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Teams & Riders Everybody needs a little bit of Roglstomp in their lives

Page 119 - Get up to date with the latest news, scores & standings from the Cycling News Community.
I still think we did not see Roglič at top form in last year's TDF. The Dauphine crash turned out to be really bad--he couldn't train at all for a couple weeks and did not get on a TT bike at all for 6 weeks until stage 20 of the TDF. Of course, even if he hadn't crashed at the Dauphine, it's hard to say whether he could have been strong enough with the Jumbo team to beat Pogi. But yes, SafeBet (above) has a point. Rog and Pog also will have been training and working for GC at the TDF. They'll have that in their legs when the Olympics comes around.
 
Roglič comes from a winter sport background and from Slovenia. His motive to became an Olympic medalist is hence pretty much as big as it gets. What i am trying to say is he isn't bluffing when saying he will try to prepare for the Olympics and try to be in an optimal and best shape possible. Not only for the Tour, but also for Olympics.

Of course the penultimate stage on TDF 2021 is always there in the back of his mind and it is reasonable to expect TDF will fatigue him. Compared to just preparing for the Olympics.

Pogačar has "turbo mode". UAE explaining it as his body being good at managing lactic acid and turning whatever is available into energy. My personal opinion is they are likely just forcing him, or not doing enough against him doing that, to go over 100% all the time. Hopefully that won't do too much damage too soon, his body.

Anyway, Roglič hence needs to find 2 minutes or to be confident enough his "semi-turbo mode" will be enough on the penultimate stage. It will be interesting to see on which card JV will play. Based on what i have seen so far it should be possible to get Roglič to penultimate stage in a rather good condition. But this strategy is a rather risky one. Hence likely they will make a move before and i feel they have 2 cards to play, trying to achieve that. But there wont' be just Pogačar there. We'll see.
 
Roglič comes from a winter sport background and from Slovenia. His motive to became an Olympic medalist is hence pretty much as big as it gets. What i am trying to say is he isn't bluffing when saying he will try to prepare for the Olympics and try to be in an optimal and best shape possible. Not only for the Tour, but also for Olympics.

Of course the penultimate stage on TDF 2021 is always there in the back of his mind and it is reasonable to expect TDF will fatigue him. Compared to just preparing for the Olympics.

Pogačar has "turbo mode". UAE explaining it as his body being good at managing lactic acid and turning whatever is available into energy. My personal opinion is they are likely just forcing him, or not doing enough against him doing that, to go over 100% all the time. Hopefully that won't do too much damage too soon, his body.

Anyway, Roglič hence needs to find 2 minutes or to be confident enough his "semi-turbo mode" will be enough on the penultimate stage. It will be interesting to see on which card JV will play. Based on what i have seen so far it should be possible to get Roglič to penultimate stage in a rather good condition. But this strategy is a rather risky one. Hence likely they will make a move before and i feel they have 2 cards to play, trying to achieve that. But there wont' be just Pogačar there. We'll see.
2 minutes in the final ITT? What?

He'll be more prepared for that ITT, it's and it's flat. Minute should be fine.
 
Don't even know the profile, but Roglic isn't a medal favorite.
With Roglic and his TT, you just never know. He’s quite inconsistent. It seems he was better at the beginning of his career and then as his improved his climbing proficiency he kind of forgot about TT. I fully expect him to be much better this year not just because he announced it but it just makes sense, considering there’s not that many MTFs this year and TJV has quite good climbing train which does make his life a lot easier on the climbs.

We will see if one trick pony can pull off yet another transformation :)

BTW what’s the deal with announcing his training focus? Isn’t that a bit naïve? I don‘t remember Pogacar telling everyone last year how he rode TT track three times until after he won....
 
With Roglic and his TT, you just never know. He’s quite inconsistent. It seems he was better at the beginning of his career and then as his improved his climbing proficiency he kind of forgot about TT. I fully expect him to be much better this year not just because he announced it but it just makes sense, considering there’s not that many MTFs this year and TJV has quite good climbing train which does make his life a lot easier on the climbs.

