Tadej Pogačar last year was asked multiple times during his successful Tour de France title defence for his stance on anti-doping, effectively if he was competing clean.
The questions did not stem from any obvious evidence to suggest that the prodigious all-rounder was breaking the rules, rather cycling’s dirty past.
That past has left a deep, seemingly immovable stain on the fabric of the sport and one which on Saturday was put through the ringer again, in an attempt to wash it off.
The question is reserved for the exceptional, rather than the great, or good. Win one Tour and it’s believable, win two on the trot as Pogačar did before his 23rd birthday, or four like Chris Froome did from 2013-2017, and the industry becomes suspicious.
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Jonas Vingegaard on Sunday was crowned as this year’s winner of the Tour following an incredible campaign with his Jumbo-Visma team, who won the yellow, green and polka dot jerseys, and, before the finale in Paris, six stages. It was an exceptional performance.
Vingegaard assumed the yellow jersey from Pogačar with a solo victory on stage 11 and in none of his daily press conferences thereafter was asked about doping. However, when the 25-year-old fronted the media for the official winner’s press conference on Saturday night one young journalist posed the question usually chased by senior reporters, who were there and remember how the fabric got dirty.
Can we trust you and the performances of your team?
“We are totally clean, every one of us, and I can say that to every one of you,” Vingegaard replied.
“Not one of us is taking anything illegal. I think why we are so good is because of the preparation we do. We take altitude camps to the next level, and everything: materials, food and training. I think the team is really the best in this. That’s why you have to trust us.”
It was the longest and most detailed answer the reserved Vingegaard has given all Tour.
Moments later when his teammate Wout van Aert walked into a hot indoor basketball court stadium turned temporary press room, another young reporter asked him the same question.
But van Aert, who has won the green jersey and three stages, including Saturday’s individual time trial, which he believed Vingegaard gifted him, wasn’t…