Recent content by Bratone

Why is it so hard to accept that a rider can still win everything and yet be slightly weaker than before? When someone is as far ahead as Pogačar has been, even a small drop in performance doesn’t stop them from winning. Being dominant and being a bit below your peak aren’t mutually exclusive.

I know it might only be a 3–5% drop, but it feels like it changed everything. Before Combloux, he was dominating and dropping everyone, Vingegaard includded, like at the Dauphine and on Hautacam. After that TT, something felt off. Maybe injury, maybe illness, maybe the Tour’s toll, but he didn’t...

I swear that watching Pogacar pre-Combloux TT in TDF last year vs after the Combloux seems like watching 2 different riders. Even thought the gap might be only 3-5% in terms of performance, it really feels that the 2026 TDF really took something out of him that he may never get back.

Vingegaard looks better than ever compared to the last 3 years and Pogacar weakest, all the people who are 101% sure Pog will easily win TDF in July will have a big reality check I'm afraid.

100% and it very clearly started from Strade where he had to dig super deep to drop Seixas and only one by 1 minute, last year the gap was bigger even though he dropped Pidcock at like half the distance. In MSR the gap to the peleton was 4 seconds, again, much smaller than last year. In Ronde he...

You could say whatever you want and post any random numbers you see on the internet but Pogacar is clearly weaker compared to last year, that was visible in all the races this year, and will be proven again in LBL and TDF. The eye test never lies.

The eye test doesn’t show that he’s significantly stronger, like we’re seeing with Vingegaard or Seixas. Of course, that can be deceiving, and in Pog’s case, it will probably be impossible to see another jump like we did in 2024 or like we’re seeing now with Seixas. I honestly think it’s more...

There is a lot of online backlash towards Florian Vermeersch because people think he didn't ride for Pogi and just did his own race, especially on the 2nd Kwaremont where instead of leading out Pogi he just stayed at the back conserving energy, what do you guys think about this?

The team was also weaker, he really missed Wellens, he basically had to do everything by himself in the last 60-70 kms.

Amazing win, I don't remember the last time when we looked this human though, he really was on the limit in the last Kwaremont + Paterberg combo.

Given how he’s been riding lately, it feels like he’s mainly trying to assess the level he’ll need to win the Giro while using as little energy as possible, so he can save as much as he can for the Tour. That would also explain why the gap today was smaller than expected.

Dropping MvdP on an 8-minute hill isn’t even remotely comparable to dropping Vingegaard on a one-hour climb, it’s a completely different level altogether and we all know that.

Agree, Narvaez was crucial, so this year Del Toro will have to fill that gap.

He did but he never got this bulky. And Jonas had most of his spring preparation affected by injuries last year, now he's fully focused and ready to go.

I think Jonas is favourite for the Tour this year. People are underestimating a lot the difference between training only for GTs and long climbs for more than half a year vs bulking and training for classics like MSR and Roubaix.