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Liège-Bastogne-Liège 2021 (April 25th)

Page 22 - Get up to date with the latest news, scores & standings from the Cycling News Community.
I know I'm not in a position to say who should other people like or dislike. But I don't understand how can anybody dislike a rider like Pogačar. I'm not talking about him being someones favourite rider, he is not my favourite rider either. But if you put your (whoever you are) irrationality aside and think about the type of rider Pogi is, he is almost the kind everybody wants a perfect rider to be. People complain about riders who don't attack. Well he is an extremely agressive rider that attacks every chance he gets. People don't like when a rider is a one trick pony. He has shown he is competitive on almost any terrain. People complain when a rider bases the whole season on one big goal only and doesn't care about other races. Pogi races every race he enters to win, GTs, week long stage races, classics... The guy wanted to ride De Ronde last year after winning the Tour despite him being a climber/GC rider for fuks sake. People complain and hate when riders don't do their share of work and wheelsuck other riders. Pogi has shown us many times already he is no wheelsucker. On top of all that, he is tactically very sound and at times looks like a veteran when taking decisions (he is no immune to mistakes of course, like we saw in Itzulia).

If you are a fan of cycling, there is very very little one should dislike in his way of racing.

Is he being arrogant in interviews? Is he being a *** to his teammates ot to other riders? I don't see it. He is a very nice guy. He loves his teammates and they love him. He was genuinely happy for McNulty when he got the leader's jersey in Itzulia and really wanted to help him keep it.

It's maybe to early to tell if he is liked in the pro peloton or not. Signs point to the former. I don't know what their relationship is (I'm pretty sure they are not husbands), but it was heart-warming to see Pogi and Matthews hugging after the finish like they were best friends.

I know usually when an athlete gets too good, with a lot of fans also come a lot of haters. But is Pogačar in this phase already? He's been dominating just for a couple of months. Shouldn't we give him time to really become that dominant figure who we should be rooting against? Give him a couple of years.

Like I said. He's not my favourite rider, but I had to stand for him because even in his own country he is not a fan favourite. The reason being because a lot of casual fans, who started watching cycling in 2020, think he stole something in the Tour. They feel like he shouldn't have won because he had been wheelsucking Jumbo Visma. But he stole nothing, let that be clear.
 
He says;


He took a realistic attitude into the break, and he's come out of it happy with 3rd. If he'd made a move from any farther out, he would likely have been 5th. It's far from the worst piece of riding ever seen in a final km.

He expected to come fifth anyway! Why not gamble to win and come fifth if you fail? Rather than have no chance of winning and, as you see it yourself, probably come fifth. He‘s happy because he was strong enough to make a super elite selection in a Monument. He should be. That’s really impressive, but he shouldn’t be happy about how he played the finale.
 
I know I'm not in a position to say who should other people like or dislike. But I don't understand how can anybody dislike a rider like Pogačar. I'm not talking about him being someones favourite rider, he is not my favourite rider either. But if you put your (whoever you are) irrationality aside and think about the type of rider Pogi is, he is almost the kind everybody wants a perfect rider to be. People complain about riders who don't attack. Well he is an extremely agressive rider that attacks every chance he gets. People don't like when a rider is a one trick pony. He has shown he is competitive on almost any terrain. People complain when a rider bases the whole season on one big goal only and doesn't care about other races. Pogi races every race he enters to win, GTs, week long stage races, classics... The guy wanted to ride De Ronde last year after winning the Tour despite him being a climber/GC rider for fuks sake. People complain and hate when riders don't do their share of work and wheelsuck other riders. Pogi has shown us many times already he is no wheelsucker. On top of all that, he is tactically very sound and at times looks like a veteran when taking decisions (he is no immune to mistakes of course, like we saw in Itzulia).

If you are a fan of cycling, there is very very little one should dislike in his way of racing.

Is he being arrogant in interviews? Is he being a *** to his teammates ot to other riders? I don't see it. He is a very nice guy. He loves his teammates and they love him. He was genuinely happy for McNulty when he got the leader's jersey in Itzulia and really wanted to help him keep it.

It's maybe to early to tell if he is liked in the pro peloton or not. Signs point to the former. I don't know what their relationship is (I'm pretty sure they are not husbands), but it was heart-warming to see Pogi and Matthews hugging after the finish like they were best friends.

I know usually when an athlete gets too good, with a lot of fans also come a lot of haters. But is Pogačar in this phase already? He's been dominating just for a couple of months. Shouldn't we give him time to really become that dominant figure who we should be rooting against? Give him a couple of years.

