After analyzing the first 12 stages of the TdF (Tour de France), which were completed at an incredibly high level of performance, one actually has to assume that the racers are gradually getting tired, on the 13th stage they deliver an answer that once again causes astonishment. The 165km stage, with 1884m elevation, is completed at a turbo hourly average of 48.821km/h [1]. Even veteran warriors like Team DSM-Firmenich road captain John Degenkolb articulate this abnormal peculiarity in the finish interview: “Today we had a 48 average and I had an average of over 300 watts – it wasn’t a day to relax for the mountains [2].” 300W in the peloton in the slipstream for several hours, this shows what an incredibly high power density has now become standard in modern cycling. In view of the data tracking and the physical and correlating performance-physiological parameters that it reveals, doping controls are actually no longer needed. The organizer must be aware of how, by freely disclosing the questionable measured values, he is actually provoking a professional discussion about doubts about the provision of these parameters on a natural basis. On the other hand, once the general public has been conditioned to unthinkingly consume the displays, they live completely unabashedly. You won’t find any critical data analyzes in the hour-long TV reports; instead, the tourist attractions along the route are commented on in detail.
Another interesting aspect of cycling as a team sport is provided by the documentation of tour radio (Radio Tour). It is recorded how cross-team alliances are passed on to the peloton by radio from the material truck convoy by the directeur sportifs (sports directors). In this specific case, bringing back the escape group around Adam Yates (Team UAE), who would have threatened to lose the top GC positions in the overall ranking ambitions for the teams Ineos, Soudal-Quick Step and Visma.
It’s a bit incomprehensible that these collaborations weren’t used by the top GC teams in the mountain stages. The decimated team RBH (Red Bull-Bora-Hans Grohe) and the team FDJ, which despite a star line-up were unable to deliver any results in the first half of the tour, would be due to the prominence and still short-term possibility of mobilizing their extraordinary performance (i.e. a Hindley , Martinez, Gaudu, Gregoire, Küng or Madouas) were certainly able to provide valuable support for the Visma or Quick Step GC captain in the fight against UAE. In the past, this was often practiced, and the motivation for this was catalyzed by appropriate financial transactions to the external team serving. It’s astonishing that such collaboration apparently no longer takes place in the peloton.
And if any proof were needed that the peloton is in an evolutionary leap that is inexplicable, then the events during the Pyrenees stages ultimately provide it. First of all, the sober stage data already provide plenty of potential for speculation. The 14th stage over 152km and 4050hm is completed with an hourly average of 37.685km/h [4], the 15th stage over 198km and 5071hm at 37.787km/h [5]. Degenkolb’s comment at the finish should actually make you suspicious: “That was one of my hardest days as a professional. There have always been difficult days on the tour, but today was something different. If you’re driving an average of 320 watts after six hours, then that’s crazy. We knew how close it would be and rode the last mountain at 400 watts on average. That was no fun [6].” The performance data revealed here had to be provided by the racing drivers in the grupetto, who fought to reach the time limit so that they would not be removed from the rankings and thus from the tour! Not so long ago, these values were used to compete for stage wins and the overall ranking, mind you, with the friendly support of BigPharma! But the absurdities go even further. With his driving time on the Plateau de Beille, Pogacar literally pulverizes the record values of the proven doped superstars of the past (see Fig. 5). And not only that, 10-13 further riders in the top stage classification also break these marks without any problems.
