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Teams & Riders Pogačar as GOAT: already, never, or when?

As of June 2024, can Pogacar be considered GOAT?


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  • Poll closed .
Roglic can win the Tour but hes up against a different Pogacar now. Then he was just a great rider now hes arguably evolved into the best rider of all time...(if you dont like me saying it look no further than Gerraint Thomas and Gilbert own words i guess they know 100x more than fans here :sweatsmile: )

I am OK if Rogla goes against lineal GOAT by selection at the Tour and wins.

Will he go for the jersey today or tomorrow already? Its 4 sprint stages after were sprint teams will share the work anyway. I think he will.

Rogla went at it on the last day and i assume Pogi will go after it on the first day. It's just different philosophy. Like Ebony and Ivory.
 
Where do you see hate of Indurain?
Indurain was before my time I dont have anything bad to say about him. Believe you and me have shared our opinions on this before. If you think Indurain was better than Pog thats fine I cant say your wrong Indurain is also for me still a greater rider in terms of greatness for me too I just dont believe anyone been better whatever you and me believe in that regard doesnt matter you entitled to believe Indurain and you might be right too. Personally I dont think anyone from that era would stand a chance today its like for me saying thechnology doesnt evolve and believe it. But then again someone still dont use smart phones to this day cause in their mind the old one is better :tearsofjoy: cant please em all.

I dont see any hate just my bad typing while walking to my boat on the way home, just stated as if it was ppl should instead enjoy it if anything for themself - cause they most likely wont see anything like it again in cycling for us was all I dont see any hate for Indurain or Pog, that would be really odd unless they sleept with someone wifes in that case its valid if not its very very strange and also very sad for them and not anyone else to be totally honest.
 
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haha imagine thinking guys from that age is better cycling and athletes than today with everything these guys has of science and data :tearsofjoy: Comparing cycling back then to today you can do that if you wont its not really interesting for me at all as its crazy talk and a disservice to a great legend like Indurain and not sure your emotionally mature enuogh to difference best and greatness.. But some ppl also believe the earth is flat and like to genuinly discuss that.

Excuse me if I take Geraint Thomas and Gilbert words and thoughts more serious than i do yours :)
Indurain was faster than Pogi is. He was a better rider.

For greatness, Merckx is of course alone at the top.

If you don't want to compare riders across eras, it doesn't make much sense to start off with proclaiming the superiority over all other times.
 
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GT's are harder these days compared to the 90's. First week were sunday rides back in the 90's and I'm not even talking about clinic stuff that helped Indurain and Pantani to be competitive in both GT's.
You can make the argument segments of stages were easier if you look at how they race from the gun now. But they've always been quite hard and nervous opening week.
 
Indurain was faster than Pogi is. He was a better rider.

For greatness, Merckx is of course alone at the top.

If you don't want to compare riders across eras, it doesn't make much sense to start off with proclaiming the superiority over all other times.
But what does it mean - “faster”? If you are referring to his speed in TT, he probably was - he was the best TTer of his era and Pog isn’t. If you are referring to his speed in the climbs, that simply can’t be true. If it was, Indurain would have won a couple of MTF finish stages in TdF. He won none. Pog already won what, 10? And in the classics terrain, I think we can all agree Pog is faster.

So peer-based comparison tells us apart from TT, Pog is faster in pretty much every other context, I’d say…
 

Hes just doing goat things, just goat things so naturally hard to comprehend and make little sense indeed but so does winning GT's and podium MSR and winning flandern etc. Hes just having fun on the bike and suspect he will settle down i think soon enough.

3 week is the part he really needs to chill if he can as much as possible as theres where he will pay for it the most and drag in with him into the prep for the tour and the tour itself.
 
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In my opinion Pogacar doesn't have the killer instinct Merckx had. Merckx wanted everything, day after day, that's why there's only one GOAT.
Yes Merckx is the GOAT. Its easy to have killer instinct when you are as superior as Merckx was. But the difference between Pogacar and Merckx isn't killer instinct its simply physical.

Glad Pogacar showed restraint today with two crucial stages coming up. Maybe he is finally learning to select when he attacks to best preserve his energies looking at the long term view. It helps not just this Giro but with the Tour in mind.
 
Yes Merckx is the GOAT. Its easy to have killer instinct when you are as superior as Merckx was. But the difference between Pogacar and Merckx isn't killer instinct its simply physical.

Glad Pogacar showed restraint today with two crucial stages coming up. Maybe he is finally learning to select when he attacks to best preserve his energies looking at the long term view. It helps not just this Giro but with the Tour in mind.

Pogi is so much superior from all the rest though, that it's fair to say if Vingo didn't exist, he would have won all the TdF easily.
Which would have built his confidence up, which I'm pretty sure would have translated today to way more risk taking.

Pogi doesn't want to save energy for the TdF, Pogi wants to save energy to battle Vingo. That's the key point IMO.

And Vingegaard is in my opinion a superior cyclist to Pigeon, Gimondi, Zoetmelk, and Poulidor.
 
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We agree that Merckx is the GOAT, it's all fine.
It must be hard being a Pog hater. I mean if you’d have to choose to hate one rider, from the satisfactory rate POV - to choose Pog is a really bad choice. And all you and @Berniece are left with is Merckx. The final frontier. The impenetrable fortress of greatness never to be conquered by another living soul… But guess what… Each year that passes by, the voices are louder. First they were a mere subtle whispers, hinting the possible similarity. Couple of years later, we are talking Pog vs Merckx on daily basis. This really isn’t going your way, that’s all I’m saying…