Teams & Riders Tadej Pogačar discussion thread

[Cycling111]

@Rou
That comparison with Vingegaard is unfair. Vingegaard hasn't raced anything since the Algarve. And it's much harder to train and race in Paris-Roubaix than in any one-week race.

Vingegaard hasn't suffered any mental burnout in the spring. And this isn't the first year; Pogacar has had years of harder seasons than Vingegaard.

 

[Rou]

Vuelta not important to me as a fan. Worlds over every year! Don't care even if he isn't every winning the Vuelta tbh

Pogacar need to be 100% to win Worlds bc of weak team

I don't care about San Remo as a fan but Pogacar goes every year because it has cycling prestige.
Pogacar NEEDS the Vuelta for the PRESTIGE and history.

 

[Peyroteo94]

I don't care about San Remo as a fan but Pogacar goes every year because it has cycling prestige.
Pogacar NEEDS the Vuelta for the PRESTIGE and history.

MSR is the easiest race to put in his schedule. He lives 30 km away from San Remo. He finishes the race and one hour later he is in Monaco laying down on his bed

 

[Rou]

MSR is the easiest race to put in his schedule. He lives 30 km away from San Remo. He finishes the race and one hour later he is in Monaco laying down on his bed

It's not that simple.
Every year he needs the proper team and the perfect tactics and still can't win it.
It's frustrating for him.

 

[Salvarani]

It's not that simple.
Every year he needs the proper team and the perfect tactics and still can't win it.
It's frustrating for him.

He just wants to win the race and sees it as a challenge. It motivates him.

 

[Rou]

He just wants to win the race and sees it as a challenge. It motivates him.

Of course. He wants to beat the Juggernaut MVDP in his terrain.
That's why I want Pogi to try new things in Spain.
Not the same Canadian farmers' classics.
Not another Lombardia demolition job.

 

[Salvarani]

Of course. He wants to beat the Juggernaut MVDP in his terrain.
That's why I want Pogi to try new things in Spain.
Not the same Canadian farmers' classics.
Not another Lombardia demolition job.

There will just be a time and place for Vuelta... and he has finished 3rd in it. It is not new. He doesnt have to go there now unless he feels good and wants to.

If he is tired mentally and somewhat physically from the classics, prep, Dauphine and Tour.

It makes little sense to do the Vuelta now, as one kind of predicted a long time ago.

 

[Rou]

There will just be a time and place for Vuelta... and he has finished 3rd in it. It is not new.

But if he is tired mentally and somewhat physically from the classics, prep, Dauphine and Tour.

It makes little sense to do the Vuelta now.

I'm fine with him missing the Vuelta if he's tired, mate.
I would be pissed if the team convinced him to miss it because of 'team politics'.

 

[Salvarani]

I'm fine with him missing the Vuelta if he's tired, mate.
I would be pissed if the team convinced him to miss it because of 'team politics'.

Ok, so no problem then. What happens, happens.

See really no reason to speculate on that.

 

[Peyroteo94]

I just wanted to see Pogacar nuke the Angliru on red. I think I will not see that.

 

[Rou]

I just wanted to see Pogacar nuke the Angliru on red. I think I will not see that.

Hopefully it will be Joao in red with Ayuso as super domestique.
Hehe

 

[Peyroteo94]

Hopefully it will be Joao in red with Ayuso as super domestique.
Hehe

Even better scenario!

 

[carolina]

Pogacar doesn't NEED to do anything. You guys seem more worried about his palmarés then him. He should do what is best for him.

His comments and his demeanor already show he looks frustrated to be at the Tour and away from home. Now add to this a season always in top form and filled with the most important races of the current calendar. Always having to deal with team obligations, social media, reporters, fans, etc.

He sounds like someone that doesn't want to this whole circus for another 3 weeks, just to be followed by Worlds and Lombardy.

Even GOATs need a break.

 

[yaf2]

Hopefully it will be Joao in red with Ayuso as super domestique.
Hehe

I am sure vingegaard cleans it without pog

 

[Rackham]

Pogacar doesn't NEED to do anything. You guys seem more worried about his palmarés then him. He should do what is best for him.

His comments and his demeanor already show he looks frustrated to be at the Tour and away from home. Now add to this a season always in top form and filled with the most important races of the current calendar. Always having to deal with team obligations, social media, reporters, fans, etc.

He sounds like someone that doesn't want to this whole circus for another 3 weeks, just to be followed by Worlds and Lombardy.

Even GOATs need a break.

The Vuelta has absolutely nothing in common with the Tour in that respect. It's not the same thing, i.e. the Vuelta is pure cyclismo in the brochure sense.

Desolate transitional roads along Sergio Leone landscapes in which Clint Eastwood should be seen riding a horse? Check. Rampas inhumanas up through remote small Spanish villages untouched by civilization since the middle-ages? Check. Narrow roads and concrete slabs up goat paths? Check. A totally laid back approach to the race? Check.

If Pog is getting sick and tired of stage racing because of the Tour, maybe the Vuelta would reconcile him with the whole shebang.

