Hello,
Sunday, the 107e This edition of the Tour de France, which ended as usual on the Avenue des Champs-Elysées, saw the Slovenian Tadej Pogacar, who belongs to the UAE-Emirates team, win in the general classification. The 22-year-old rider covered the 3,484 km race in 87 hours 20 minutes and 5 seconds, ahead of his compatriot Primoz Roglic (Jumbo-Visma), at 59 seconds, and the Australian Richie Porte (Trek-Segafredo) , at 3 minutes and 30 seconds.
The performance of the young winner, as well as his sulphurous entourage, gave rise to suspicions of doping. Which were fed by the opening of an investigation. The day after the arrival on Monday, the Marseille prosecutor’s office announced that two members of the Arkéa-Samsic team were in police custody on suspicion of doping. In this context, you ask us the following question: “Is the 2020 Tour the fastest in recent years?”
Tadej Pogacar completed the 3,484 km of the Tour route in 5,240 minutes. That is an average speed of 39.89 km / h. A pace that is nothing new, and even appears to be the slowest since the 2016 edition and the victory of Chris Froome (39.62 km / h on average).
So far, the record for the fastest edition was set by Lance Armstrong in 2005 with 41.65 km / h. He was stripped in 2012 of his seven titles for doping as well as his records, by decision of the International Cycling Union (UCI).
Less spectacular differences
Over the last ten editions, as an indication, several riders have been faster, on average than Tadej Pogacar: Egan Bernal (40.57 km / h in 2019), Geraint Thomas (40.21 km / h in 2018), Vincenzo Nibali (40.68 km / h in 2014) or even Christopher Froome (40.54 km / h in 2013 and 40.99 km / h in 2017).
However, this comparison, according to specialists, does not say much. The real breakthrough in terms of speed dates from the turn of the 1990s, when we observed a “Explosion of the average speed due to the emergence of EPO [hormone qui augmente le nombre de globules rouges dans le sang, ndlr]», Explains Pierre Carrey, journalist who followed the Tour de France for Release. In 1990, Greg LeMond had won the event at an average of 35.7 km / h, when American Lance Armstrong won the tour fifteen years later with an average of 41.65 km / h.
For twenty-five years, the differences have been less spectacular from one edition to another, and can be explained by many external parameters, such as the direction of the wind, the tactical scheme of the race, and especially the profile of the course. As Antoine Vayer, former trainer of the Festina team and creator of Chronoswatts, a blog specializing in cycling, explains: “Last year, like this year, the Tour was very mountainous. Logically, it rolls less quickly than on a flatter course. “
Portions comparables
A more relevant way to gauge performance is to look at speed on comparable portions, such as climbs. Tadej Pogacar, for example, climbed the Peyresourde pass in 24 minutes and 35 seconds: he then broke the record set at 25 minutes and 22 seconds by Alexandre Vinokourov in 2003. In 2007, the Kazakh was excluded from the Tour de France for doping .
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On the impressive rise of the Belles-Filles board during the individual time trial, where he took the yellow jersey, he equaled Fabio Aru’s record in 2017, in 16 minutes and 10 seconds. But the Italian was accompanied by his teammates, when Pogacar was alone, and had to change bikes during the ascent. The Marie-Blanque pass was swallowed in 17 minutes and 36 seconds, 23 less than Lance Armstrong and Ivan Basso in 2005, both suspended for doping.
Certain technical improvements and technological advances, such as equipment (bikes, jersey), lawful methods of preparation and recovery, or nutrition can allow runners to be faster. “But not as much as Pogacar and Roglic during this year’s ascent records”, according to Antoine Vayer, witness to doping in the 90s.
“It is no longer a humanly possible performance”
Another performance indicator that has been scrutinized (and sometimes disputed) for years: the power released by the runners. Specifically, Antoine Vayer and his teams estimated, thanks to an analysis of televised images and data on seven passes of the Tour, the watts developed by the cyclists, by integrating numerous data such as the force of the wind, the type of bike, the coating. The result is a measurement of the standard watts: “That is what a typical 70 kilo runner deploys as power to go up a hill.” The 2020 edition of the Tour was, on this point, edifying. Five climbing records were broken (four by Pogacar, one by Roglic).
According to estimates collected by Antoine Vayer, the winner of the Tour de France 2020 has developed an average of 422 standard watts over the seven passes analyzed. This is more than the averages of the previous ten winners during their climbs. And that’s in line with the Lance Armstrong era average (which goes up to Alberto Contador), which stood at precisely 422 (with a low of 406 for Armstrong in 1999 and a high of 440 for Contador. in 2009). “Above the threshold of 410 standard watts, in my opinion, this is no longer a human performance possible”, explains Antoine Vayer.
In the Peyresourde pass, Pogacar went up to 467 standard watts (his record on the Tour). Biggest performance since 2009. By comparison, the biggest peak recorded in the mountains for Armstrong is 462.
Note that speed or power analyzes may constitute elements of presumption of doping, even if they do not provide proof of guilt. An athlete can only be officially considered doped in the event of a positive test, confession or judicial investigation.
Xavier Condamine
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