Teams & Riders Tadej Pogačar discussion thread

[Tinnekeisabella]

Great? TDF Stage 20 great? Name one that comes even close.

More realistic by far.

Tirreno and UAE were flat TT's where he was up against Ganna and Van Aert (Tirreno). TDF stage 20 was basically a mountain time trial.

It is normal that he does better when there is climbing involved.

I have a feeling he hit his brakes during the last lap yesterday. Losing 30 seconds on that was weird.

I have a feeling he wanted Polanc to have a chance to compensate not being on the tour team

 

[Unterlenkerfahrend]

I think the heat could be a big X factor, has he ever raced a really good stage race in proper hot temperatures? What was the climate like at the Vuelta 2019?
Because, make no mistake, France in September can make a huge difference to France in July.
All the early season races he has dominated are mostly mild to outright cold weather (which he loves), even UAE in February is between 15 and 25°C. Let´s see how he deals with multiple days above 30°C.

As for his TT abilities I don´t understand the scepticism. He had beaten Roglic before in that Slovenian National ITT and just this year he was quicker than a good ITTler in Almeida in the UAE Tour and basically same time as Ganna in Tirreno. These are very very good results for a GC contender, it`s not just down to "that" Tdf ITT.

 

[Samu Cuenca]

This was their long list

So right now it looks like Polanc, Kristoff and Troia could be the ones missing out.

 

[CyclistAbi]

A bit strange decision if you ask me. Saying no to Polanc. But OK, they likely know something we don't.

 

[Eyeballs Out]

Not selecting Polanc is a big mistake in my view. He seems to have based his whole year around being on top form to dom in the the Tour (and clearly is in top form as well). He'd be the 3rd name in the team for me after Pog and Majka (who has also clearly based his year around the Tour). Now he's going to miss out to the big contract guys who are either not in form or won't have the same motivation to do that job

 

[Tinnekeisabella]

I think the heat could be a big X factor, has he ever raced a really good stage race in proper hot temperatures? What was the climate like at the Vuelta 2019?
Because, make no mistake, France in September can make a huge difference to France in July.
All the early season races he has dominated are mostly mild to outright cold weather (which he loves), even UAE in February is between 15 and 25°C. Let´s see how he deals with multiple days above 30°C.

As for his TT abilities I don´t understand the scepticism. He had beaten Roglic before in that Slovenian National ITT and just this year he was quicker than a good ITTler in Almeida in the UAE Tour and basically same time as Ganna in Tirreno. These are very very good results for a GC contender, it`s not just down to "that" Tdf ITT.

Not completely sure, but I remember this UAE Tour and def last year's were very hot.

I think it was quite warm last week in Slovenia too on that stage on Saturday that Ulissi won

 

[Tinnekeisabella]

So right now it looks like Polanc, Kristoff and Troia could be the ones missing out.

But then we would need one more no? A suprise name? Laengen maybe for the flats?

Kristoff seems to be leaving UAE at the end of the season so not seeing them take him

 

[Tinnekeisabella]

Not selecting Polanc is a big mistake in my view. He seems to have based his whole year around being on top form to dom in the the Tour (and clearly is in top form as well). He'd be the 3rd name in the team for me after Pog and Majka (who has also clearly based his year around the Tour). Now he's going to miss out to the big contract guys who are either not in form or won't have the same motivation to do that job

I agree and I wonder this news has been part of the reason Tadej did not perform to his max abilities (deliberately or not).

Polanc seems to be a very loyal helper to Tadej, he is the only other slovenian and they clearly get along very very well.

Polanc has been a long time friend for Tadej being the son of his old LGS manager Marco.

For me it was a given they would take Polanc as he indeed seemed to be focussing on helping Tadej in the tour, seemed in great shape and he is important for Tadej as slovenian companion

They won't leave Hauptman out of the tour caravan either no?

 

[Samu Cuenca]

But then we would need one more no? A suprise name? Laengen maybe for the flats?

Kristoff seems to be leaving UAE at the end of the season so not seeing them take him

It was mainly due to a RedheadDane like level of calculation skills on my part Clearly there are only eight names on the shortlist, so Troia should be going, though I don't really know why he came to be on the list in the first place.

 

[Tinnekeisabella]

It was mainly due to a RedheadDane like level of calculation skills on my part Clearly there are only eight names on the shortlist, so Troia should be going, though I don't really know why he came to be on the list in the first place.

just checked out Troia on Procyclingstats as I have no idea who he even is after following UAE closely for over a year:
wow if he earns a tour spot with those results

 

[Samu Cuenca]

just checked out Troia on Procyclingstats as I have no idea who he even is after following UAE closely for over a year:
wow if he earns a tour spot with those results

He is a domestique, so his results will obviously reflect that, but they definitely still have better riders to choose from.

 

[Tinnekeisabella]

He is a domestique, so his results will obviously reflect that, but they definitely still have better riders to choose from.

yeah, I do not want to sound like he is no good domestique, but this is the tour team with the defending champion.

