Teams & Riders Tadej Pogačar discussion thread

[Peyroteo94]

Yes, pretty much the same as this season.

Not do UAE and start with SB as his first race.

Maybe TA or PN if he wants to.

It all depends on if he goes back to cobbles or not, but it seems likely he will. So therefore his schedule should be pretty much the same.

It also opens up a lot of races for Almeida, Del Toro, Yates, McNulty, Vine and so on to target.

It is good for morale in the team.

More GTs and stage races. Classics, they (Pogacar's teammates) don't have any chance of leading the team.

 

[snipeheem]

For me it's clear his 2026 schedule:
SB
MSR
RVV
PR
LBL (if he is fresh, FW or/and AGR)
TdS (just 5 days of racing next year)
TdF
Canadian classics
WC
EC
GdL

If he feels fresh after the Tour, maybe he can race the Vuelta. It's his decision.

No way 5 monuments +2 GT, its too much even for goat

 

[Peyroteo94]

No way 5 monuments +2 GT, its too much even for goat

I don't believe too but we never know with him and I would not race UAE Tour, AGR and FW next year.

 

[Lurkerman]

Does Pogacar/UAE have the best bike? How much of a bike downgrade would it take for him to lose a race to Remco? I recall Tom Boonen headline from long ago about how Pog would finish all races two minutes faster if he got a better bike. I was just thinking about this since I listened to the Rwanda recap on The Move, a podcast I'm generally unfamiliar with, and this Spencer Martin guy said it's just game over for everyone else once you have two guys (Pog and del Toro) in front on Colnago bikes taking turns, as if it's a big UAE superweapon

 

[Peyroteo94]

Does Pogacar/UAE have the best bike? How much of a bike downgrade would it take for him to lose a race to Remco? I recall Tom Boonen headline from long ago about how Pog would finish all races two minutes faster if he got a better bike. I was just thinking about this since I listened to the Rwanda recap on The Move, a podcast I'm generally unfamiliar with, and this Spencer Martin guy said it's just game over for everyone else once you have two guys (Pog and del Toro) in front on Colnago bikes taking turns, as if it's a big UAE superweapon

No, it's not a superweapon

 

[pihi42]

Next thing we'll be discussing is if it's possible to win multiple races in a single day.
Perhaps Tour De France and Tour of Magnificent Qinghai 2026?
Tour of the Alps and La Flèche Wallonne?
Chuck Norris could do it in the olden days, why not Pogi?

 

[snipeheem]

I don't believe too but we never know with him and I would not race UAE Tour, AGR and FW next year.

He should never ride this stupid UAE BS again.

 

[Cycling111]

He should never ride this stupid UAE BS again.

He had to go because the two years he didn't go they weren't able to win it. With all the races they win and the one they had to win to free him, they are not capable.

Bext year I suppose they'll send Del Toro.

 

[Shortcut]

With his schedule it is also important to take into account what can he even do to prepare himself better to be better at them. For example i don't see how any race can truly prepare him for MSR, also really hard to prepare for next year WC. 3200m climbing at 270km long distance it will not be so hard for belgians to survive. And with Slovenian team it will be really hard to defend a Title. There is also question how much is him important to win Strade or GdL in he repeats this year GdL. He will win those again even without real preparation sometimes but kot every year. So i hope he goes something like MSR-E3, RVV, P-R, LBL, TdS, TdF, Vuelta, WC, EC (it is in Slo so he will be there) GdL.

 

[Peyroteo94]

With his schedule it is also important to take into account what can he even do to prepare himself better to be better at them. For example i don't see how any race can truly prepare him for MSR, also really hard to prepare for next year WC. 3200m climbing at 270km long distance it will not be so hard for belgians to survive. And with Slovenian team it will be really hard to defend a Title. There is also question how much is him important to win Strade or GdL in he repeats this year GdL. He will win those again even without real preparation sometimes but kot every year. So i hope he goes something like MSR-E3, RVV, P-R, LBL, TdS, TdF, Vuelta, WC, EC (it is in Slo so he will be there) GdL.

I think Usrka's schedule is very important to understand what Pogacar will race next year.
But E3 is not a good idea. He just needs to race SB and spring monuments to be fresher for the second part of the season.

