31/05/2026
The Deadly Gas Pogačar & Vingegaard Were Legally Breathing
Tadej Pogačar and Jonas Vingegaard the two best cyclists on Earth were inhaling a gas that kills tens of thousands of people every year. And until January 2026, it was completely legal.
This is the story of carbon monoxide rebreathing. The "diagnostic tool" that became cycling's most disturbing performance hack. How a Scottish scientist's suicidal experiment in the 1800s became a doping scandal in 2024. Why WADA banned a gas not a drug for the first time in history. And the question nobody can answer: how much of the last four Tours de France was won by men, and how much by a balloon full of poison?
▼ CHAPTERS ▼
00:00 — Champions Breathing Poison
01:00 — The Suicidal Scientist
02:15 — Cycling's Blood Obsession
04:00 — A Doping Weapon Is Born
05:30 — The Article That Broke Cycling
06:40 — The Champions Speak
08:15 — WADA Bans A Gas
09:45 — The 2026 Question
10:30 — What Comes Next
▼ SOURCES & FURTHER READING ▼
- Escape Collective investigation (July 2024) — Ronan Mc Laughlin
- WADA 2026 Prohibited List, Section M1.4
- UCI Press Release, June 2025
- Schmidt W. et al. (2020) "Chronic Exposure to Low-Dose Carbon Monoxide Alters Hemoglobin Mass and VO2max", Med Sci Sports Exerc
- Schmidt & Prommer (2005) "The optimised CO-rebreathing method", Eur J Appl Physiol
- Le Monde interview with Jonas Vingegaard, January 2025
▼ ABOUT THE INJURY BREAKDOWN ▼
We dissect the science behind the world's greatest athletes. Injuries, comebacks, controversies, and the physiology that decides who wins and who breaks. New videos every week.
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