Like I said. He's not my favourite rider, but I had to stand for him because even in his own country he is not a fan favourite. The reason being because a lot of casual fans, who started watching cycling in 2020, think he stole something in the Tour. They feel like he shouldn't have won because he had been wheelsucking Jumbo Visma. But he stole nothing, let that be clear.
I don't have any feelings regarding him one way or another, he was smart today, did minuscule with work and got a way with the win, bravo.
Regarding the dislike, i think for a lot of people it comes down to the TT in the Tdf. further discussion should not proceed here, but I think that's at least one reason for many.
After that, it kind of doesn't matter how many hugs he get.
 
I know I'm not in a position to say who should other people like or dislike. But I don't understand how can anybody dislike a rider like Pogačar. I'm not talking about him being someones favourite rider, he is not my favourite rider either. But if you put your (whoever you are) irrationality aside and think about the type of rider Pogi is, he is almost the kind everybody wants a perfect rider to be. People complain about riders who don't attack. Well he is an extremely agressive rider that attacks every chance he gets. People don't like when a rider is a one trick pony. He has shown he is competitive on almost any terrain. People complain when a rider bases the whole season on one big goal only and doesn't care about other races. Pogi races every race he enters to win, GTs, week long stage races, classics... The guy wanted to ride De Ronde last year after winning the Tour despite him being a climber/GC rider for fuks sake. People complain and hate when riders don't do their share of work and wheelsuck other riders. Pogi has shown us many times already he is no wheelsucker. On top of all that, he is tactically very sound and at times looks like a veteran when taking decisions (he is no immune to mistakes of course, like we saw in Itzulia).

If you are a fan of cycling, there is very very little one should dislike in his way of racing.

Is he being arrogant in interviews? Is he being a *** to his teammates ot to other riders? I don't see it. He is a very nice guy. He loves his teammates and they love him. He was genuinely happy for McNulty when he got the leader's jersey in Itzulia and really wanted to help him keep it.

It's maybe to early to tell if he is liked in the pro peloton or not. Signs point to the former. I don't know what their relationship is (I'm pretty sure they are not husbands), but it was heart-warming to see Pogi and Matthews hugging after the finish like they were best friends.

I know usually when an athlete gets too good, with a lot of fans also come a lot of haters. But is Pogačar in this phase already? He's been dominating just for a couple of months. Shouldn't we give him time to really become that dominant figure who we should be rooting against? Give him a couple of years.

Like I said. He's not my favourite rider, but I had to stand for him because even in his own country he is not a fan favourite. The reason being because a lot of casual fans, who started watching cycling in 2020, think he stole something in the Tour. They feel like he shouldn't have won because he had been wheelsucking Jumbo Visma. But he stole nothing, let that be clear.
He's just OP please nerf.
 
I don't have any feelings regarding him one way or another, he was smart today, did minuscule with work and got a way with the win, bravo.
Regarding the dislike, i think for a lot of people it comes down to the TT in the Tdf. further discussion should not proceed here, but I think that's at least one reason for many.
After that, it kind of doesn't matter how many hugs he get.
Yeah. I forgot to mention this in my post. The ITT and the team he is on are reasonable reasons for dislikes. But for comparison. MvdP Strade Bianche performance is adored, Pogi's ITT performance is disliked. Then let's dislike everyone who stands out from the average. MvdP, Roglič, Valverde, WvA, Evenepoel, Alaphilippe, Ganna, Yates... let's dislike everybody. They should all quit the sport so we'll be happy. Then we'll watch Mas, Kelderman, Benoot, Uran, Lopez (random riders I choose) and we'll start disliking them because they'll be the ones who stand out then.

People need to realise in human history there's always been that someone who was better at something than everybody else. I don't get questions like "How are these three riders better than anybody else?" Guess what, that has always been the case. How were Contador and Schleck at the time so much better than anybody else? On Tourmalet 2010 all the other riders looked like amateurs compared to them. I can't remember people disliking that performance at the time (actually I might be wrong here, I genuinely don't remember).

I can't understand how a so called fan of the sport dislikes some riders' performances, when we all watch the sport, in fact, to see these kind of performances. But that's just me. Anyone can do whatever he/she wants.
 
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Yeah. I forgot to mention this in my post. The ITT and the team he is on are reasonable reasons for dislikes. But for comparison. MvdP Strade Bianche performance is adored, Pogi's ITT performance is disliked. Then let's dislike everyone who stands out from the average. MvdP, Roglič, Valverde, WvA, Evenepoel, Alaphilippe, Ganna, Yates... let's dislike everybody. They should all quit the sport so we'll be happy. Then we'll watch Mas, Kelderman, Bennot, Uran, Lopez (random riders I choose) and we'll start disliking them because they'll be the ones who stand out then.

