And yet the average speed of the winner, as well as the number of finishers, has remained pretty constant since the early eighties…
…I know average speed isn’t an ideal indicator, but surely doping must have some effect, or else why do it?
They’ve changed the stages a lot since then, made them shorter and added an extra rest day to discourage the “need” to dope so that will have helped. Added to which, bikes are far more advanced now, lighter, stiffer, more aero, more ergonomic; the kit is better (more aero/ergonomic again) and training is much more scientific (GPS, power etc). Each item may only be a fraction of a % but taken together it’s the classic aggregation of marginal gains over bikes from the 80’s and 90’s.
Any punter can go into a bike shop now and (so long as the credit card has enough limit) buy an off-the-peg bike way better (lighter, stronger, stiffer, electronic gears etc) than anything Lance ever used.