Teams & Riders Tadej Pogačar discussion thread

[Peyroteo94]

OK. Time for the WAY too early planning phase for next year's programme.

Classics Combo Meal:
SB (prep race for MSR)
MSR
E3
Flanders
P-R
LBL
Daupeniee
Tour
Worlds
Lombardia

OR

Stage Race Special (wait out MVP another year):
PN
MSR
LBL
Giro
Tour
Vuelta
Worlds (maybe skip depending on profile and condition)
Lombardia


2028 will look like this 100% and maybe most years thereafter until he can't prevail in the cobbled monuments. At which time he slips back into stage racing.
SB (prep race for MSR)
MSR
E3
Flanders
P-R
LBL
Daupeniee/Suisse
Tour
Vuelta
Lombardia

You forgot Los Angeles 2028

 

[Peyroteo94]

https://www.24ur.com/sport/kolesarstvo/tega-kar-mi-daje-urska-mi-ne-more-dati-nihce.html

For sure Urska can give him one little thing that no man in UAE can.

 

[Offline]

Give the man a break... Classic season, Tour and Vuelta is a lot.

Forcus on Wolds and Lombardia

 

[Valv.Piti]

This Vuelta route is easy, so he should definitely do it. Lots of easy stage wins up for grabs and he usually will win a race like this on 90% if Jonas isn't showing up at 100% which I highly doubt

 

[yaf2]

https://twitter.com/x/status/1948604994456093079

View: https://x.com/lucasaganronald/status/1948604994456093079?t=HJexwwzYReXYKZX-kal5vg&s=19

for sure ma men has to keep a 95km stage in check & go for the win otherwise im loosing it

 

[Peyroteo94]

This Vuelta route is easy, so he should definitely do it. Lots of easy stage wins up for grabs and he usually will win a race like this on 90% if Jonas isn't showing up at 100% which I highly doubt

He can win easily even if Jonas is at his best. They are no longer on the same level.

 

[Peyroteo94]

https://twitter.com/x/status/1948604994456093079

View: https://x.com/lucasaganronald/status/1948604994456093079?t=HJexwwzYReXYKZX-kal5vg&s=19

for sure ma men has to keep a 95km stage in check & go for the win otherwise im loosing it

Visma will control the race. They will not attack only on Plagne.

 

[Valv.Piti]

He can win easily even if Jonas is at his best. They are no longer on the same level.

I specifically said if Pog is at 90% and Jonas is at his best

 

[yaf2]

Visma will control the race. They will not attack only on Plagne.

Vingegaard is done for the win. I don't think he believes in it anymore rather i expect visma going for the stage with kuss but uae has to control this short stage & make it a tdf not an exhibition race

 

[Peyroteo94]

I specifically said if Pog is at 90% and Jonas is at his best

Route is very easy. I can't see where Vingegaard will drop Pogacar to be honest. Angliru?

 

[Valv.Piti]

Route is very easy. I can't see where Vingegaard will drop Pogacar to be honest. Angliru?

If you're comparatively in much worse than your opponents (which again is just a thought experiment), then Cerler, Angliru, Farrapona, El Morredero and Bola del Mundo. Obviously I don't think that will happen as I doubt that Jonas is putting out a peak performance in la Vuelta, and if he does do the race and Jonas does as well, Pog wouldn't want to be undercooked. But there are plenty hards MTFs with good gradients to do well here for Jonas if he just better than Pog, so he shouldn't be underestimated.

But if Pog goes and is in great shape, there are a bunch of these shallow MTFs as well and with Almeida pacing these its just over

 

[bill1109]

Vingegaard is done for the win. I don't think he believes in it anymore rather i expect visma going for the stage with kuss but uae has to control this short stage & make it a tdf not an exhibition race

Jonas and visma or any team has to sound confident so they can justify their year over year salary increase. Jonas needs to say my levels are best ever, visma mgmt needs to say we have a plan .and pump that through media And voila... They get their larger salary for another guaranteed second place. Locked in. That's all that counts. Think Jonas really believes he can win with the Pog dragon on his wheel on the high, hot, steep, high altitude climbs?? Of course not. But Jonas and visma need to justify their increased salary. So they say " yeah tour isn't over yeah". And on and on it goes.

 

[Peyroteo94]

If you're comparatively in much worse than your opponents (which again is just a thought experiment), then Cerler, Angliru, Farrapona, El Morredero and Bola del Mundo. Obviously I don't think that will happen as I doubt that Jonas is putting out a peak performance in la Vuelta, and if he does do the race and Jonas does as well, Pog wouldn't want to be undercooked. But there are plenty hards MTFs with good gradients to do well here for Jonas if he just better than Pog, so he shouldn't be underestimated.

But if Pog goes and is in great shape, there are a bunch of these shallow MTFs as well and with Almeida pacing these its just over

I don't believe Vingegaard will be at his best. It's easier for Pogacar to be close to his best than Vingegaard. Pogacar's base level is way higher than everyone else.

