Teams & Riders Tadej Pogačar discussion thread

[Blobs]

At least he gets to say "I told you so" about Jonas being the best climber in the world.

 

[Salvarani]

Hopefully it is not the sickness in the team getting to him.

Covering all those attacks and potentially a hunger knock could have been the cause today. It happens and wouldnt be the first time a GC leader cracks like that.

It would be weird if it was never gonna happen to Pog at some point. It would be unfortunate if the race ends with a DNF, but Vuelta should be an amazing race with Roglic back to his best as well.

 

[Barnacle Bill]

Finally looked human and paid for putting in all those big efforts (unless something is up with him, hope not as could be very interesting to see him try to fight back)

 

[Extinction]

Hopefully it is not the sickness in the team getting to him.

Covering all those attacks and potentially a hunger knock could have been the cause today. It happens and wouldnt be the first time a GC leader cracks like that.

It would be weird if it was never gonna happen to Pog at some point. It would be unfortunate if the race ends with a DNF, but Vuelta should be an amazing race with Roglic back to his best as well.

If he is not sick, the Tour isn't over

 

[Samu Cuenca]

Let's hope he recovers, so there will still be some proper racing in store.

 

[sir fly]

Kind of strange to say inexperience cost him today, since he's a double Tour winner, so a better way to put it is - self-confidence made him unwary.
Too much unnecessary effort on Galibier.

Stay tall and keep walking. It's just one of 21 stages.

P.S.
Wonder about the effects of his spring program on current fitness.

 

[Extinction]

And I say something else, from the interview Vingegaard seems a fish out of water, uncomfortable with the weight on his shoulders....he will crack and they will be talking about this Tour in history

 

[SafeBet]

Looking human for the first time in a long time, but still looking like a champion at the finish, immediately congratulating Vingo.
Hopefully he's not sick and gives us a proper show until Paris. Won't be easy against Jumbo's monster team.

 

[gunara]

Even if he's healthy and try tomorrow, this JV team is something else, with Roglic will probably be more dedicated to domestic role, too, he can be a monster one. Too steep. Except Jonas crack himself.

 

[Blobs]

You have to respect how gracious he is in defeat. True sportsman.

 

[Aimar16]

Wonder about the effects of his spring program on current fitness.

That was my thought too.

 

[solo80k]

Even if he's healthy and try tomorrow, this JV team is something else, with Roglic will probably be more dedicated to domestic role, too, he can be a monster one. Too steep. Except Jonas crack himself.

UAE wasn't bad today. In fact until final attack they were in the mix because JV allowed Majka to come back to the front group. If you don't have legs or burn your matches too early - team won't help you. This is what happened. Tomorrow is another interesting day.

 

[CyclistAbi]

First real bad day for Pogačar today on stage 11. In retrospective it would likely have made more sense to let Rogla go. But you can't know that upfront. Way to much respect to let it happen. On a plus side if he recovers he can still win this Tour. And on top of that he will gain more sympathy if he does it like that. If he would just dominate through and through the race then his win in my opinion wouldn't be as appreciated that in now can be if he takes it. And i guess next year Almeida is coming to the Tour. Good luck and try to bring the title to Slovenia. On where it belongs.

 

[DoYouEvenRideBruh]

F*cking hell. Can't believe I have to cheer for Pogacar for the rest of the Tour now. I lowkey enjoyed hating on him as the invincible villain of cycling, but after today that era has come to an end.

 

[CyclistAbi]

F*cking hell. Can't believe I have to cheer for Pogacar for the rest of the Tour now. I lowkey enjoyed hating on him as the invincible villain of cycling, but after today that era has come to an end.

You must lose some. To win (normal) fans. Nobody really likes people that always win.

 

[Lequack]

He is human after all. But I did want the GC action to be a lot closer than it now is.

 

[movingtarget]

And I say something else, from the interview Vingegaard seems a fish out of water, uncomfortable with the weight on his shoulders....he will crack and they will be talking about this Tour in history

He does his smiling on the inside...........

 

[Fergoose]

You have to respect how gracious he is in defeat. True sportsman.

