Teams & Riders Tadej Pogačar discussion thread

[Pantani_lives]

The Tour is much more interesting to watch now than seven years ago. Team Sky won the Tour with a train in a very predictable fashion. Pogacar is completely different. He's not afraid to attack more than 20 km before the finish. Yesterday he seemed to float over the cobblestones. It's a good thing for cycling that he also wants to win the classics. He's the opposite of boring. And this Tour is far from over, because Vingegaard looks like a real threat in the high mountains.

 

[Rollthedice]

The Tour is much more interesting to watch now than seven years ago. Team Sky won the Tour with a train in a very predictable fashion. Pogacar is completely different. He's not afraid to attack more than 20 km before the finish. Yesterday he seemed to float over the cobblestones. It's a good thing for cycling that he also wants to win the classics. He's the opposite of boring. And this Tour is far from over, because Vingegaard looks like a real threat in the high mountains.

It's like going to a movie for the spectacular special effects while the end is totally predictable.

 

[Peyroteo94]

Jumbo is so clueless because they can't compete with this beast. An animal in every type of stage. Tomorrow, We will see if someone can compete with him

 

[KZD]

Incredible power today after reaching what seemed to be his limit yesterday. We will see from tomorrow onwards in the mountains but I bet that he wins atleast a few more stages and will not lose the yellow jersey anymore unless its for a breakaway rider somewhere around the next stages

 

[Rackham]

Incredible power today after reaching what seemed to be his limit yesterday. We will see from tomorrow onwards in the mountains but I bet that he wins atleast a few more stages and will not lose the yellow jersey unless its for a breakaway rider somewhere around the next stages

I expect a sapping approach from Pog where he takes a few seconds here & there in every major climb stage. Either via a small attack or bonus seconds because he's got a better punch than his rivals. Doing what he's done so far (without major solo raid like last year) could give him a comfortable cushion real fast.

There's also the fact there's a never a grand alliance in the TdF against the yellow jersey, there's just 'interests' for second, third, fourth etc. with teams defending those positions. So it's not like UAE is at war versus the whole peloton because there will always be teams to chase down a rival before they have to (as happened with WvA today).

 

[KZD]

I expect a sapping approach from Pog where he takes a few seconds here & there in every major climb stage. Either via a small attack or bonus seconds because he's got a better punch than his rivals. Doing what he's done so far (without major solo raid like last year) could give him a comfortable cushion real fast.

There's also the fact there's a never a grand alliance in the TdF against the yellow jersey, there's just 'interests' for second, third, fourth etc. with teams defending those positions. So it's not like UAE is at war versus the whole peloton because there will always be teams to chase down a rival before they have to (as happened with WvA today).

I agree that there will be no 30km solo raid this year but a couple smaller raids instead where he can still win significant time otherwise he will just trust his sprint to gain a few seconds in the last meters. Since he intends to ride the Vuelta too this year its probably the smartest strategy.

 

[Salvarani]

He will definitely want to win the stage to L'Alpe d'Huez.

I dont think he will let it come down to a sprint on that stage either.

 

[Cookster15]

Incredible again today and we haven’t seen a Cat 1 climb yet, not long to wait!

But I think this is to be expected when a rider is still very young (23) and on a natural upwards progression curve compared to what he was showing us since 2019. But I do wish we could see pre LPdBF 2020 Roglic to make it interesting and not leave it to Vingegaard. This is looking like the biggest walkover since Nibs in 2014.

Yes its early but the race for minor podium spots looks more interesting. I think there should be a poll - by how many minutes will Pogi win the Tour? I am guessing similar to 2014, maybe 7 minutes?

 

[gunara]

Imagine the gigantic size of the asterisk if something happen to Pog and he can't finish

 

[Krzysztof_O]

Pogi proves time and time again that he's a great classics rider but let's wait until the real mountains begin to see how he fares against true climbers.

 

[Rechtschreibfehler]

He gained time on all GC guys. Roglič as second best GC guy here is out. Jonas is worse then Pogačar in TT where he'll loose 30s to 1 minute. So right now Pogačar leads current second best GC guy by over a minute. Another snooze fest after just 5 stages. Plus Pogačar does nothing wrong and has huge luck all the time. Horner said himself. There could be 50:50 option and Pogačar will pick the better one (roundabout with hay for example).

He's like a robot. Best at everything, easy, simple...just win. Eh.

True he was lucky with the hay situation but other than this I don't think he is lucky. He just positiones himself extremly well and also has the power to always do so plus the bike handling.

 

[Rollthedice]

Incredible again today and we haven’t seen a Cat 1 climb yet, not long to wait!

But I think this is to be expected when a rider is still very young (23) and on a natural upwards progression curve compared to what he was showing us since 2019. But I do wish we could see pre LPdBF 2020 Roglic to make it interesting and not leave it to Vingegaard. This is looking like the biggest walkover since Nibs in 2014.

Yes its early but the race for minor podium spots looks more interesting. I think there should be a poll - by how many minutes will Pogi win the Tour? I am guessing similar to 2014, maybe 7 minutes?

I wouldn't go that far, I mean Nibs put over two minutes in anybody who had any idea of winning that tour (2'35" to Contador) in the stage to Arenberg. On the same finish Pog barely got a few seconds. He has to up his game.

