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Tim Harford explains the numbers and statistics in the news and in life

Tim Harford explains the numbers and statistics in the news and in life.

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More or Less: The Tour de France and the statistics of cheating

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The Tour de France and the statistics of cheating

21/07/2012

BBC World Service - More or Less, The Tour de France and the statistics of cheating

Can maths prove whether the Tour de France has clamped down on the use of banned drugs?

Can maths prove whether the Tour de France has successfully clamped down on the use of performance-enhancing drugs? Also: does when you retire influence when you die?

The Tour de France, we are told, has finally cleaned up its act and clamped down on the use of performance-enhancing drugs. 

But if it has, should we expect today's drug-free riders to be slower than their drug-fuelled forebears? Can statistics tell us whether the Tour de France really is cleaner than it was? 

Also in the programme - does when you retire influence when you die?

(Image: The peloton climbs the Cote de Burs during stage seventeen of the 2012 Tour de France from Bagneres-de-Luchon to Peyragudes. Credit: Doug Pensinger/Getty Images)

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