Teams & Riders Tadej Pogačar discussion thread

[Skijumper Roglic fan]

Your mate and his 'very weak cyclist' argument seems to be gone, Lance "best cyclist of all time" gladly take over now as the recurring character.

Hey, this gave me a good laugh… As you correctly noticed, I like to add some irony, some wink, to my posts, every now and then… Makes me glad and happy if someone (like you, in this case) then reacts with the same kind of humour. I appreciate this… - writing in the forum is even more a pleasure if we joke or exaggerate a little bit, sometimes…

 

[gregrowlerson]

Stage 7 seems to have settled the forum down a bit as a whole. There's been a bit of both extreme views in regards to Pogacar's potential/likely dominance: on the one hand you have the "Oh no, he's taken handfuls of seconds over some rivals already, it's over!" When it's usually minutes that separate 1st from 2nd in the end, and when roughly 40% of pre race contenders suffer unexpectedly negatively (bad crash, illness, just off form) at some point during the 3 weeks, saying the Tour is over is jumping the gun a bit. Emotionally, it's like if your football team is a goal up, but you still lack confidence in a positive outcome, whereas if you're a goal down it's, "Oh, there's no way we can turn this around", even if history suggests otherwise. It's an emotional over rating of the chances of the outcome that you don't want to happen, happening. On the other side of the coin you have the glass is half full fans, over rating the chances of their favourite rider (at least with a positive mindset, rather than negative), this is probably me with Roglic.......he's in a horrible position, not just against his main rival, but against his equal (enough) teammate, and with serious questions about his physical condition. I will dream of a successful long range attack in the Alps, but will race circumstances even allow this even if his body feels sensations?

Pogacar is around $1.30 in betting, suggesting around a 75% chance of winning. No matter how you look at it, at worst he's probably about a 60% chance and at best about a 85% chance. At this point in time you'd pick him to win, but wouldn't be overly shocked if he didn't. If it was anyone other than Vingegaard winning that would be very surprising, with Thomas and Roglic next in line, but still highly unlikely eventual winners.

 

[Red Rick]

Incredibly, that would complete his podium set in the Tour.

I see Thomas being more than satisfied with that, but not Ineos. If they can keep 4 guys high in the standings by next week then I think that they will try something in the Alps. Defensive with Thomas and aggressive with their other gc riders (I still don't know what to make of Pidcock though).

I don't think Ineos really try to beat the Slovenians and will quietly settle for 3rd if it comes down to it.

 

[Miha81]

I don't think Ineos really try to beat the Slovenians and will quietly settle for 3rd if it comes down to it.

Only to get burned in Vuelta again

 

[Rackham]

I don't think Ineos really try to beat the Slovenians and will quietly settle for 3rd if it comes down to it.

So the Slovenian(s) will be 1, 2 & Ineos 3rd. Nice.

Poor Jonas though.

 

[Red Rick]

So the Slovenian(s) will be 1, 2 & Ineos 3rd. Nice.

Poor Jonas though.

If the Slovenians get 2nd and 3rd and they don't beat them they can hardly get a podium slot.

 

[Rackham]

If the Slovenians get 2nd and 3rd and they don't beat them they can hardly get a podium slot.

I'm just pulling your leg.

I honestly don't agree with any of the final predictions regarding this TdF being thrown around at this point, at all. I find everyone overrated & equally underrated at the same time. Pogacar isn't God on a bike, Jonas V isn't the new best thing & Ineos won't magically develop super tactics. There's also a huge heatwave coming to France over the next two weeks (check the forecasts, it looks brutal).

Add Covid into the mix & I believe this is still totally wide open. It also makes me laugh when I read Grischa Niermann say Roglic is two minutes behind Jonas ergo he probably won't win the TdF now. No, the only reason Primoz won't win the TdF is because he's injured. But all these time gaps are so insignificant all it takes is one small crash, mechanical sickness, bad day, heatwave, positive Covid test etc. to throw the whole thing wide open for anyone within 5 minutes on GC.

 

[Valv.Piti]

Heatwave in the high Alps you said? This Tour is wide open at the moment. Feltet.dk's analyst, the infamous Emil Axelgaard (the least chauvinistic person to grace the earth), believes that the Tour might have a new favourite after yesterday in Vingegaard, despite Pogi winning two in a row.

Rarely have I looked so much forward to the Alps

 

[Extinction]

From today's la Gazzetta dello Sport:

He now grinds record: he's already won 8 stages of the french race at 23. If a comparison is needed, well then Merckx - the one and only Merckx - hadn't even one at Tadej's age. The Cannibal had not even raced the Tour yet (whereas Pogacar has already won two).

Both Pogacar and Vingegaard climbed Super Planche in 29'26", 21.6 kmh average speed, half a minute better than the record of the house boss Thinaut Pinot. They devoured the last km at 23.1 kmh.

An interview with Fabio Aru:

What strikes you the most about him?
Aru: "He has an enormous talent. He was born to ride a bike. The pressure doesn't fase him in the least and this too doesn't surprise me, because he is so strong."

