ANSWERING THE HARD QUESTIONS

What was going through Matej Mohorič’s head when he celebrated his victory on stage 19 of the Tour de France? Crossing the line, he appeared to zip his lips and then put his finger to them, in a silencing gesture. It was undoubtedly linked to his team, Bahrain Victorious, being raided by French police in Pau and put under a preliminary investigation into doping allegations. The Slovenian said it was “just a sign to show to people that question our performance to be mindful that we are making huge sacrifices with our work, with our nutrition, with our training plans, with our race plans, with all the time we spend away from home in training camps”.

Mohorič was understandably displeased with the treatment of his team, but his reaction and gesture hardly silenced the doubters or reassured the wary. The celebration brought back memories of Lance Armstrong zipping his lips to camera in the 2004 Tour, an action that became infamous as more dark truths about the era came to light. The 26-year- old should not be expected to understand the nuances of an era that wholly occurred while he was still a child, but it is not too much to ask that younger athletes should be told about how to act and respond when doping accusations are put to them. For many, the cynicism of the Armstrong era remains, and the doubts over whether cycling is truly clean remain.

Doping questions arising from performance are always strange, because it is difficult to set the parameters of what is too good to be true and thus deserves interrogation. However, Tadej Pogačar faced questions in his press conferences - as any leader of the Tour should - and dealt with them poorly. Again, he was a child when doping was allencompassing in cycling, but he could and should be better trained to answer difficult questions in an honest and open manner, which surely would reassure some doubters.