Teams & Riders Tadej Pogačar discussion thread

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The charm of MSR is that it can be won by cyclists of various characteristics as the terrain doesn't give a definite advantage to any. We have mountainous stage races, hilly classics, cobbled races and we have MSR. Diversity.
Le Manie wouldnt be a new edition to the race though. The race has had it before.

It is not a major change and one that wouldnt be strange at all.
 
Let's put 21 flat stages in the Tour just to make Pogacar lose. This is utterly ridiculous.

See, your main argument is that "attackers should have a chance". Correct me if I'm wrong but:
Nibali 2018
Stuyven 2021
Mohoric 2022
MVDP 2023
were all attackers, weren't they?
So that's 4 attackers in the last 7 editions This is 57% success rate for attackers.

To me, it seems that attackers have a fairly good chance to win it even now.
 
I am not fussed either way - i like the route as is but i am doubtful La Maine makes a material difference to who can win the race in terms of the current crop of contenders who have a shot - it is too far from the finish and not selective enough to decimate the race such that a big group won’t reform and chase anyone who tries a solo. I guess the argument is any additional accumulation is favourable to Pog but the Cipressa/Poggio themselves not hard enough in practice and you’ll always end up with Pog trying to distance MvP and others on Poggio. The previous inclusions did not eliminate pure sprinters, heck Cav won an edition with La Maine.
 
See, your main argument is that "attackers should have a chance". Correct me if I'm wrong but:
Nibali 2018
Stuyven 2021
Mohoric 2022
MVDP 2023
were all attackers, weren't they?
So that's 4 attackers in the last 7 editions This is 57% success rate for attackers.

To me, it seems that attackers have a fairly good chance to win it even now.
I'm not talking about attackers in Poggio. Poggio will always have attacks. I'm talking about attacks in the last 90 km. MSR 2010 was very interesting due to the combination of Turchino and Manie. I'm asking for a race with entertainment in the last 2 hours just like every other monument. Not a "6 hours race of nothing" and 15 minutes of entertainment.
 
See, your main argument is that "attackers should have a chance". Correct me if I'm wrong but:
Nibali 2018
Stuyven 2021
Mohoric 2022
MVDP 2023
were all attackers, weren't they?
So that's 4 attackers in the last 7 editions This is 57% success rate for attackers.

To me, it seems that attackers have a fairly good chance to win it even now.
None of those involved any kind of moves beyond the final 20 minutes of racing which is a far shorter final than almost every race close to the stature of MSR.
 
Vingegaard was worse than previous year climbing wise but he’s building up for the Tour-Vuelta. CdD will be a good check on his form. With his recovery and strength last year at the Tour and the benchmark of Pogacar last year, he should be close to that. Team strength will be similar and Visma learned they can’t just rely on the heat and hard stage. He’ll have to get over the descent issue though but with increased muscle mass that should be better, it’d just be mental. Barring crash or injury I think they’re within 2 mins of each other.
 

Lance Armstrong of all people to say that something in March, or even in June, is in any way relevant to the shape in July is just ridiculous.
Imagine the scenes in 2005 "If you don't beat Levi Leipheimer, you can't hope beating Jan Ulrich".
 
Vingegaard was worse than previous year climbing wise but he’s building up for the Tour-Vuelta. CdD will be a good check on his form. With his recovery and strength last year at the Tour and the benchmark of Pogacar last year, he should be close to that. Team strength will be similar and Visma learned they can’t just rely on the heat and hard stage. He’ll have to get over the descent issue though but with increased muscle mass that should be better, it’d just be mental. Barring crash or injury I think they’re within 2 mins of each other.
At the moment I would be more concerned that only Jorgensen (and to an extent Kooij) is looking like anything more than a shadow of their former self across the entire squad. This speaks to a much greater malaise than just concerns about Jonas not looking dominant.

The rouleur aspect was fine in Paris-Nice as evidenced by the TTT and the crosswinds effort but the climbing domestiques have been very poor so far in 2025.
 
At the moment I would be more concerned that only Jorgensen (and to an extent Kooij) is looking like anything more than a shadow of their former self across the entire squad. This speaks to a much greater malaise than just concerns about Jonas not looking dominant.

The rouleur aspect was fine in Paris-Nice as evidenced by the TTT and the crosswinds effort but the climbing domestiques have been very poor so far in 2025.
Their TT look fine but visma riders have been mediocre in mountain stages IMHO (except Matteo).
 
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