People need to realise in human history there's always been that someone who was better at something than everybody else. I don't get questions like "How are these three riders better than anybody else?" Guess what, that has always been the case. How were Contador and Schleck at the time so much better than anybody else? On Tourmalet 2010 all the other riders looked like amateurs compared to them. I can't remember people disliking that performance at the time (actually I might be wrong here, I genuinely don't remember).

I can't understand how a so called fan of the sport dislikes some riders' performances, when we all watch the sport, in fact, to see these kind of performances. But that's just me. Anyone can do whatever he/she wants.
Well, there are performance's and performances , WvA and MvdP has always had the reason for their performances grounded in cyclocross, somehow this always come`s up as the reason for their performances out of the ordinary. Pogi cant use that defense/excuse, that combined with the ITT ( because lets not pretend, that ITT was something else :) )makes it unnatural for many i would think.
Plenty of people dislike Contador and cant stand him because of similar reasons, Schleck i haven't heard many bad words about that i can remember though.
 
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I'm not sure what you are trying to tell me sorry. I might be stupid:(
Sometimes winning too much or too easily is a reason enough for people to wish you don't win anymore.

And in cycling there's also this aspect of different specialities.

I haven't developed a dislike for Pogacar yet but it feels kinda wrong that the best climber in the world would be able to outsprint someone like Alaphilippe on a flat finish for a big win.

Alaphilippe's 2019 really rubbed me the wrong way, for example. First he won MSR after beating Sagan, Naesen and Kwiatkowski in a flat sprint, then won the Fleche, then won the ITT during the Tour and then finished 2nd on Tourmalet during the Tour. C'mon, you need to show some weakness somewhere, being good in every terrain is against the laws of nature. :p
 
Sometimes winning too much or too easily is a reason enough for people to wish you don't win anymore.

And in cycling there's also this aspect of different specialities.

I haven't developed a dislike for Pogacar yet but it feels kinda wrong that the best climber in the world would be able to outsprint someone like Alaphilippe on a flat finish for a big win.

Alaphilippe's 2019 really rubbed me the wrong way, for example. First he won MSR after beating Sagan, Naesen and Kwiatkowski in a flat sprint, then won the Fleche, then won the ITT during the Tour and then finished 2nd on Tourmalet during the Tour. C'mon, you need to show some weakness somewhere, being good in every terrain is against the laws of nature. :p
I understand what you are saying and I agree with you. But then again, all of those superstar riders have shown weaknesses this season. Pogačar lost almost 30s to Roglič in an ITT, MvdP lost the sprint to Asgreen, van Aert couldn't follow the attacks a couple of times in the classics, Pidcock the same, Alaphilippe was subpar prior to Fleche, Roglič was subpar today, Ganna lost an ITT.

For todays sprint there's a logical explanation. We know Pogi has a strong sprint for a climber, not as strong as Ala. But he was in his slipstream and how many times have we heard, a sprint after a very hard race often plays out very differently than in a normal situation. We saw Fuglsang beat Ala two years ago in AGR. We saw Gaudu outsprint Valverde for 3rd today, because he started sprinting in his slipstream. We saw Kwitek, Ala, GvA outsprint Sagan multiple times. We saw Cancellara, Hayman, Asgreen outsprint sprinters.
 
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May I see a snapshot of he shoes?
DMT-Scarpa-KRTDF-Pogacar-2021-giallonero_5117.png

cxGVdd4FDhkjwzU7WRYeiQ-1207-80.jpg
 
I remember thinking a few years back that LBL needs a big battle between great one day riders and the top GC talent. The age of specialisation was in full flight, and GC guys basically weren't riding, or if they were, were way off top form.

So: how bloody good to see the tdf winner take LBL.

And last year the guy who won had recently been beaten at the TdF after everyone* had expected him to win.

*Well... maybe not Pogacar.
 
For me it's the team he rides for. Cycling's version of Man City or PSG. Really dislike those teams.
Y'all need to get a grip. Pogi won because he rode like a 10 year seasoned and credentialed pro. Roglic went to sleep on a steep ramp at 12 km behind two of Pogi's teammatesx screening the gap that grew and then did absolutely nothing but contribute to a big gap that grew as they should. It was the deciding moment. Sorry to anyone that thought Tadej didn't pull enough or that The Old and Stellar Dude started his sprint too soon. After 160 miles of racing that's how the minor moves made the race when everyone is gassed. Tadej may have saved a nano element of energy less sitting on wheels (JA conserved alot after a good Wednesday effort and wisely let his team modulate for him) and the guy that actually deserved to win on pure credentials finished behind the podium after leading out the sprint. I absolutely loved that our American broadcaster broke down the positioning and sprint errors that were made by Valverde, et al after 6 hours or racing like it was some business park criterium. He should know better or go smoke another bowl in Bend or just stfu. Horner was analyzing beyond his pay grade.
It's BS to critique beyond the challenges the race poses to the riders and how they get there is somewhat chance after that long in the saddle. Pogi deserved it, Alaphalipe won on Wednesday and Roglic was probably as strong as any of them but just used his efforts and was marked heavily. My biggest hero was Gaudu. That's a long ride for a credentialed, lightweight freelancer. Chapeau to him!
 
