably never been 'clean' in the strictest sense of the word but I believe it is at its best ever and Froome's dominance is not down to drugs.

I'm not after a spectacle (other than a sportive one) or a scandal so I hope you're right.

But we can never be sure. Take for instance the Tour where Landis was tested positive. Apart from his fantasy stage (where he was bursting from testosterone) that tour looked realistic and normal without any suspicious occurences. And yet he at least Landis was cheating. He was banned and Pereiro inherited the victory. But Pereiro himself had a suspicious blood test years later (although he wasn't banned or anything).

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Quote: Godot Taxis @ 24th July 2013, 4:22 PM

The tour has arguably never been 'clean' in the strictest sense of the word but I believe it is at its best ever and Froome's dominance is not down to drugs. To explain it as such would have to mean that Sky were the only team doping which is palpably absurd.

Drug-taking in professional sport has been up-and-down for decades. These things go in cycles.