Two weeks after becoming he oldest person to ever win a Grand Tour stage, Chris Horner now sits on the cusp of winning the whole darn thing. Should the bald 41-year old American win the Vuelta in Madrid, the questions that have already starting clogging up Google searches will no doubt increase exponentially. On one level, I love the fact a rider who’s older than me could win a Grand Tour. But all the same, I’m not entirely sure how I feel on the issue. Is the old bugger doping? Maybe, but maybe not. Is the fact that the cheats have been weeded out given him the chance to finally realise his potential on the biggest stage? Maybe, but maybe not. Is he just having the ride of his life, with the physical and mental moons aligning like never before due to a shrewd race and training schedule? Maybe, but maybe not. Or is it that he just loves tapas and sangria for dinner every night? Maybe, maybe not.
The article below from the Inner Ring presents a pretty balanced piece on the subject. The comments afterwards also provide a good cross-section of the perspectives being shared about Horner’s superb form in Spain. Regardless of what you think, however, few could doubt it’s yet another example of the sorry state our sport continues to live in – brought to heel in the court of public opinion by greed-driven sins of the past. Arghhh.
http://inrng.com/2013/09/vuelta-chris-horner-performance-age/
Carbon Addiction 
It is sad that he has, is, or will be tested during this tour and yet suspicion will still remain….
I think (and hope) Chris’ performance is a combination of him being in the form of his life and has fresher legs than others in the peloton – others have ridden the Tour and/or Giro while Chris has been recuperating.
I hope so too. On him being tested though, it will be interesting to see how this plays out:
http://www.cyclingnews.com/news/report-horner-misses-post-vuelta-anti-doping-test?ns_campaign=news&ns_mchannel=rss&ns_source=cyclingnews&ns_linkname=0&ns_fee=0