Thomas Voeckler regretted this Thursday to see cycling being the subject of criticism around an supposed doping and the suspicions of some concerning Tadej Pogacar on the Tour de France 2025. The boss of the French team and TV consultant also tackled the two weights, two measures between the peloton and other sports such as tennis or football.
In a sport traumatized by the Festina affair and the Lance Armstrong era, cycling is still in the sights of anti -doping instances. At a time when Tadej Pogacar signs exceptional performances on the Tour de France 2025, some voices have rekindled the doping suspicions. Questioned by the newspaper Le Figaro in an interview published this Thursday, Thomas Voeckler strongly supported the current yellow jersey of the big loop.
“It does not worry me, it does not shock me that a runner is above the lot. I was stronger than certain runners who were probably training as hard as me, so I accepted that others were stronger,” explained the coach of the French team and former leader of the general classification on the Tour de France. “I accepted much less when, over the business or anti -doping controls, some were pinching …”
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“Pogacar is a phenomenon, he did not land like that”
Leader of the race ahead of Jonas Vingegaard, Tadej Pogacar already has a sacred advance the two stages in the Alps this Thursday and Friday. Ambitious in the Col de la Loze, where he wants to wash a personal affront, the Slovenian of the UAE Emirates team could still make an impression and dig the gap. But as good as it is, that does not mean that he is boosted according to Thomas Voeckler.
“The superiority of a runner does not mean that this runner cheat and not the others, and vice versa. Pogacar, it is a phenomenon, he did not land like that”, chained the one who also officiates as a consultant for France TV during the Tour de France. “So that it revives the suspicions, I can understand it, and it is even good, in the sense that the bicycle has been shown to finger at a time rightly.”
Voeckler compares the bicycle to Pogba and Nadal cases
The former darling of the French public on the Tour de France also regretted seeing cycling nailed to the pillory at the first opportunity. In his eyes, the controls are numerous and clear in the peloton. The cheaters are sanctioned. Above all, Thomas Voeckler pointed out the treatment of the doping issue in other sports.
“When you receive tennis infiltration, you are glorified, and you pass for a living God – and I love Rafael Nadal. If in the bicycle you must have an infiltration, you have fifteen days of stopping, you cannot take part in a race,” said the ex -runner. “It is as simple as that. Paul Pogba, that I also love, probably that it is not intentional what happened to him, but if it is Romain Bardet or Thibaut Pinot who are fooled like that, we say: ‘They took us for fools for years’. The processing of information is not the same.”