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It's really hard to argue about why someone likes or dislikes a rider. Personally, I don't seriously dislike Pogacar - my feelings towards him are mostly neutral with a slightly negative touch. That's not down to how he rides - he does everything right. It's not about him being an unpleasant, arrogant guy - he isn't. I just have my favourites and I think I have a sweet spot for riders who come across amiable, sweet or emotional and he is just very cool and a bit offish, even when he won the Tour there were no great emotions. Neither has he ever shown anything like tears or being seriously touched (from what I've seen, I don't see Insta or something), which is understandable, because, and that's the second important reason I suppose, there never was a need for him to be. I haven't seen him fail. He just came along and conquered everything. Okay, so he lost Itzulia against Roglic, but that was hardly a bad loss. So, like someone suggested here, there is no "story" attached to him, how he fought for years, how he lost badly against so-and-so, how he crashed and lost the race in xy, how he was injured in yz, so that now I feel he deserves it. Well, of course he deserves it! But there is no epic justice he provokes.
The team he rides for and the ITT don't help.
I respect him and his clear head though. But I just can't like him, for now.
 
It's really hard to argue about why someone likes or dislikes a rider. Personally, I don't seriously dislike Pogacar - my feelings towards him are mostly neutral with a slightly negative touch. That's not down to how he rides - he does everything right. It's not about him being an unpleasant, arrogant guy - he isn't. I just have my favourites and I think I have a sweet spot for riders who come across amiable, sweet or emotional and he is just very cool and a bit offish, even when he won the Tour there were no great emotions. Neither has he ever shown anything like tears or being seriously touched (from what I've seen, I don't see Insta or something), which is understandable, because, and that's the second important reason I suppose, there never was a need for him to be. I haven't seen him fail. He just came along and conquered everything. Okay, so he lost Itzulia against Roglic, but that was hardly a bad loss. So, like someone suggested here, there is no "story" attached to him, how he fought for years, how he lost badly against so-and-so, how he crashed and lost the race in xy, how he was injured in yz, so that now I feel he deserves it. Well, of course he deserves it! But there is no epic justice he provokes.
The team he rides for and the ITT don't help.
I respect him and his clear head though. But I just can't like him, for now.
Again, get a grip. This kid is 22 years old and became a successful pro from Slovenia; not fuc*king Belgium, France or a country of cycling legends. Welcome to Modern Sport where athletes gain the benefit of coaching via the internet that overrides years of Euro tradition. He probably has no idea what he's accomplished yet and maybe not for years; he just got his first serious Girlfriend and won the Tour de France. I'd give him and A+++ for achievement and cool just for that. Ask Mr. Merkckx as he'd probably say "Hell, yeah!"
 
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Again, get a grip. This kid is 22 years old and became a successful pro from Slovenia; not fuc*king Belgium, France or a country of cycling legends. Welcome to Modern Sport where athletes gain the benefit of coaching via the internet that overrides years of Euro tradition. He probably has no idea what he's accomplished yet and maybe not for years; he just got his first serious Girlfriend and won the Tour de France. I'd give him and A+++ for achievement and cool just for that. Ask Mr. Merkckx as he'd probably say "Hell, yeah!"

What do you mean, get a grip? I'm not telling anyone they shouldn't like him for the same reasons. Those are just my personal feelings.
 
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How do you not "like" someone you've never met based on the media you've seen? You shouldn't waste any emotions on filtered, promotional sh*t. Watch the race, have a beer or 10 and cut the Kid some slack.

Yeah, I don't get the actively disliking riders either. There are riders I'm indifferent towards - mainly if I haven't heard about them, for now - but straight up hoping they won't win?
For me, I think a rider would've had to have straight up murdered someone in order for me to dislike them, and in that case they should be, you know, in jail, not in the pro peloton! Murdered in cold blood, that is. I don't really have that much dislike for the guy in the pro peloton who did, in fact, kill someone.
 
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If my emotions weren't invested I wouldn't watch any race.

Oh, my emotions are very invested. But mostly to the point of "I'm hoping this guy wins! But I'm also hoping that guy wins! And I wouldn't mind if either of those guys win either! Oh no... that guy got hurt, and I'm really sad for him... Hey! Who's that guy attacking? Keep going! Keep going! Oh... they caught him... Sprint time. Congratulations with the win."

Not necessarily exactly like that, or in that order, apart from the last bit.
 

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