Absolutely. I think we see he is genuinely a guy who adores cycling and the heat of battle. The latter, with the consistent expenditure of energy on so many stages must have contributed to the size of his time loss today. I hope UAE don't tame him and turn him into a robot.

His hearty congratulations to Vingegaard and beaming smile on the podium in white make him very hard to dislike. I actually think he is thrilled that he has genuine competition and that it may help maintain his enthusiasm for the sport over the long term.

His goofing around when WVA was pulling to the foot of the final climb today at first I thought was arrogance, then I thought it was acting to portray himself as confident when he wasnt feeling too great. But honestly I think it was him being aware he was in a special stage and loving it.

Was it very hot today? There have been slight hints he doesn't perform quite so brilliantly in the heat?

 

[Extinction]

Absolutely. I think we see he is genuinely a guy who adores cycling and the heat of battle. The latter, with the consistent expenditure of energy on so many stages must have contributed to the size of his time loss today. I hope UAE don't tame him and turn him into a robot.

His hearty congratulations to Vingegaard and beaming smile on the podium in white make him very hard to dislike. I actually think he is thrilled that he has genuine competition and that it may help maintain his enthusiasm for the sport over the long term.

His goofing around when WVA was pulling to the foot of the final climb today at first I thought was arrogance, then I thought it was acting to portray himself as confident when he wasnt feeling too great. But honestly I think it was him being aware he was in a special stage and loving it.

Was it very hot today? There have been slight hints he doesn't perform quite so brilliantly in the heat?

Excellent post. I think he didn't calculate enough the energy he was expending prior to this stage and, call it hubris or just living the moment, with the weakness of his team, he will have to race smarter in the future. It could also be that the stars simply aligned against him and that he will come back with a bang or not, but he still has a brright future, unless injury were to happen. Still, someone wrote about Fignon and Ullrich being so precoscious and then having major setbacks, but I don't believe this with Pogacar. But only time will tell.

 

[Miha81]

Slovenian media asked him what happened. He replied that has no idea and that he felt very good till the second part of last climb.

When asked if he will seek revenge tommorow. He replied that he never seeks revenge but he will try to attack and gain lost time back. He acknowledge that it will be hard (given the JV streght and current form) but stated that is never over until it is over.

Graceful in defeat and somehow managed to smile despite what just happened. Great champ.

 

[Blobs]

He says he'll attack tomorrow. I'm guessing he'll try to go, on the final climb, at the risk of leading out another Vinge-bomb. If it doesn't succeed then stages 17 & 18 look really good for a long raid. Will be difficult against a strong Jumbo team though.

 

[Big Doopie]

He is human after all. But I did want the GC action to be a lot closer than it now is.

plenty close enough as long as pog is not sick. wider gaps (within reason) actually makes for more attacking cycling.

it is the rest of the gang up to 7th (Gaudu) that we have to fret about as they will work against each other and even Pog. Pog will fight like crazy.

 

[Miha81]

He says he'll attack tomorrow. I'm guessing he'll try to go, on the final climb, at the risk of leading out another Vinge-bomb. If it doesn't succeed then stages 17 & 18 look really good for a long raid. Will be difficult against a strong Jumbo team though.

I hope he gets some time back to make last ITT interesting affair.

 

[Blobs]

This is the first time he's lost a leaders jersey. Interesting to see how he'll handle a bit of adversity.

If he ends up getting clearly beaten by Vingegaard in this race, will he then have to reconsider his entire approach to the calendar? Should he be a bit more conservative?

 

[Miha81]

This is the first time he's lost a leaders jersey. Interesting to see how he'll handle a bit of adversity.

If he ends up getting clearly beaten by Vingegaard in this race, will he then have to reconsider his entire approach to the calendar? Should he be a bit more conservative?

I love watching him because he is not conservative. Who needs multiple grand tour winners that are affraid to attack on certain terrains and rely on train of strong teammates to pull them sheltered into the last climbs. We had plenty of those already and it is not a fun affair in my books.

Today's stage was awsome despite the end result (for Slovenian fans). I hope there is more to come this and in following years.