Jumbo-Visma is currently dominating the Vuelta a España, but Jérôme Pineau thinks they may have a trick up their yellow sleeves.
Sepp Kuss, Primož Roglič and Jonas Vingegaard are currently 1-2-3 in the GC, and are poised to take an unprecedented season, winning all three Grand Tours.
Pineau, though, has a completely different view of Jumbo-Visma’s dominance.
During the last episode of RMC Sport’s podcast Les grandes gueules du sport, he got into it. Pineau raced as a rider for Bouygues Telecom and Quickstep, among others, and after his cycling career, as mentioned, was team manager of the now kaput B&B Hotels-KTM.
But he had some strong opinions about American Sepp Kuss’s attack on the Tourmalet.
“The international bodies are destroying cycling. They let too many things happen, don’t control anything anymore and do what the big teams want. That’s the danger. Then you can start thinking what you want,” he begins. “We see the pictures…I am not talking about doping, but about something much worse. Mechanical doping? Yes, mechanical. If you look at Sepp Kuss’ attack on the Col du Tourmalet, against riders like Juan Ayuso, Cian Uijtdebroeks–-who is seen as a great talent–-and Marc Soler. They’re not suckers on bikes, are they? Kuss rides ten kilometres per hour faster with his attack, then has to brake by a spectator and then rides ten kilometres per hour faster.”
“How can you explain that? Cycling is my sport, I have lived from it and still live from it. It’s my passion, but I’m scared. It worries me greatly,” he said. “I see certain things happening…Kuss advances ten seconds without pedaling. I don’t know how that’s possible, though.”
Pineau of course, has no evidence to his accusation. Just like anyone watching the race, all we have to go with is what is on the screen. However, he says thart is part of the problem.
“With Lance Armstrong there was never any evidence, but we riders in the peloton knew about his deception,” he says. “Now exactly the same thing is happening.”
https://x.com/GGsportRMC/status/1700787581120602155?s=20
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