Teams & Riders Tadej Pogačar discussion thread

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The reason why I think Jorg is dangerous is because he has an X - factor with him. We don't know what his limits are.
Last year he was the only rider on par with Pog on the gravel stage. He did a monster pull on Plateau de Beille. He was faster than Almeida on both TTs.
Almeida is a diesel and I don't see how we will completely ruin his GC for Pogacar but Matteo will bury himself for Vingegaard.
He still lost more than 9 minutes in PdB. I can see him dropping every UAE rider (bar Pogacar) but it will not be important if Vingegaard can't drop Pogacar.
 
Pogacar and Vingegaard are too strong for any domestique. This is not 2022 anymore where Pogacar was afraid of Roglic.

Still, strong tempo by one of the domestiques can make the difference if both top dogs are closely matched (so the stronger one can break the weaker one only in case of a very strong pace from the bottom, they tried it on PdB last year). Alternatively, a guy like Jorgenson can be very helpful in case of a long range attack (i.e. if Vingo needs to regain more time than normally would be possible).
 
Still, strong tempo by one of the domestiques can make the difference if both top dogs are closely matched (so the stronger one can break the weaker one only in case of a very strong pace from the bottom, they tried it on PdB last year). Alternatively, a guy like Jorgenson can be very helpful in case of a long range attack (i.e. if Vingo needs to regain more time than normally would be possible).
In that scenario Vingegaard needs to drop Pogacar.
 
If Vingegaard is never stronger than Pog it won't happen but riders' form can vary between stages. In some stages (when Vingo is just a bit stronger) help by Jorgenson can help him build a gap (in both scenarios I gave).
The depth behind Pogacar is proving to be deeper based on performances so far. Jorgenson is strong but just not matched by many others on JV. Yates? Kelderman? WvA is an hour behind on GC and may be riding himself into form. If he takes a stage that has some climbing before the Giro is over that is a major asset for Vingo and sets up Matteo as a legit #2 threat. Until rosters are finalized we don't know what depth they have, or think they have. The Dauphine will be the tease for it.
 
The reason why I think Jorg is dangerous is because he has an X - factor with him. We don't know what his limits are.
Last year he was the only rider on par with Pog on the gravel stage. He did a monster pull on Plateau de Beille. He was faster than Almeida on both TTs.
Almeida is a diesel and I don't see how we will completely ruin his GC for Pogacar but Matteo will bury himself for Vingegaard.
Don’t exaggerate. On the gravel stage, he followed Pogacar only at the end (after Pogacar’s fifth attack), not before. When Remco and Tadej tried to break away, Jonas bridged the gap by himself. Jorgenson is good, but it’s not true that we don’t know what he’s capable of. I actually thought he’d be better in the classics this year, but he was a bit worse than last year, without any visible progress. On the other hand, Almeida has clearly progressed this year. Also, I don’t understand why you think Jorgenson will sacrifice himself incredibly for Jonas, while Almeida wouldn’t do the same for Tadej? What makes you think that? Almeida has shown himself to be a loyal and strong support for Tadej.
 
Don’t exaggerate. On the gravel stage, he followed Pogacar only at the end (after Pogacar’s fifth attack), not before. When Remco and Tadej tried to break away, Jonas bridged the gap by himself. Jorgenson is good, but it’s not true that we don’t know what he’s capable of. I actually thought he’d be better in the classics this year, but he was a bit worse than last year, without any visible progress. On the other hand, Almeida has clearly progressed this year. Also, I don’t understand why you think Jorgenson will sacrifice himself incredibly for Jonas, while Almeida wouldn’t do the same for Tadej? What makes you think that? Almeida has shown himself to be a loyal and strong support for Tadej.
I don’t think it is a case of lack of loyalty with Almeida but more that his effort management style of riding is not necessarily conducive to setting up attacks.