I guess their tour team is all known now for them so I hope they bring it out soon

 

[Gargamel35]

I think the heat could be a big X factor, has he ever raced a really good stage race in proper hot temperatures? What was the climate like at the Vuelta 2019?
Because, make no mistake, France in September can make a huge difference to France in July.
All the early season races he has dominated are mostly mild to outright cold weather (which he loves), even UAE in February is between 15 and 25°C. Let´s see how he deals with multiple days above 30°C.

As for his TT abilities I don´t understand the scepticism. He had beaten Roglic before in that Slovenian National ITT and just this year he was quicker than a good ITTler in Almeida in the UAE Tour and basically same time as Ganna in Tirreno. These are very very good results for a GC contender, it`s not just down to "that" Tdf ITT.

He did beat Roglič but just for a very small margin. Not by 3 minutes like in TdF. Ever. Not even close.

 

[Tinnekeisabella]

He did beat Roglič but just for a very small margin. Not by 3 minutes like in TdF. Ever. Not even close.

he was almost 2 minutes faster on LPDBF not 3...And there Roglic probably also heard the time differences on his radio and that did not help

 

[CyclistAbi]

Best to let them sort it out on the Tour.

As for a bit subpar performance, by Pogačar standards, on nationals TT. Route didn't favour him and Tratnik is in great shape. Zoncolan. We know Tratnik is a good time trialist on such route.

In first lap Pogačar was still ahead and likely starting too hot made him hit a wall too soon. Tactical mistake.

Regardless it would be hard to beat Tratnik on this race. By the time the third lap started Pogačar likely was already at the Sundays road race at the back of his mind. If he will win then he likely won't put too much thought in not winning the TT title. If he doesn't win it then i feel he will be left a bit disappointed. But then again this year it's pretty much about the Tour anyway.

 

[Unterlenkerfahrend]

Not completely sure, but I remember this UAE Tour and def last year's were very hot.

I think it was quite warm last week in Slovenia too on that stage on Saturday that Ulissi won

Yeah, I just checked the UAE stages and it was indeed quite hot this year, so I might overrate the heat aspect. It's also not a given that it will be that hot during the Tour, so let's see.

He did beat Roglič but just for a very small margin. Not by 3 minutes like in TdF. Ever. Not even close.

I don't know what point you're making? I never said that his TdF time trial is the standard he should be judged on , I just think that because PdbF = outlier doesn't make the reverse right that he's an average to decent TT rider. And like I said, his other results, beating Roglic, beating Almeida, almost beating Ganna show that he is consistently very good at it.
Does that mean he will take time on Roglic? Not really, as Basque country has shown, because Roglic is also excellent. I actually think Roglic will take time on him in the first TT on stage 5, the last one... well a lot can happen in 3 weeks.

 

[CyclistAbi]

Pogačar confirmed, local media, he is a bit disappointed Polanc isn't on the Tour roster. All in all i agree that this was a rather strange decision UAE made.

 

[Lequack]

But then we would need one more no? A suprise name? Laengen maybe for the flats?

Kristoff seems to be leaving UAE at the end of the season so not seeing them take him

Polanc is getting rplaced bby Rui Costa because of his good showing in Tour de Suisse.

 

[Mayomaniac]

Polanc is getting rplaced bby Rui Costa because of his good showing in Tour de Suisse.

I guess that means Formolo will be Pogi's roommate instead of Polanc, they are good friends.
When was the last time Rui Costa actually worked for a teammate?

 

[BlueRoads]

Polanc is getting rplaced bby Rui Costa because of his good showing in Tour de Suisse.

But why not take both? They aren't exactly the same kind of rider, are they?
I would really take out Kristoff (if you need him in the road captain role I would probably take Trentin instead, anyway), and maybe Hirschi, if he doesn't show improved numbers, or McNulty, and what exactly is Troia there for?
I don't understand this whole selection the way it looks at the moment.
Can somebody who knows more about UAE make sense of this?
At the moment this looks like they deliberately play the weak team card.

 

[CyclistAbi]

Can somebody who knows more about UAE make sense of this?

I doubt UAE can make much sense of it too. Jokes aside maybe it was money related. Or something.

 

[Tinnekeisabella]

I guess that means Formolo will be Pogi's roommate instead of Polanc, they are good friends.
When was the last time Rui Costa actually worked for a teammate?

Yeah I assume he will indeed room with Formolo then.

 

[Tinnekeisabella]

I doubt UAE can make much sense of it too. Jokes aside maybe it was money related. Or something.

it is a weird choice for sure. Tadej has said that he was disappointed and sad about leaving Polanc at home so which team would just ignore their leader’s request?

Polanc is usually his roommate too so he could also be important for Tadej in that way. Just unwinding after a stage, speaking slovenian. His form was quite good too.

I guess Polanc can also start to search a new team since his contract ends…

 

[carolina]

When was the last time Rui Costa actually worked for a teammate?

I'm sure he'll do his best (to pretend) to work for Pogacar.

 

[hayneplane]

Pogačar confirmed, local media, he is a bit disappointed Polanc isn't on the Tour roster. All in all i agree that this was a rather strange decision UAE made.

That’s really odd. You would think that the defending champion with great form and current favourite would have a big hand in picking the rest of the team to support his yellow jersey bid.