We will see if one trick pony can pull off yet another transformation :)

BTW what’s the deal with announcing his training focus? Isn’t that a bit naïve? I don‘t remember Pogacar telling everyone last year how he rode TT track three times until after he won....

Back in January, Richard Plugge (TJV boss) said they're going into the Tour with a time deficit against the "best time trialist in the world", i.e. Pogacar (his words).

So I wouldn't read too much into Roglic & his team publicly stating their intent to work on the time trials (it's expected of them), nor will it detract from his climbing (which IMO is equal to Pogacar & on occasion even better, like at the Col de la Loze last year).

Now what you won't hear them candidly chatting about is how they're going to use Wout, how they're going to use Sepp, or how they're going to race, i.e. use a train like in the Tour last year versus sit back & let others do the work. In the Vuelta they used both methods to great effect (the train protected Roglic when he wasn't at his best on the Angliru, but in a lot of other mountain stages they also would sit back with Roglic marking Carapaz (before attacking him) & Sepp jumping on the other rivals when they attacked.

And about the early part of his career, I'd say it was his climbing which was always good but the TT needed a lot of work (coming from the amateur level he didn't have access to a TT bike at a time when he was already destroying his rivals on climbs).
 
And about the early part of his career, I'd say it was his climbing which was always good but the TT needed a lot of work (coming from the amateur level he didn't have access to a TT bike at a time when he was already destroying his rivals on climbs).

Well of course it depends how early we are talking about but in 2016 for instance, he was already very proficient in TT - he almost won his first ever GT stage when he was I think second in 2016 Giro prologue and then a couple of days later actually won his first TT stage beating Tom Dumoulin. Then in 2017 he was second on WC, etc. Meanwhile, he wasn't established as an elite climber at least until 2018. Of course, he won the Galibier stage in 2017 TDF but other than that he was getting dropped regularly on the climbs that year. And even in 2018, he was far from superior climber - in Basque Country he got soundly dropped by Landa which is something hard to imagine today, in TDF Alp d'Huez he was not able to follow Froome, Thomas, Dumo and *one other guy I can't remember. In fact, I don't think he really proved himself as "top dog" climber until Vuelta 2019. Before that stage, there always seemed to be question marks over his performance on very steep gradients, long climbs, high altitudes, etc.

It sort of looks like his improvement as a climber came at the expense of his TT. Last year it was not just TDF - he was also not very convincing at Vuelta. I know he won that TT but he was nowhere near as dominant as TTs he won in 2019 (San Marino, Vuelta)...

Applying that logic, I think he can improve TT to the point he will dominate in this years TDF but not without sacrificing his climbing ability. And here's where his team will play crucial role. This year's route and WvA being able to almost follow Pogacar's most brutal attacks means TDF can actually be won in TT again...
 
Roglic inconsistent in TTs? Guys, Maybe he is in a 30-40 % tt winning average since 2017 or 2018, in fact in 2019 was even better than that, only in 2020 he seems to be worse, this year he was perfect in Itzulia and very good in Paris Nice.

The only problem is that his bad TTs were almost all in the last days of GT or in Worlds, but for example Geraint (to put an example of a general contender and TT specialist) is by far more incosistent, even the best TT specialist are more incosistent than Primoz over the last few years.
 
Roglic inconsistent in TTs? Guys, Maybe he is in a 30-40 % tt winning average since 2017 or 2018, in fact in 2019 was even better than that, only in 2020 he seems to be worse, this year he was perfect in Itzulia and very good in Paris Nice.

The only problem is that his bad TTs were almost all in the last days of GT or in Worlds, but for example Geraint (to put an example of a general contender and TT specialist) is by far more incosistent, even the best TT specialist are more incosistent than Primoz over the last few years.
Yes, also can't follow that reasoning at all. He is an elite time trialist. For sure also on the level of Pogacar. But I get, ofc, that they want to have a margin of safety after last years's experience and Pogacar's 3rd week pedigree. But last posts make it sound he will face some sort of Schleck vs. Evans situation.
 
