Question Comparing Pogacar's two historical seasons

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Which season was better?

  • 2024

    Votes: 11 37.9%

  • 2025

    Votes: 18 62.1%
  • Total voters
    29
Krzysztof_O

Krzysztof_O

Jul 7, 2013
7,988
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Pogacar's last two years were historical, merxian seasons. Last year was similar to Merckx's 1972 and this year to Merckx's 1971. But which was better? Let's settle it among CN forum experts.

In both years he won the Tour, the WC, both of his best monuments (Liege and Lombardy), one big one-week race and Strade so let's focus on the differences. Last year he focused more on stage-racing while this year it was an all-out classics attack (including the fearsome Roubaix and Flandres) so he had to adjust from cobbles to Tour weight. The differences:

2024: Giro win, Montreal win, Emillia win
2025: Flandres victory, Roubaix runner-up, EC win, Fleche win, UAE Tour victory, Tre Valli Varesine

It's basically a question of wheather his Giro win is better than his cobbles campaign + other factors (more varying competition this year and adjustment from cobbles to Tour form).
 
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J

Jan the Man

Mar 12, 2010
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My view is 2025 is more impressive. Winning three monuments, WC, Tour and podium in the other two monuments, throw in EC, Strade, Fleche, Dauphine and podiums in Amstel and Montreal.

2024 was of course historic in the first triple crown since ‘87 but I think consistency wise doing what he did in the monuments is more inpressive
 
V

VayaVayaVaya

Jun 1, 2015
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Voted 2024 because everyone said the double / triple couldn’t be done, many (sadly, including me) thought that he was doing the double to hedge on the Tour after losing two years in a row, and yet he completely dominated. He was just as dominant this year, just different priorities.
 
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C

CatchyH

Feb 17, 2015
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It's hard to do the comparison with races he only raced in one of the two seasons. So it's better to look at the ones he did race in both. Strade in 2024 was more dominant but this year was more entertaining with the crash and his comeback. San Remo this year was more impressive, attacking on the Cipressa. Liege was about the same. In the Tour he was really strong the first two weeks but then faded in the last week, unlike in 2024. Canadian classics weren't as good but he did basically win Montreal (asterisk). His Worlds win this year was more dominant but the profile suited him more. Lombardia was about the same as last year.
 
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Krzysztof_O

Krzysztof_O

Jul 7, 2013
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Berniece said:
Biggest opposition in classics was lacking. In spring no Evenepoel and Van Aert at strength. MVDP who got ill before De Ronde.
Click to expand...

Last year there was no Evenepoel in Liege and he was weaker at the season's end. This year Evenepoel was superb in WC and EC and really good today.

As for MVP, I know your interpretation of De Ronde but still Pogacar faced big competition in Flandres and Roubaix (last year he didn't ride those races at all and faced much weaker comp. at the Giro instead).
 
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Krzysztof_O

Krzysztof_O

Jul 7, 2013
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Ok, I was hesitating on this one. I wanted to choose 2024 actually: Giro is a GT, which is bigger than monuments so his wins in the biggest races were better and Giro + Tour double is always impressive.

I chose 2025 due to other factors: races he chose and the competition. He fully commited himself to spring classics, including challenging Flandres+Roubaix vs MVP (followed by Ardennes triple) and afterwards he adjusted and won the Tour easily and had a legendary season's end with WC+EC monster solos vs very strong Evenepoel and Lombardy win.
 
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D

dobrien

Jul 10, 2009
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Krzysztof_O said:
Lucky? Last year Vingegaard had very subpar Tour preparation and Evenepoel was weaker at the season's end. Not the case this year. In the spring he faced MVP on the cobbles instead of much weaker guys at the Giro. I definitely think he faced better competition this year.
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Fully agree with this; even accounting for slight recency bias to me he seemed much more fearsome this year. I guess I'm biased towards the classics a bit more, but I'd vote this year in a heartbeat.
 
T

Tanakka

Jun 24, 2024
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James M said:
Pogacar choose 2025. I personally rate MSR and PR very highly in the equation. Theres a reason noone has ever podiumed in all five monuments within the same year ever, let alone in the modern era of specialization.
Click to expand...
Well... 'MSR and PR' 'rate...very highly in the equation' even more so 'cause without solely MVDP, he could've have done a 1*-1-1-1-1

*I highly doubt Ganna gets 2°place at MSR 2025 if MVDP isn't in the race.
 
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