Il Lombardia 2024, one day monument, October 12, farewell to Domenico Pozzovivo

[Zoetemelk-fan]

How is Sivakov catching these two?

By avoiding ladies of reasonable carriage.

 

[Roku]

I understand that races like this year Paris Tours with almost 2 hours of action and great racing are considered more entertaining than Lombardía or any race won by such a display of dominance by Tadej or any other rider.

But saying Pogacar is a problem for cycling or preferring a dull race with 5 kms of action for the sake of being "thrilling" is something else.

Pogacar is a much better representation of cycling than the standard Grand Tour racing of the 2010 era with the robotic Sky train, the infamous Vuelta wall climbs where everyone held their hands until the last 500m accelerations, spearheaded by Purito - who by the way was one of the main protagonist of the 2012 Giro, probably one of the all time worst grand tours ever (bar the Stelvio stage thanks to Thomas de Gendt).

 

[Coffeeplanter]

So you dislike Roglic for sprinting at end and hate Pog for attacking from too far. What’s your perfect winning range? 10km?

I dislike Roglic for racing like he's Simon Gerrans, that is something completely different than disliking him for sprinting.

 

[Zoetemelk-fan]

OK, so watched this beautiful monument this night, just few hours ago.

After all, you can set your alarm clock after Pogi's intervention with surgical precision.

What I missed about the TV producer was that he hadn't fallen asleep. Having over 50% TV images displaying a more or less static situation between No. 1 and 2 in the race for final 40k is not good TV to me.

For instance I missed several close-ups of how Sivakov and especially Ciccione made comebacks and many more in 3rd and 4th row

Yesterday afternoon I was on Strava, where I could identify that Powless set the fastest section downhill Sormano where Pogi and Remco was in attack mode. I was also surprised to see him back in the next group. With TV images and a helicopter that hadn't crashed into the abyss of sleep, you must have witnessed something of a raid here.

 

[Peyroteo94]

Pogacar started and finished this season with two of the best all time performances in both Strade and Lombardia.

 

[Lequack]

Quickstep montage

https://twitter.com/x/status/1845192364794478744

View: https://twitter.com/soudalquickstep/status/1845192364794478744

Also

https://twitter.com/x/status/1845452427920539765

View: https://twitter.com/Il_Lombardia/status/1845452427920539765

 

[Lequack]

Domenico Pozzovivo emotionally greets the audience after #iLombardia : having closed an important chapter of his life, the 42-year-old from Basilicata is ready to open another, even more important one

Il Lombardia 2024, l'ultima di Domenico Pozzovivo: "Il ciclismo mi ha dato tanto, ma ora è il momento di dedicarmi ad altro"

Domenico Pozzovivo saluta emozionato il pubblico dopo Il Lombardia 2024. Lo scalatore lucano chiude un lungo capitolo della sua vita nella Classica delle Foglie Morte, che onora fino alla fine portandola a termine per godere dello splendido applauso del pubblico sul traguardo di Como. Con la...

cyclingpro.net

 

[Fantastico]

But saying Pogacar is a problem for cycling or preferring a dull race with 5 kms of action for the sake of being "thrilling" is something else.

There's also some middle ground between these two extremes.

 

[Red Rick]

I understand that races like this year Paris Tours with almost 2 hours of action and great racing are considered more entertaining than Lombardía or any race won by such a display of dominance by Tadej or any other rider.

But saying Pogacar is a problem for cycling or preferring a dull race with 5 kms of action for the sake of being "thrilling" is something else.

Extremely generous to call this 'action' when he just rides away, nobody tries to follow and it's just watching paint dry for 50km.

I don't know why watching paint dry after the race is over is so preferable to not knowing what's gonna happen.

Finally, on this route the race would always unfold on Colma di Sormano. You don't need Pogacar for that.

 

[Brullnux]

So you dislike Roglic for sprinting at end and hate Pog for attacking from too far. What’s your perfect winning range? 10km?

It's not how Pogacar races it's the fact he's 10% better than everyone else. It's just dull. Domination is always dull.

 

[Peyroteo94]

The Remco vs Van Aert national team rivalry is one for the ages as well.

Remco vs guys on his wheel rivalry doesnt seem to go away either.

These are very interesting to follow up more on.

Biggest rivalry in cycling is Vingegaard vs Pogacar.
After that is MVP vs Pogacar. I will write a legendary quote made my Sharapova.
"You can't call a rivalry when I'm always get spanked by her" (Serena). WVA can't win a big race when MVP and Pogacar are racing. He only can make MVP lose, offering wins to his teammate Remco. Loser mentality to be honest.
And please there is no rivalry in Remco vs Pogacar. When I hear Remco is getting closer to Pogacar, I just have goosebumps. Pogacar drops Remco wherever he wants and puts 2 minutes easily. It's like saying peak Contador and peak Valverde were similar and equal in the high mountains.

 

[Axel Hangleck]

Biggest rivalry in cycling is Vingegaard vs Pogacar.

I'm not sure you understand how sport works. They rarely race each other, apart from July. What about the rest of the season? Spring classics, World championships, autumn Italian races?

 

[Peyroteo94]

I'm not sure you understand how sport works. They rarely race each other, apart from July. What about the rest of the season? Spring classics, World championships, autumn Italian races?

So MVP vs WVA in 2 or 3 cobbled classics is better? Tell me where are they competing if we exclude RVV and PR (road racing of course)?

