Teams & Riders Tadej Pogačar discussion thread

[noob]

I wouldn't want to win a race because one guy got mauled by stray hay and the other by catching a cold.

Many guys has

 

[Cookster15]

Pogacar has a bigger problem than heat right now. He is on thin ice regarding COVID. Bennett is out, Majka is positive. Vinge may turn out to be luckiest man alive if another Slovenian is in trouble.

Yes Covid found its way into UAE but all teams and riders are now at risk - including Vinge. The Tour hasn’t deployed the bubble which worked in 2020.

 

[Rollthedice]

Pog had COVID, he'll probably get it again from his teammates but he'll be fine. This new excuse with "low viral load" to keep riders in race will be used. Problem of course is with those who will catch it from these "low viral load" guys and get sick.

 

[KZD]

Pog had COVID, he'll probably get it again from his teammates but he'll be fine. This new excuse with "low viral load" to keep riders in race will be used. Problem of course is with those who will catch it from these "low viral load" guys and get sick.

I don't see it as an excuse if a rider barely has any symptoms due to "low viral load" he/she should be able to continue racing.

 

[Lequack]

 

[Extinction]

Yes Covid found its way into UAE but all teams and riders are now at risk - including Vinge. The Tour hasn’t deployed the bubble which worked in 2020.

They need to normalize this and treat it like any flu. Covid kills the old with numerous maledies, like any flu that turns into pneumonia. They should stop testing and move on.

 

[Cookster15]

They need to normalize this and treat it like any flu. Covid kills the old with numerous maledies, like any flu that turns into pneumonia. They should stop testing and move on.

I tend to agree. Looking at France I see there are 16.5 million currently infected people (24% of the population). Of this just 869 persons in France are listed as serious or critical.

France COVID - Coronavirus Statistics - Worldometer (worldometers.info)

 

[Extinction]

I tend to agree. Looking at France I see there are 16.5 million currently infected people (24% of the population). Of this just 869 persons in France are listed as serious or critical.

France COVID - Coronavirus Statistics - Worldometer (worldometers.info)

After 3 vaccinations, what else is there to do? This illness is no threat to society at large. The Tour needs to move on, as has the rest of public life.

 

[tobydawq]

After 3 vaccinations, what else is there to do? This illness is no threat to society at large. The Tour needs to move on, as has the rest of public life.

Agreed.

 

[Sciatic]

I tend to agree. Looking at France I see there are 16.5 million currently infected people (24% of the population). Of this just 869 persons in France are listed as serious or critical.

France COVID - Coronavirus Statistics - Worldometer (worldometers.info)

I call bullsh&t on your source: official French govt data, as of yesterday, shows that average number of number of new hospitalizations (which I think of as serious) is 1,422 (nouvelles personnes hospitalisées) per day, and the average number of patients going into critical care is 125 per day (which is not too bad). Moreover, the rate of increase over the past for both of those roughly 30%.

Géodes - Santé publique France

www.gouvernement.fr

 

[Cookster15]

I call bullsh&t on your source: official French govt data, as of yesterday, shows that average number of number of new hospitalizations (which I think of as serious) is 1,422 (nouvelles personnes hospitalisées) per day, and the average number of patients going into critical care is 125 per day (which is not too bad). Moreover, the rate of increase over the past for both of those roughly 30%.

Géodes - Santé publique France

www.gouvernement.fr

Worldometer. Perhaps the issue is just because you are hospitalised does not make you serious or critical? Perspective is important.

 

[Sciatic]

Worldometer. Perhaps the issue is just because you are hospitalised does not make you serious or critical? Perspective is important.

True, and sorry I overreacted.

 

[Miha81]

I wouldn't want to win a race because one guy got mauled by stray hay and the other by catching a cold.

Tell it to the Danish "next big thing". He will try anyway and I hope both Slovenians can show up.

 

[SafeBet]

I wouldn't want to win a race because one guy got mauled by stray hay and the other by catching a cold.

So in that case he should forfeit the win?

 

[Gargamel35]

So in that case he should forfeit the win?

No, but he can't be proud on that kind of win. I'm sure he would feel the same.

 

[dazaau]

No, but he can't be proud on that kind of win. I'm sure he would feel the same.

It's the Tour de France. You take it and you run.

 

[Extinction]

Agreed.