What's his character like?
Aru: "Very competitive. He loves to win every time he can. The word Cannibal has already been used for Eddy Merckx and I don't want to repeat it, however, it renders the idea."

 

[Elos Anjos]

A team mate has covid and is out of the Tour.

 

[Breh]

Heatwave in the high Alps you said? This Tour is wide open at the moment. Feltet.dk's analyst, the infamous Emil Axelgaard (the least chauvinistic person to grace the earth), believes that the Tour might have a new favourite after yesterday in Vingegaard, despite Pogi winning two in a row.

Rarely have I looked so much forward to the Alps

I fail to see how Vingegaard is suddenly the new favorite.
He has only lost time so far, is 30 seconds down and is the worse TT'er.

Pogacar is still very much THE favorite to win but it might be closer than people anticipated.

 

[Elos Anjos]

I fail to see how Vingegaard is suddenly the new favorite.

It's the same with Roglic, it's an out of control meme.

 

[Miha81]

I fail to see how Vingegaard is suddenly the new favorite.
He has only lost time so far, is 30 seconds down and is the worse TT'er.

Pogacar is still very much THE favorite to win but it might be closer than people anticipated.

Only 3 factors I see that could go against Pogi. Covid, huge fall or mechanical or if the temperatures will go in high 30s or even 40s and Vingegaard & JV exploit this. Pogi is just not "happy bunny" when it gets too freaking hot.

All things aside he is still hot favourite to win it all.

 

[RedheadDane]

Danish commentators got a question/test about three things Pogacar is not good at. Suggestions:

Lose, go to bed early, and wear a regular UAE jersey.

 

[Samu Cuenca]

Danish commentators got a question/test about three things Pogacar is not good at. Suggestions:

Lose, go to bed early, and wear a regular UAE jersey.

Rapping, looking tired/old, controlling his hair, rock paper scissors

 

[Samu Cuenca]

But there are also some things he's quite good at, both on and off the bike

What you didn't see on the stage to La Super Planche des Belles Filles

There are things the Tour de France TV cameras don't let you see.

cyclingtips.com

 

[RedheadDane]

I don’t need to tell you how incredible an experience this is, being so close to the riders that, in the pre-COVID days, you could reach out and lick them (OK, even pre-COVID you still probably couldn’t do that).

Please, don't do that!

 

[Samu Cuenca]

Please, don't do that!

Not without permission.

 

[ppanther92]

Btw., how much do you think the "I just love to ride my bike" nice guy Pogacar is just image/PR? They just showed the Majka video from yesterday and there his tone and words towards his teammate were quite assertive. And don't get me wrong - that might be needed as leader, and doesn't make Pogacar a bad guy. But its not exactly in line with his media personality.

 

[kingjr]

Btw., how much do you think the "I just love to ride my bike" nice guy Pogacar is just image/PR? They just showed the Majka video from yesterday and there his tone and words towards his teammate were quite assertive. And don't get me wrong - that might be needed as leader, and doesn't make Pogacar a bad guy. But its not exactly in line with his media personality.

Are you talking about this? If so, then I don't see how this is supposed to be at odds with his image.

https://twitter.com/x/status/1545439773027876868

View: https://twitter.com/LeTour/status/1545439773027876868

 

[ppanther92]

Are you talking about this? If so, then I don't see how this is supposed to be at odds with his image.

https://twitter.com/x/status/1545439773027876868

View: https://twitter.com/LeTour/status/1545439773027876868

Yes, this one.

I think the "you left me too early" followed by Majka's "yes, sorry, sorry, sorry" indicates a quite clear power dynamic. But yeah, not that bad obviously.

 

[Ripper]

Are you talking about this? If so, then I don't see how this is supposed to be at odds with his image.

https://twitter.com/x/status/1545439773027876868

View: https://twitter.com/LeTour/status/1545439773027876868

Did he get boo'd?

 

[Ripper]

Regarding stage 8 today, not sure if pog is "playing with their balls" or wanting to pad his lead and might pay for these shorter efforts later. I would suspect more the former, but I guess time will tell.

 

[RedheadDane]

Yes, this one.

I think the "you left me to early" followed by Majka's "yes, sorry, sorry, sorry" indicates a quite clear power dynamic. But yeah, not that bad obviously.

He did an interview with Danish TV yesterday, where he joked that Majka got scared.

 

[Krzysztof_O]

I'm just pulling your leg.

I honestly don't agree with any of the final predictions regarding this TdF being thrown around at this point, at all. I find everyone overrated & equally underrated at the same time. Pogacar isn't God on a bike, Jonas V isn't the new best thing & Ineos won't magically develop super tactics. There's also a huge heatwave coming to France over the next two weeks (check the forecasts, it looks brutal).

I believe that Vinge is upgraded compared to last year and unfortunately for Pog it will be hot already during Alpine stages (and even worse afterwards). The race is far from over and I rate Vinge's chances pretty high i.e. at least 30 percent.