Roglic inconsistent in TTs? Guys, Maybe he is in a 30-40 % tt winning average since 2017 or 2018, in fact in 2019 was even better than that, only in 2020 he seems to be worse, this year he was perfect in Itzulia and very good in Paris Nice.

The only problem is that his bad TTs were almost all in the last days of GT or in Worlds, but for example Geraint (to put an example of a general contender and TT specialist) is by far more incosistent, even the best TT specialist are more incosistent than Primoz over the last few years.
I didn't say he was bad. He's an excellent TT-er. But inconsistent nevertheless. On his good day, he can completely dominate a TT (2016 Giro, 2019 Giro first two TTs, 2019 Vuelta) while on his bad day, he can be a lot less convincing (2018 TDF, 2019 WC, 2020 TDF).

I'm also not saying there's GC contender that's either better or more consistent TTer (including Pogacar). All I'm saying is that when you put Roglic and Pogacar side by side, you can't really tell whether it will be Roglic in front (as in Vuelta 2019) or Pogacar (as in TDF 2020) and that this is something Roglic may be able to resolve by training TT. This years good performances are quite possibly the result of him being on his TT bike on half of his instagram photos...
 
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I didn't say he was bad. He's an excellent TT-er. But inconsistent nevertheless. On his good day, he can completely dominate a TT (2016 Giro, 2019 Giro first two TTs, 2019 Vuelta) while on his bad day, he can be a lot less convincing (2018 TDF, 2019 WC, 2020 TDF).

I'm also not saying there's GC contender that's either better or more consistent TTer (including Pogacar). All I'm saying is that when you put Roglic and Pogacar side by side, you can't really tell whether it will be Roglic in front (as in Vuelta 2019) or Pogacar (as in TDF 2020) and that this is something Roglic may be able to resolve by training TT. This years good performances are quite possibly the result of him being on his TT bike on half of his instagram photos...
Roglič vs Pogačar TT performance is not even comparable. Roglič is by far better overall. There is only one time, Pogačar von a TT against Roglič. And it was by such a huge time gap that will always leave a question mark over Pogačar in that race. Always. In years to come, Pogačar will become better, because he's good and his young. Roglič's prime will be over and will start to drop.
 
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Pogačar has also showed a lot of improvement in flat time trials, his performances in UAE tour and tirreno were more than impressive. Ok, he did not win there but he is clearly improving.

He is also just 22 and has only started this year to train with the time trial bike regularly.

I think the difference Roglič-pogačar wont be that big in the TTs in the tour.
 
I think at the moment Roglic is the better time trialer, he's more aero and a robot, his movement looks pretty effortless.
But Pogacar has an incredible raw power, it's almost like a young dog (or a young child), you just don't know where that power ends, it has huge outbursts and just when you think it's beginning to calm down it just breaks out again.
Roglic, in a way, seems more consistent, like a good sewing machine, but the rougher it gets, the more does Pogacar seem to have the upper hand, whether that's cold weather, route/ race length or tough territory.
 
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But the olympic time trial will be quite hilly too, so maybe better suited for Tadej coming straight from the tour and how he recovers fast.
But whoever who gets the spot, it is a shame that they only can have one spot and one of the favorites will lose out. Slovenia is first on the uci country rankinf. Belgium gets 2 spots. Wonder why they only get 1
Seriously, lol.
Belgium took silver with 2 different riders in the past 2 years, and bronze with yet another rider the year before at the worldchampionships. Belgium took 3 consecutive European titles with 2 different riders and podiumed each time the event was held since it's inception.

How unfair that these hacks get 2 spots and Slovenia doesn't.

Seriously.

