Teams & Riders Tadej Pogačar discussion thread

[hayneplane]

Let’s not be hypercritical. Today was still a tremendous performance for a 20 year old in his first Grand Tour and he matched Quintana and left guys like Kelderman minutes behind.

If he wasn’t fading a touch it would be truly remarkable.

 

[JosephK]

Earlier this year, when Tadej won the Tour of California, I thought that was pretty amazing for a 20-year-old neo-pro. But what he's done in the Vuelta is incredible: winning two of the toughest stages convincingly (two grand tour stages!), reaching as high as 3rd on GC at the start of the 3rd week, and solidifying a 5th-place final GC spot (most likely). I didn't see much fade today--he was right with Quintana and other top-10 GC guys--just not quite as strong today as the four riders in the red-jersey group. The only downside is that after this year's Vuelta, there will be the pressure of very high expectations for Poga all next year, though he seems to have a great temperament for it.

 

[Pippo_San]

Definitely aboard the hype train with today final performance. Notwithstanding the final result, this is just amazing.
Guy has balls.

 

[RedheadDane]

So... Tadej Pogačar is the New Giuseppe Saronni?

 

[Blanco]

Kid is phenomenal!

 

[Red Rick]

Kid is a beast in *** weather.

 

[zlev11]

yeah, i really want to see him at the Giro next year

 

[SafeBet]

Praying for a Pogacar vs Bernal Giro next year.

 

[LaFlorecita]

3 weeks still a bit too long for him maybe. He's fading.

Guess I was wrong!

 

[JosephK]

Insanely good at this year's Vuelta. Three (3!) stage wins, including an instant classic lone attack from 40km out on stage 20. Podium spot on GC! Unreal.

 

[Krzysztof_O]

Praying for a Pogacar vs Bernal Giro next year.

No worries, these guys will be battling for the next 10 years.

 

[memyselfandI]

Where's "Remco Evenepoel is the new Tadej Pogačar"-topic?!

 

[Lequack]

I should have never doubted in this young man. What a win, and what a Vuelta!

 

[Red Rick]

Guess I was wrong!

If this is wrong I don't want to be right

 

[Lequack]

UAE bus celebration

https://twitter.com/x/status/1172933486270980099

View: https://twitter.com/TeamUAEAbuDhabi/status/1172933486270980099

 

[Noddy97]

Like I said He is the real deal. I can't wait to see Poga vs Bernal and Remco in the future. The best climber and worst time trialist against 2 pure all rounders with a tremendous engine.

 

[Son of Amsterhammer]

I hope they can throw some money at some big name Doms to come help him.

 

[MADRAZO]

I hope they can throw some money at some big name Doms to come help him.

DOMbrowski is at least one Dom coming now And with Formolo, Betancur and McNulty and perhaps even Bjerg if there is a TTT, and perhaps also Aru as a helper he should get a pretty solid team around him.

 

[Armchair Cyclist]

I guess they'll let him finish now...

 

[CyclistAbi]

Exceptional timing and performance by Pogačar on stage 20. Well deserved GC podium on La Vuelta 2019.

 

[SafeBet]

He also won Lunigiana as a junior.

 

[GuntherL]

He also won Lunigiana as a junior.

Some great riders won Lunigiana, but do you remember Ratto, Cecchinel, Mair, Ayazbayev or Kvist? Neither do I.

 

[RedheadDane]

I'm not saying he isn't talented, but the peloton in the Tour de l'Avenir are unknown riders. At the U23 World Championships, he couldn't keep up with the best, but 5 months later, after he joined UAE, he suddenly starts beating the best. I'm not buying it.

Well… it's literally called the Race of the Future! Those riders tend to not, you know, remain unknown. Bernal, Quintana, Chaves, Marc Soler, Lopez, Barguil… they've all won it. And that's just within this decade…

As for Lunigiana, well... Evenepoel. You heard about him? He's won it!

 

[Anderis]

Nothing special as a U-23 rider.

I stopped treating it seriously here. How can winning Tour de l'Avenir and two other stage races at 19 and finishing top5 in a race with WT teams like Tour of Slovenia at 18 be called "nothing specail as a U-23 rider" ? Where the hell an U-23 stage racer is supposed to prove himself if Tour de l'Avenir has a peloton of"unknown riders"? And how being unable to keep up with the best in U-23 WC (he still finished 7th) undermines anything? It's like exceptional stage racers like Froome and Contador were always shining in one-day races and at 19 you are supposed to display levels of consistency not even a prime Valverde can match?

 

[Red Rick]

I'm sitting here waiting until the strava file from yesterday gets uploaded.

I don't actually expect crazy outputs, it's more that I think everyone was completely dead. Basically Finestre light but with much easier climbs and hence smaller gaps.