 

[hayneplane]

I wouldn't go that far, I mean Nibs put over two minutes in anybody who had any idea of winning that tour (2'35" to Contador) in the stage to Arenberg. On the same finish Pog barely got a few seconds. He has to up his game.

True but the weather conditions in 2014 were the most conducive they have ever been on a 21st century cobbles Tour stage for making meaningful gaps.

 

[Extinction]

I wouldn't go that far, I mean Nibs put over two minutes in anybody who had any idea of winning that tour (2'35" to Contador) in the stage to Arenberg. On the same finish Pog barely got a few seconds. He has to up his game.

Totally different scenarios and conditions. Contador lost most of that time to a mechanical and no way in the dry conditions of the other day does Nibali gain such time. In other words, had 2014 Nibali raced the other day in the dry he does not drop Pogacar. At best, he stays with him and Stuyven. At best.

 

[gunara]

He has to up his game.

Not sure about it, kid got enough hate with his current game, and that without being a sociopath, a boring time trial machine, nor having a galaxy of doms like some previous serial winners.

 

[Rollthedice]

Totally different scenarios and conditions. Contador lost most of that time to a mechanical and no way in the dry conditions of the other day does Nibali gain such time. In other words, had 2014 Nibali raced the other day in the dry he does not drop Pogacar. At best, he stays with him and Stuyven. At best.

It was more of joke. Though some things need to be said. I don't recall any mechanical for Contador and certainly none in the last 20 km or so when he lost 1'35". On the other hand dry conditions can't make meaningful gaps as seen in 2015 with the same Nibali being aggressive for no gain (he did get the most combative award for that stage). I would refrain from making comparisons between Pogacar and peak Nibali for various reasons but from all we are witnessing now, Pog is something that we haven't seen in cycling maybe even before the Indurain/Lance years. He is truly an exceptional rider.

 

[Extinction]

It was more of joke. Though some things need to be said. I don't recall any mechanical for Contador and certainly none in the last 20 km or so when he lost 1'35". On the other hand dry conditions can't make meaningful gaps as seen in 2015 with the same Nibali being aggressive for no gain (he did get the most combative award for that stage). I would refrain from making comparisons between Pogacar and peak Nibali for various reasons but from all we are witnessing now, Pog is something that we haven't seen in cycling maybe even before the Indurain/Lance years. He is truly an exceptional rider.

Fair enough, but making futile comparisons is what we cycling geeks just freekin do. Please don't take this meager compensativo for my own athletic shortcomings away from me!

At any rate, Contador claimed a mechanical caused him not to be able to use the big ring in fact in the last circa 20 km of the race.

 

[Hugo Koblet]

There's also the fact there's a never a grand alliance in the TdF against the yellow jersey, there's just 'interests' for second, third, fourth etc. with teams defending those positions. So it's not like UAE is at war versus the whole peloton because there will always be teams to chase down a rival before they have to (as happened with WvA today).

Yeah, I agree with this. I think Jumbo had two goals this Tour: Van Aert getting green; and Roglic and Vingegaard getting 2nd and 3rd. The latter seems very unlikely now, but they'll likely still ride for 2nd pretending to ride for 1st.

 

[Extinction]

I expect a sapping approach from Pog where he takes a few seconds here & there in every major climb stage. Either via a small attack or bonus seconds because he's got a better punch than his rivals. Doing what he's done so far (without major solo raid like last year) could give him a comfortable cushion real fast.

There's also the fact there's a never a grand alliance in the TdF against the yellow jersey, there's just 'interests' for second, third, fourth etc. with teams defending those positions. So it's not like UAE is at war versus the whole peloton because there will always be teams to chase down a rival before they have to (as happened with WvA today).

I suspect Pog will try to win big on Alpe d'Huez and/or Hautecam, to seal the deal before the 40 km tt in the end.

 

[Bolder]

Jumbo is so clueless because they can't compete with this beast. An animal in every type of stage. Tomorrow, We will see if someone can compete with him

That doesn't follow. They aren't "clueless." They know very well what they're dealing with, but they have no answers. Very interesting interview in Velonews with Matteo Jorgensen, who says that TP is so strong that he can ride alone in the wind and still win stages. How do you counter that kind of power?

You can have all the tactical nous in the world but if the guy is stronger than every single one of your riders, the result is predictable.

 

[Bolder]

I suspect Pog will try to win big on Alpe d'Huez and/or Hautecam, to seal the deal before the 40 km tt in the end.

Or he could purposely lose 2 minutes just before the TT, so he has something to motivate him to win to keep from being bored...

 

[rokovski]

Only possible way to beat Tadej Pogačar, transfer him to Dumbo Visma and they will screw him.

 

[Plutonic]

Only possible way to beat Tadej Pogačar, transfer him to Dumbo Visma and they will screw him.

They really are aren't they. If Brailsford was in charge of that squad then we'd see an organised effort at least to derail Indurain, I mean Pogacar

 

[Salvarani]

They really are aren't they. If Brailsford was in charge of that squad then we'd see an organised effort at least to derail Indurain, I mean Pogacar

Must be one of the worst comparisons I have ever seen being made.

 

[jmdirt]

CongratsTP!