Also, Belgium is #1 in the world, not Slovenia. Belgium gets an extra spot not for being #1 in the world, but because the Olympics were supposed to be held in 2020 but got postponed. Evenepoel became European champion ITT in 2019, securing an extra spot for Belgium at the 2020 Olympics. If Slovenia wanted that spot, they should have sent someone to the EU or WC ITT and won it.
 
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Seriously, lol.
Belgium took silver with 2 different riders in the past 2 years, and bronze with yet another rider the year before at the worldchampionships. Belgium took 3 consecutive European titles with 2 different riders and podiumed each time the event was held since it's inception.

How unfair that these hacks get 2 spots and Slovenia doesn't.

Seriously.

Also, Belgium is #1 in the world, not Slovenia. Belgium gets an extra spot not for being #1 in the world, but because the Olympics were supposed to be held in 2020 but got postponed. Evenepoel became European champion ITT in 2019, securing an extra spot for Belgium at the 2020 Olympics. If Slovenia wanted that spot, they should have sent someone to the EU or WC ITT and won it.
Lol, someone is butthurt.
 
I think at the moment Roglic is the better time trialer, he's more aero and a robot, his movement looks pretty effortless.
But Pogacar has an incredible raw power, it's almost like a young dog (or a young child), you just don't know where that power ends, it has huge outbursts and just when you think it's beginning to calm down it just breaks out again.
Roglic, in a way, seems more consistent, like a good sewing machine, but the rougher it gets, the more does Pogacar seem to have the upper hand, whether that's cold weather, route/ race length or tough territory.
Except if it's hot. Pogačar was known to perform a lot worse in hot conditions. But i think he already improved that area too.
 
Note that in the 2020 season Roglič openly said he isn't putting to much emphasize on the TT. Point being this isn't just some public relations talk. On how he plans to put more emphasize on TT in 2021 season. Said that, his base preparation highly likely won't neglect other areas.

Based on the spring racing campaign i feel that he found a nice balance and will continue to build on that.
 
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Seriously, lol.
Belgium took silver with 2 different riders in the past 2 years, and bronze with yet another rider the year before at the worldchampionships. Belgium took 3 consecutive European titles with 2 different riders and podiumed each time the event was held since it's inception.

How unfair that these hacks get 2 spots and Slovenia doesn't.

Seriously.

Also, Belgium is #1 in the world, not Slovenia. Belgium gets an extra spot not for being #1 in the world, but because the Olympics were supposed to be held in 2020 but got postponed. Evenepoel became European champion ITT in 2019, securing an extra spot for Belgium at the 2020 Olympics. If Slovenia wanted that spot, they should have sent someone to the EU or WC ITT and won it.
Seriously, I corrected myself in another post right below that one that Slovenia is currently 3rd.

And yes, Belgium was maybe a bad choice as an example, but my point was just to ask if someone knew and could explain to me how those selections works.

This is a discussion forum so I could discuss and ask feedback no?

Estonia for example has 2 places for the TT too.

But.

Seriously.

The tone of your reply is really quite rude. I am just a relatively new member and want to discuss cycling here.

You might not agree with me or not like my posts, but that is no reason for such a tone :confused_old:
 
Seriously, lol.
Belgium took silver with 2 different riders in the past 2 years, and bronze with yet another rider the year before at the worldchampionships. Belgium took 3 consecutive European titles with 2 different riders and podiumed each time the event was held since it's inception.

How unfair that these hacks get 2 spots and Slovenia doesn't.

Seriously.

Also, Belgium is #1 in the world, not Slovenia. Belgium gets an extra spot not for being #1 in the world, but because the Olympics were supposed to be held in 2020 but got postponed. Evenepoel became European champion ITT in 2019, securing an extra spot for Belgium at the 2020 Olympics. If Slovenia wanted that spot, they should have sent someone to the EU or WC ITT and won it.
These are the rules, yes. Doesn't mean they are particularly good. Another way to look at it would be for instance that quite possibly the number 1 ranked UCI rider for two years in a row won't be able to attend the olympic TT while number 30, for instance, can. That is strange - some might even go as far as to call it a "shame"...
 

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