Teams & Riders Tadej Pogačar discussion thread

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He surpassed Cavendish and Sagan in WT wins.
Maybe, he will win 100 WT races. When was the last time someone won 100 WT races? I know WT only exists since 2005 but I believe we need to go back to Hinault.

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Bruyneel said one thing very interesting. For him, if Pogacar raced more conservatively, he wouldn't lose any race. Basically saying Pogacar wins every race if he races with both his legs and brain. Hard to argue against that.
I think now that bruyneel is ready to accept pogi for the rider he is, only bruyneel is capable of managing pogi to his fullest possibilities. Team support and race strategies would be impeccable
 
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I think now that bruyneel is ready to accept pogi for the rider he is, only bruyneel is capable of managing pogi to his fullest possibilities. Team support and race strategies would be impeccable
I also umderstand his opinion, sometimes they say things just to give hope to their viewers intead of saying "x race" will be a procession.
FW was a procession IMHO. Pogacar gained 5 seconds in 100m
 
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New generation is stepping up. This shows how weak was the previous era in this type of classics. Valverde was dominating FW in his late 30s

Yea "punching" strength is usually one of of the natural advantage of younger guys in general. So not really surprising that they would tend to do well in FW with this year finish scenario.
And yes I agree Valverde domination of FW in his late 30s does highlights the weakness of previous gen...
 
Yea "punching" strength is usually one of of the natural advantage of younger guys in general. So not really surprising that they would tend to do well in FW with this year finish scenario.
And yes I agree Valverde domination of FW in his late 30s does highlights the weakness of previous gen...
But he was competing against Purito in some of those editions, so not like there wasn't some elite competition for him.

And his 2014 time is only 1 sec off the record, though I know times on this climb can be deceiving due to how different each race is from the bottom
 
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Yea "punching" strength is usually one of of the natural advantage of younger guys in general. So not really surprising that they would tend to do well in FW with this year finish scenario.
And yes I agree Valverde domination of FW in his late 30s does highlights the weakness of previous gen...
What you say makes sense but Valverde (record holder) was old when he dominated this classic. And I searched for riders who won this classic 3 times (5 riders) and 3 of them dominated this classic after his 30s (Argentin, Rebellin, Kint). Merckx and Alaphilippe were the other 2 who dominated this race before his 30s. For me Merckx doesn't even count because he dominated everything before his 30s and he is a gigantic outlier in any kind of metric/statistic.
 
He surpassed Cavendish and Sagan in WT wins.
Maybe, he will win 100 WT races. When was the last time someone won 100 WT races? I know WT only exists since 2005 but I believe we need to go back to Hinault.

Emilia was the only win since start of 2024 that wasn’t WT and even then that had a better field than many WT one day races.

The Italian classics prior to Lombardia are the only time he ever dips away from the World Tour so to win at the rate he does is staggeringly impressive.
 
What you say makes sense but Valverde (record holder) was old when he dominated this classic. And I searched for riders who won this classic 3 times (5 riders) and 3 of them dominated this classic after his 30s (Argentin, Rebellin, Kint). Merckx and Alaphilippe were the other 2 who dominated this race before his 30s. For me Merckx doesn't even count because he dominated everything before his 30s and he is a gigantic outlier in any kind of metric/statistic.
You could make the case that more than any other race this is one where experience really matters as the 3 Ps (positioning, pacing, picking the moment to attack) are learned over racing many editions of the race.
 
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Apologies if this stat has been highlighted somewhere already, but if Pogacar podiums on Sunday, he would be thd first rider since Sean Kelly in 1984 to podium all 4 Spring Monuments in a season. Cannot think of anyone in the intervening years who ever managed it.
Barely any have even attempted it. Van Avermaet did all 5 momuments one year, I think with 1 podium. Mohoric has done all 5 in one year, and finished top 5-10 in most except Flanders (best is 21st).
 
You could make the case that more than any other race this is one where experience really matters as the 3 Ps (positioning, pacing, picking the moment to attack) are learned over racing many editions of the race.
Timing is very important on Mur de Huy. Valverde was a master in sprinting in the easiest part. This is why I never understood why his rivals didn't bother him in the hardest part.
 
Apologies if this stat has been highlighted somewhere already, but if Pogacar podiums on Sunday, he would be thd first rider since Sean Kelly in 1984 to podium all 4 Spring Monuments in a season. Cannot think of anyone in the intervening years who ever managed it.
IF he wins LBL and GdL, he will make the best result in monuments ever in a single year.
 
Timing is very important on Mur de Huy. Valverde was a master in sprinting in the easiest part. This is why I never understood why his rivals didn't bother him in the hardest part.
I think that was because his rivals knew Valverde was the best sprinter of any elite climber?

When Valverde won the 2018 worlds (5,000 metres of climbing) that was on a much steeper and also longer finishing climb than Mur de Huy. It was a race of attrition with Valverde hanging onto Michael Woods and Bardet on the steepest section then predictably out sprinting them when they couldn't drop him on the monstrously steep climb.


 
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