Originally Posted by
philbob57
If Merckx doped, he did so at a time when doping was probably more rampant, though less sophisticated, than 1999-2005. Remember, it wasn't too much earlier when DeGaulle asked Anquetil if he used dope when he won, and he responded, a French version of, 'Of course.'
It's not "if". Merckx doped and admitted it.
I mostly don't disagree with your point though. It was a different time. But it wasn't Anquetil's time. Merckx was DQ'ed from major races (the Giro) for doping and as recently as 2007 was asked to stay away from the UCI worlds to not damage the reputation of racing at that time. (That's a laugh, in retrospect).
I'm not criticizing Merckx here. I was responding to a comment that seemed to my ear to be naiive. Maybe I misread it.