 

[Peyroteo94]

The Vuelta has absolutely nothing in common with the Tour in that respect. It's not the same thing, i.e. the Vuelta is pure cyclismo in the brochure sense.

Desolate transitional roads along Sergio Leone landscapes in which Clint Eastwood should be seen riding a horse? Check. Rampas inhumanas up through remote small Spanish villages untouched by civilization since the middle-ages? Check. Narrow roads and concrete slabs up goat paths? Check. A totally laid back approach to the race? Check.

If Pog is getting sick and tired of stage racing because of the Tour, maybe the Vuelta would reconcile him with the whole shebang.

Yeah, he was so happy last year in the Giro.

 

[Rackham]

Yeah, he was so happy last year in the Giro.

He'd also get to experience first-hand the Enric Mas final form in August- September.

From snail in France to apex predator in Spain. It's one of the main attractions in the Vuelta, i.e. literal Mas Effect.

Aka how on earth does this rider who gets dropped by dozens of climbers in the Tour turn into a monster in Spain.

 

[Unterlenkerfahrend]

Said all along that he probably would not do the Vuelta.

With intense Classics, prep for the Tour, Dauphine and the Tour itself...

I always thought chances for Vuelta was slim and not a good idea this season.

He can do the Tour + Vuelta combo when he takes it easier in the spring, or the Giro-Vuelta combo if he for some reason in the future wont do the Tour.

Vuelta just not a huge priority at the moment. He still has plenty of time to win it. The obsessive nature that he has to tick it off soon from some is not healthy.

We will see what happens after the Tour, if he goes or not.

Problem is, I don't see any scenario at all where he "takes it easier" in the spring, I think by now he loves the Classics more than the GTs.
So as long as he is not injured, I see him doing Flanders, Roubaix and LBL + Tour for the forseeable future because he just loves these races and UAE will want him at the Tour every year. So I don't understand at what point Vuelta becomes more attainable in terms of schedule because I don't see the pre Vuelta schedule becoming less stressful in the future. It's either a bunch of draining classics + Tour or Giro + Tour and I'm pretty sure if anything the current schedule is more suited to Vuelta than the other.

I think people are underestimating how "positive" the year went so far, he's got no major crashes, no bigger setbacks (I don't count this Tour bump and the apparent "cold", he seems totally fine) and I actually think this Tour has been easier than some in the past. With the route alteration today, there were in total "only" two really hard mountain stages, two medium hard (today and Hautacam) and basically two threshold efforts (MTT and Ventoux). That's probably as good as it gets in terms of Tour-Vuelta combination.

 

[Lequack]

 

[yaf2]

I think he took that seriously 🤣

 

[Cycling111]

The Vuelta has absolutely nothing in common with the Tour in that respect. It's not the same thing, i.e. the Vuelta is pure cyclismo in the brochure sense.

Desolate transitional roads along Sergio Leone landscapes in which Clint Eastwood should be seen riding a horse? Check. Rampas inhumanas up through remote small Spanish villages untouched by civilization since the middle-ages? Check. Narrow roads and concrete slabs up goat paths? Check. A totally laid back approach to the race? Check.

If Pog is getting sick and tired of stage racing because of the Tour, maybe the Vuelta would reconcile him with the whole shebang.

You say that because Roglic has 4. But he would trade 3 for 1 Tour

The classics are more pure cycling no a 3 weeks stages race

 

[Cycling111]

There will just be a time and place for Vuelta... and he has finished 3rd in it. It is not new. He doesnt have to go there now unless he feels good and wants to.

If he is tired mentally and somewhat physically from the classics, prep, Dauphine and Tour.

It makes little sense to do the Vuelta now, as one kind of predicted a long time ago.

The problem never will be time and place. The Vuelta will always be between the Tour and the World Championships.

The Sprinters' World Championship is in 2028.

At 30, it's not clear what shape he'll be in for the Tour-Vuelta.

 

[Cycling111]

Yeah, he was so happy last year in the Giro.

I don't think so. They pressured him enough with the idea that he wins a lot, and he ended up giving away a stage to Steinhauser because of the pressure.

This year, he said he enjoyed returning to Flanders, something the Giro didn't allow him to do.

 

[Salvarani]

The problem never will be time and place. The Vuelta will always be between the Tour and the World Championships.

The Sprinters' World Championship is in 2028.

At 30, it's not clear what shape he'll be in for the Tour-Vuelta.

So what.

This exactly what I meant about the obsessive nature of wanting him to tick off Vuelta NOW from some.

He gets one shot and it is NOW? Give me a break.

Yall putting way too much on it.

 

[Rackham]

You say that because Roglic has 4. But he would trade 3 for 1 Tour
The classics are more pure cycling

He's already said he wouldn't.

Otherwise we have the same circular discussion where people try to argue that Bernal and G Thomas have had better careers and a better palmarès than Rog.

A race is a race. There are basically 10 major prizes in the cycling world every year: 5 monuments, 3 GT's & two world titles (with the worlds road race > the worlds ITT in terms of prestige).

But you can't tell me a rider who races Amstel and Flèche thinks the Vuelta would be beneath those races. No way.