 

[Miha81]

https://twitter.com/x/status/1948474282667086063

View: https://x.com/CyclingLegend_/status/1948474282667086063?t=sQU6mjE3vaEAjfOad1d7mQ&s=19

this looks deliberate no?

Depends if there was some pedestrian or other traffic in front of the vehicle. If the road was clear it was definitely deliberate and driver knew exactly that UAE riders were riding (too) close to the vehicle.

 

[scribers]

What I don't get is that you don't have him ride the Vuelta in the classics set up, yet have him ride all GTs plus the WC in the stage racer set up.

I knife the heart out if the classic season and reassign it to the stage programme. I can be one or the other but not both according to both last year and the way this year is panning out

 

[yaf2]

Depends if there was some pedestrian or other traffic in front of the vehicle. If the road was clear it was definitely deliberate and driver knew exactly that UAE riders were riding (too) close to the vehicle.

There was nobody infront of the car & tadej said it himself that he didn't see the reason to break that hard

 

[Cycling111]

Merckx only start go to the Vuelta in 1973 due to his contract?

Yes, the Vuelta gave him a financial incentive , but he had to win one to have all three GT. Last year, Giro paid Pogacar, but he still had to win one, and he has to win a Vuelta.

Even if they hadn't paid him, Merckx wouldn't have retired without winning the Vuelta. They always joked that he didn't win Paris-Tours because he wanted to win all the important races.

Pogacar will have to win a Vuelta to win all three GTs, and this is the best year.
More time he waits, more difficult it will be to win the Vuelta, given his schedule and his future shape.

 

[yaf2]

https://twitter.com/x/status/1948596266088157266

View: https://x.com/lucasaganronald/status/1948596266088157266?t=phhkQrdliGGrJDOpdbeYEA&s=19

Its not looking good for a vuelta participation

 

[Cycling111]

https://twitter.com/x/status/1948596266088157266

View: https://x.com/lucasaganronald/status/1948596266088157266?t=phhkQrdliGGrJDOpdbeYEA&s=19

Its not looking good for a vuelta participation

Racing with congestion and arm injury is annoying and more tiring. It must have contributed to his exhaustion this week and mentally.

But I still think the same. Every year, he'll have this exhaustion problem after the Tour, and it'll never be time to go to the Vuelta. That's why it's better to win the Vuelta this year and forget about it forever.

That feeling in the third week of the Tour is common, and the older he is, the more he'll notice it, but he have to win a Vuelta, and it will always come after the Tour. It's inevitable, so it's better to do it sooner rather than later.

 

[Peyroteo94]

https://twitter.com/x/status/1948596266088157266

View: https://x.com/lucasaganronald/status/1948596266088157266?t=phhkQrdliGGrJDOpdbeYEA&s=19

Its not looking good for a vuelta participation

This seems to be mental fatigue. He is starting to not enjoy cycling anymore.
I get the impression he doesn't like the Tour and he only rides because of his team.
I'm starting to think he doesn't give a $### anymore and he is just counting miles until Paris.

 

[Offline]

The crash as impacted his recovery for sure! He is not on top of his game mental or physical.

 

[Peyroteo94]

The crash as impacted his recovery for sure! He is not on top of his game mental or physical.

I don't believe it. He was smashing the peloton one and two days later.
I think the first week took hurt him a little bit. He was so happy after stage 10 because it was really hectic.

 

[snipeheem]

This seems to be mental fatigue. He is starting to not enjoy cycling anymore.
I get the impression he doesn't like the Tour and he only rides because of his team.
I'm starting to think he doesn't give a $### anymore and he is just counting miles until Paris.

I hope he will give us a show today on La Plagne

 

[yaf2]

This seems to be mental fatigue. He is starting to not enjoy cycling anymore.
I get the impression he doesn't like the Tour and he only rides because of his team.
I'm starting to think he doesn't give a $### anymore and he is just counting miles until Paris.

No he enjoys cycling but not the grand tours

 

[Cycling111]

The crash as impacted his recovery for sure! He is not on top of his game mental or physical.

He has time to recover. And as I said, this feeling in the third week of the Tour is common, and he'll feel it even more in other years.

And we don't know if he'll have a more serious accident next year or how many years his performance will last.

That's why it's best to do the Vuelta this year. Mentally, it would also be better; win it and forget about it, and starting next year, he'll just do the Tour and not do any more stage races if he doesn't want to.

But not doing the Vuelta will be a burden in the future, and the more time passes, the more difficult it is to do the Tour-Vuelta.
Indurian missed out on winning it because of this. He always said he was mentally exhausted, and when he wanted to go to the Vuelta because he couldn't win the Tour anymore, he couldn't win the Vuelta either.
He said he regretted it, he is one of the winners of 5 Tours who hasn´t won the 3 GTs

My question with UAE is this point. Will they tell him what I'm saying, or will they see an opportunity in the face of the problem with Ayuso? The UAE should advise him, but I suspect they'll have seen a solution in this given their internal problems with Ayuso.