 

[vwpe]

So MVP vs WVA in 2 or 3 cobbled classics is better? Tell me where are they competing if we exclude RVV and PR (road racing of course)?

Its far more close than Pogacar and Vingegaard is. Pogacar will beat him by a minute at least everytime he wants in the mountains and everywhere else msny minutes. That he lost when he was hurt doesnt make it the rivalry WVA and MvdP has had their whole careers, far from it. Pogacar is to good for that now in reality.

 

[Heston]

I'm not sure you understand how sport works. They rarely race each other, apart from July. What about the rest of the season? Spring classics, World championships, autumn Italian races?

I'm not sure you understand how sport works. Tour de France is far and away the biggest race of the year with the most viewers. Pogacar and Vingegaard's battles the last 4 years have been extremely hyped and something everybody knows and talks about. There is no current rivalry in cycling that comes close. WVA/Remco are not real rivals to Pogacar.

 

[Heston]

Its far more close than Pogacar and Vingegaard is. Pogacar will beat him by a minute at least everytime he wants in the mountains and everywhere else msny minutes. That he lost when he was hurt doesnt make it the rivalry WVA and MvdP has had their whole careers, far from it. Pogacar is to good for that now in reality.

There have been 4 Tour de France editions where they were both on the startlist, and they have won 2 of those each.

How many editions of Roubaix/Flanders has WVA won when MVP was riding? Or just won in general?

 

[AmRacer]

There have been 4 Tour de France editions where they were both on the startlist, and they have won 2 of those each.

How many editions of Roubaix/Flanders has WVA won when MVP was riding? Or just won in general?

Jonas and Tadej have been 1-2 the last 4 TdF editions.

 

[Scarponi]

I dislike Roglic for racing like he's Simon Gerrans, that is something completely different than disliking him for sprinting.

You got my point, you don’t like either styles always whinging on here lol

 

[Lequack]

Front page of L'Equipe
A past so present, a present so future: Cycling

 

[Unchained]

Cycling used to be fun. But watching pogi going solo for the last1,2 or 3 Hours is Not very funny. Hope this will change otherwise you can skip the races where he starts

I can't help but wonder how many people felt this way about many great athletes during their time of domination.. I remember in his prime there were conversations about golf course design because Tiger Woods was able to accurately drive the ball distances that were unheard of by players.
Nadal and Federer both had years of dominance, Williams sisters, Tom Brady, Messi, Ronaldo ruled the world for years, people would just walk up and hand him money!!
Eddy Merckx and Armstrong were always heavy favorites..Personally I absolutely love watching Pogacar !! Maybe I enjoy it because I know the human condition and nothing lasts forever, even though sometimes it looks like it.

 

[Gratemans]

Nadal and Federer both had years of dominance, Williams sisters, Tom Brady, Messi, Ronaldo ruled the world for years, people would just walk up and hand him money!!

I dont agree. Federer and Nadal had years where one was better than the other overall, but their matches were almost always spectacular.
When it comes to team sports, I disagree even more. Even if one player is head and shoulders above the rest, their team can still (and often do) lose. Barcelona didn't automatically win the League because they had Messi.
I'll concede the Williams sisters. There were a couple of years when Serena was at her top that watching it just wasn't much fun.

 

[Netserk]

This was the most predictable classic I've seen, and yet I didn't find it boring. You get some of the best riders in the world going full for over an hour. It was interesting to see how UAE controlled the race and what the other teams did in an attempt to avoid the unavoidable.

I've seen a lot of races where nothing interesting happened until the final 10 km. At least now the race is on from afar. Of course when they attack early it can also mean the decision comes early.

The problem was that Sormano was a massive chokepoint. Everything before that was merely setting the table, and we knew how Sormano would play out and that the race would already be decided there. In this very unusual season where dominant long-range attacks have never been more common, I'd have liked Ghisallo to be in that spot. Like this, but without Civiglio for this year: https://ridewithgps.com/routes/48760861

Had it been a one-off of such dominance and predictability, I'd have been able to enjoy the rest of the race more.

 

[Salvarani]

Front page of L'Equipe
A past so present, a present so future: Cycling

Iconic

 

[Unchained]

I dont agree. Federer and Nadal had years where one was better than the other overall, but their matches were almost always spectacular.
When it comes to team sports, I disagree even more. Even if one player is head and shoulders above the rest, their team can still (and often do) lose. Barcelona didn't automatically win the League because they had Messi.
I'll concede the Williams sisters. There were a couple of years when Serena was at her top that watching it just wasn't much fun.

Agree to disagree, you are absolutely right on every point..UAE is absolutely destroying everyone.. Marc Hirsci w 5 in a row.. Team awards in every race they attend. So the team aspect, I get it ,but all the athletes I used as example were acknowledged at the time were as dominant. Pogacar was a force before he was an adult. Ballon,d'Or..The 2 have had lion's share for years.. Your point is that you are optimistic about how good Pogacar, and for how long
UAE is dominant, Pogacar and his teammates nearing all time winning in a single year.. People don't like it.. They want to see parity, long range, UAE will likely be another team.

 

[vwpe]

This was the most predictable classic I've seen, and yet I didn't find it boring. You get some of the best riders in the world going full for over an hour. It was interesting to see how UAE controlled the race and what the other teams did in an attempt to avoid the unavoidable.

I've seen a lot of races where nothing interesting happened until the final 10 km. At least now the race is on from afar. Of course when they attack early it can also mean the decision comes early.

My thoughts exactly. Spectacular for lack of other words.