Cycling often gets a bad rap as a traditionalist, backward-looking sport, but it’s also one that is obsessed with the future. The history of the sport has been one of…

Cycling often gets a bad rap as a traditionalist, backward-looking sport, but it’s also one that is obsessed with the future. The history of the sport has been one of constant improvement, technologically, nutritionally, physiologically and psychologically. Yes, those guys in the 1990s and 2000s made those gains in unethical ways, but they still rode faster than those who came before. And a mark of the progress that has been made in sports science since then is that many of the speeds that were achieved with the help of large quantities of performance-enhancing drugs are now achieved with better aerodynamics, nutrition, training and bikes.