Pinot 2018 was very much written in the stars too. So was Fuglsang's Liège win.
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Pinot 2018 was very much written in the stars too. So was Fuglsang's Liège win.
Somewhere in an alternate universe Pogacar finishes the season with 3 monuments and Tour. Would have been the best season in a very long time.
2012 cobbles?
I don't think so. He had been at it since Strade and given how close Fuglsang came to him on the Mur de Huy, it seemed like Fuglsang was maybe even getting better than back then while Ala maybe was on the way down. Plus the harder parcours was also expected to tip the scale.
UAE Tour - 1st (2 stages)
Strade Bianche 1st
T-A - 1st (2 stages)
Slovenia - 1st (2 stages)
Tour - 2nd (3 stages)
Montreal - 1st
Varesine - 1st
Lombardia - 1st
Not bad for a season that honestly could have been quite a lot better. Could've won MSR and Flanders, and he faced an incredibly Jumbo and Vingegaard on a route that could punish him (mostly self-inflicted on Galibier) and his weaker team.
Outstanding!
Strade Bianche 1st
T-A - 1st (2 stages)
Slovenia - 1st (2 stages)
Tour - 2nd (3 stages)
Montreal - 1st
Varesine - 1st
Lombardia - 1st
Not bad for a season that honestly could have been quite a lot better. Could've won MSR and Flanders, and he faced an incredibly Jumbo and Vingegaard on a route that could punish him (mostly self-inflicted on Galibier) and his weaker team.
Outstanding!
With today's win, I think is safe to say Pogačar is the best monument rider of the current time.
He won the last 3 hilly monuments he took part in and in between still manage to get 5th in MSR and 4th in RVV where he was the strongest rider.
Could reach double digits if he keeps this pace in the next years
He won the last 3 hilly monuments he took part in and in between still manage to get 5th in MSR and 4th in RVV where he was the strongest rider.
Could reach double digits if he keeps this pace in the next years
Best season that ever got 'saved' in Lombardia I think.
I know everybody didn't see it that way.
In my view, he was an odds-on favourite. Pinot as well in 2018.
The biggest possible improvement was Liege - unfortunately he withdrew from the race that was one of his goals. As for Flandres, at least the 2nd place was a lock but he f**ked it up at the end (MVP was probably too fast anyway) - still it was (together with Strade) his most impressive one-day race and 4th place doesn't reflect the carnage that he caused there. MSR was hard to win - Pogacar was in superb form but was marked by WVA and co, the climb wasn't hard enough and Mohoric was a daredevil.
His 2022 season is the second highest scoring season in the history of CQRanking (which began in 1999).
The number one season is of course his own from last year.
The kid is good.
The number one season is of course his own from last year.
The kid is good.
Also couldn't start Liege due to Covid family matters.
I do think that Ronde performance is hard to repeat. WvA was out with Covid himself there and MvdP had a bad preperation, but still.
I do think that Ronde performance is hard to repeat. WvA was out with Covid himself there and MvdP had a bad preperation, but still.
It wasn't covid, it was because his mother-in-law had passed away.
The schedule this year, is probably the schedule he should have every year. They should not change it up anytime soon.
It is the perfect schedule for him to be able to race the whole spring. Get the rest/recovery that he needs after it and to start the necessary preparation for the Tour. Take some rest/recovery after the Tour and then start with some races building towards a peak for Il Lombardia.
The schedule lands him at round 50-55 race days every year, which isnt too much, but given that he always races to win and most of the races he takes part in having strong fields it makes the most sense to avoid burning out too soon.
One GT, the Tour, which is always very hard and racing most of the monuments except for PR is perfect. It maximizes his potential the best.
He could do the Giro and Vuelta double in a couple of years. Would be surprised if they did it anytime soon or have him race the Vuelta after a hard Tour, the way they have been raced in recent years.
It is the perfect schedule for him to be able to race the whole spring. Get the rest/recovery that he needs after it and to start the necessary preparation for the Tour. Take some rest/recovery after the Tour and then start with some races building towards a peak for Il Lombardia.
The schedule lands him at round 50-55 race days every year, which isnt too much, but given that he always races to win and most of the races he takes part in having strong fields it makes the most sense to avoid burning out too soon.
One GT, the Tour, which is always very hard and racing most of the monuments except for PR is perfect. It maximizes his potential the best.
He could do the Giro and Vuelta double in a couple of years. Would be surprised if they did it anytime soon or have him race the Vuelta after a hard Tour, the way they have been raced in recent years.
Funnily enough I did the same check on Procyclingstats today.
There its the best since Jalabert's 1997. Slightly better than his own 2021, Gilbert's 2011 and Sagan's 2016.
So obviously an immense year that to some degree still feels incomplete to me (and I actually suspect to himself as well) due to the loss to Vingegaard at the TdF...
Awesome to repeat the win in Lombardia, amazing rider, amazing ride.
There‘s a pun involving a popular live streamingAwesome to repeat the win in Lombardia, amazing rider, amazing ride.
platform in there with that picture.
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The last rider to win more than 7 monuments was Sean Kelly who won his 9th and final monument 30 years ago in 1992.
A lot can change, he will continue to have plenty of competition in the hilly monuments from Evenepoel and Roglic plus Alaphillipe and others with WVA and MVDP principal obstacles to cobbled glory, MSR will forever be a lottery ticket where being the strongest often doesn’t pay out, but if he stays motivated and injury free I expect at least 6 monuments minimum when he retires.
A lot can change, he will continue to have plenty of competition in the hilly monuments from Evenepoel and Roglic plus Alaphillipe and others with WVA and MVDP principal obstacles to cobbled glory, MSR will forever be a lottery ticket where being the strongest often doesn’t pay out, but if he stays motivated and injury free I expect at least 6 monuments minimum when he retires.
The last two seasons he has accumulated 7054 points. That makes him the first rider to break the 7000 barrier for two consecutive seasons (calendar years, not rolling, I don't know about that).
Riders who have gotten more than 6000 points over two consecutive seasons:
Roglic (2019-2020): 6257
Valverde (2014-2015): 6128
And that's it.
Roglic 2020 was pretty crazy. First race that year was in June.
2nd Tour, winning LBL and Vuelta in little over two months is incredible.
A small thing that annoys me in hindsight is Roglic crashing in the 2020 Dauphine instead of cleaning up Lombardia.
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