 

[Cycling111]

With his schedule it is also important to take into account what can he even do to prepare himself better to be better at them. For example i don't see how any race can truly prepare him for MSR, also really hard to prepare for next year WC. 3200m climbing at 270km long distance it will not be so hard for belgians to survive. And with Slovenian team it will be really hard to defend a Title. There is also question how much is him important to win Strade or GdL in he repeats this year GdL. He will win those again even without real preparation sometimes but kot every year. So i hope he goes something like MSR-E3, RVV, P-R, LBL, TdS, TdF, Vuelta, WC, EC (it is in Slo so he will be there) GdL.

So it's not the same circuit as the Montreal GP. Montreal GP doesn't have more than 4,000?

 

[Shortcut]

So it's not the same circuit as the Montreal GP. Montreal GP doesn't have more than 4,000?

No, it is not, it is similar but with less climbing.

 

[Shortcut]

I think Usrka's schedule is very important to understand what Pogacar will race next year.
But E3 is not a good idea. He just needs to race SB and spring monuments to be fresher for the second part of the season.

Without SB, he can peak 2 weeks later. E3 is because he normally does preparation races, but this year he didn't race nothing before RVV and still won, so you could be right.

 

[Peyroteo94]

Without SB, he can peak 2 weeks later. E3 is because he normally does preparation races, but this year he didn't race nothing before RVV and still won, so you could be right.

He doesn't peak for SB. It's a warm up race

 

[hayneplane]

And being Giro+Tour+ WC winner? No one can even come close to win Giro-Tour in the modern era after Pantani. Let alone Giro+Tour+WC

Giro-Tour-Worlds is massively impressive but with the parcours in Zurich it did have the advantage of requiring fairly similar skill sets.

The varying types of power and skills needed to podium all 5 monuments in the same season is just ridiculously phenomenally rare. Even in the era where everyone rode on all terrains and competed across the calendar this was never achieved.

 

[2WpK]

Anyone who thinks Pog will gift a Monument knows nothing about cycling.

 

[Monsi]

He likely went a bit too hard trying to catch MVP and cracked. Without the crash would've probably lost to MVP anyway (likely in a sprint).

Funnily enough, without the crash, Pogacar would've won Roubaix because MVDP had a puncture on Carrefour de l'Arbre.

 

[Monsi]

So it's not the same circuit as the Montreal GP. Montreal GP doesn't have more than 4,000?

It's the same circuit as GP Montreal but the difference is that the Worlds start with 100+ km of flat before riding 12 laps of the GP Montreal circuit.

 

[Peyroteo94]

Giro-Tour-Worlds is massively impressive but with the parcours in Zurich it did have the advantage of requiring fairly similar skill sets.

The varying types of power and skills needed to podium all 5 monuments in the same season is just ridiculously phenomenally rare. Even in the era where everyone rode on all terrains and competed across the calendar this was never achieved.

Zurich was a race for puncheurs and you still need to maintain a superb level for almost 6 months.
However, I already understood those who say that a podium in all 5 monuments is even more impressive. I can agree on that now. No one has ever made it.

 

[Peyroteo94]

It's the same circuit as GP Montreal but the difference is that the Worlds start with 100+ km of flat before riding 12 laps of the GP Montreal circuit.

This. Almost like RVV where the vertical meters are all in the second part of the race.

 

[Krzysztof_O]

This. Almost like RVV where the vertical meters are all in the second part of the race.

Next year's WC could be more interesting regarding Pogacar vs Evenepoel dynamics. Maybe they will reach the line together?

 

[Peyroteo94]

Next year's WC could be more interesting regarding Pogacar vs Evenepoel dynamics. Maybe they will reach the line together?

Maybe. Slovenia is not strong enough to put a hard tempo and I believe Belgium learned their lesson this year.

 

[Krzysztof_O]

Maybe. Slovenia is not strong enough to put a hard tempo and I believe Belgium learned their lesson this year.

We need some legendary attack by the duo (it's been anticipated for years and nothing so far). Pogi's solos are more boring. The route should be more friendly to Evenepoel with Ardennes weight.

 

[Eddy Evenepoel]

I believe Belgium learned their lesson this year.

you are way too optimistic

 

[Peyroteo94]

We need some legendary attack by the duo (it's been anticipated for years and nothing so far). Pogi's solos are more boring. The route should be more friendly to Evenepoel with Ardennes weight.

For me 2026 WCRR will be like Zurich so a good Remco will probably perform better and be closer to Pogacar.