And then, it's ridiculous that they have allowed the public back and still expect the riders to be tested for Covid (and thrown out of the course if positive). The Tour is potentially shooting itself in the foot. Masks are no longer required in public to circulate, so why should riders and teams suffer for catching something that is no worse than the common flu? And I say this because I've had it and everyone I know that has had it and those that they know who have had it have experienced no more than a normal flu or just mild flu. As with ordinare flu, with few exceptions, only the elderly and already infirm risk something much worse.

 

[Gigs_98]

I guess I'm more cautious when it comes to calling this just another flu and don't want to proclaim the end of Covid just yet. But even then the current management of this illness is ridiculous. You take it serious or you don't, but you have to make up your mind. And currently when clearly nobody gives a damn about the spread of this illness anymore, policing it super hard in a group of people unable to isolate themselves from the public is so obviously stupid. I really really hope Pogacar doesn't catch it and has to abandon the race. What a shame that would be.

 

[Valv.Piti]

If Pogacar gets COVID, im certain they will say its a very mild COVID or whatever and let him continue. I simply don't think you can throw the yellow jersey out on the basis of such a worthless thing as a COVID positive, but I could be mistaken

 

[dutchdescent]

I guess I'm more cautious when it comes to calling this just another flu and don't want to proclaim the end of Covid just yet. But even then the current management of this illness is ridiculous. You take it serious or you don't, but you have to make up your mind. And currently when clearly nobody gives a damn about the spread of this illness anymore, policing it super hard in a group of people unable to isolate themselves from the public is so obviously stupid. I really really hope Pogacar doesn't catch it and has to abandon the race. What a shame that would be.

Agree with this 300%

 

[Boes]

I heard via riders in the tour that the ASO tests were a bit of a joke. The fact that Bennet is negative in the ASO test and positive in the UAE test pretty much says it all.

 

[Ricco']

And then, it's ridiculous that they have allowed the public back and still expect the riders to be tested for Covid (and thrown out of the course if positive). The Tour is potentially shooting itself in the foot. Masks are no longer required in public to circulate, so why should riders and teams suffer for catching something that is no worse than the common flu? And I say this because I've had it and everyone I know that has had it and those that they know who have had it have experienced no more than a normal flu or just mild flu. As with ordinare flu, with few exceptions, only the elderly and already infirm risk something much worse.

But there are certain restrictions in France (mainly the need to self-isolate for at least 5 days is positive) that the Tour can not or should not be above.

If those restrictions are justified right now? Probably not, but if they are in place a sporting event shouldn't be exempt of the rules that apply to the general population.

 

[Extinction]

I guess I'm more cautious when it comes to calling this just another flu and don't want to proclaim the end of Covid just yet. But even then the current management of this illness is ridiculous. You take it serious or you don't, but you have to make up your mind. And currently when clearly nobody gives a damn about the spread of this illness anymore, policing it super hard in a group of people unable to isolate themselves from the public is so obviously stupid. I really really hope Pogacar doesn't catch it and has to abandon the race. What a shame that would be.

I've been vaccinated 3 times and got it afterward. The point I think, as you suggest, is that governments have, and have been forced to, open society at large, because Covid isn't the Black Death and humanity and the workforce need to get back to normalcy. Thus it's absurd that the Tour wants to police severly a microcosm, when the state has liberated the macrocosm from all strict anti-Covid countermeasures. It's just unfair to riders and teams.

 

[ppanther92]

I said one time, covid will beat him. Unfortunately, I think I will not be wrong

Its bot looking good within the team with Laengen and Bennett out and Majka apparently positive (how does this even work? Are they separating Majka? Is he even supposed to stay near Pogacar on the climbs now?).

That would be very sad actually. I do not necessarily root for Pogacar but to be taken out by illness (even more when you were the strongest in the race) is obviously not something to wish for.

 

[Extinction]

But there are certain restrictions in France (mainly the need to self-isolate for at least 5 days is positive) that the Tour can not or should not be above.

If those restrictions are justified right now? Probably not, but if they are in place a sporting event shouldn't be exempt of the rules that apply to the general population.

I understand that and it's the same in Italy, however, mandatory testing is not required by the state, by a public ordinance that is, nor is it in France. Hence, it's up to individual citizens to choose to be tested. At this point, having already gotten Covid, if I were to feel flu-like symptoms, I would not get tested, but treat it like any flu in the pre-Covid era. At this point, after 3 vaccine cycles, I think the riders should be held no more accountable than the rest of the working population. So, other than being exempt from a general mandate, the Tour is imposing on the teams that which the rest of the population is in fact not required to do. And I don't recall other sports' events of late requiring athletes to undergo mandatory testing.