Tour de France: A cleaner era, but doping shadows linger
Doping scandals from the Festina affair to Lance Armstrong shaped cycling's image, but modern safeguards like the biological passport and daily testing have reduced major Tour de France scandals. Still, gaps remain—overnight testing windows, micro-dosed substances like EPO, altitude training effects, and funding constraints. A recent incident involving Pogacar and Vingegaard sparked debate, yet experts say there’s no evidence of widespread doping today; the sport is cleaner than Armstrong’s era, even as lingering questions persist.
