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Teams & Riders Tadej Pogačar discussion thread

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Just go RVV/Roubaix don't need that dumb tuneup crap
Agree. Just do Catalunya to build on your first base, show up at RVV and dip - go Liege then break - altitude and Tour Vuelta- Lombardia. Start with Strade and MSR.

Monuments is the name of the game for him and let the others fight for the scraps. Would much rather him do Liege etc than E3, Gent..
Think Roubaix is still too early in his career in terms of their plans so would personally be surprised if he did Roubaix next year.
 
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One only needs to analyze what races are missing from his palmares to know how his schedule might go. Exceptions to this rule will be desired repeats of certain monuments (Flanders, LBL, and Lombardia) and the tour. There is a smattering of a collection of known missing monuments, the vuelta, 1 week stage races like Basque, Swiss, and Dauphiné (these are more important than we might believe), and difficult to obtain classics (targeting Merckx here).
 
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Agree. Just do Catalunya to build on your first base, show up at RVV and dip - go Liege then break - altitude and Tour Vuelta- Lombardia. Start with Strade and MSR.

Monuments is the name of the game for him and let the others fight for the scraps. Would much rather him do Liege etc than E3, Gent..
Think Roubaix is still too early in his career in terms of their plans so would personally be surprised if he did Roubaix next year.
Next year I think he will do ToBC or TdR as his WT week races to add to his palmares.
 
He just tore up his jersey and went for a drink. What a guy.

GTpZExnWYAAaQ3a
 
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One only needs to analyze what races are missing from his palmares to know how his schedule might go. Exceptions to this rule will be desired repeats of certain monuments (Flanders, LBL, and Lombardia) and the tour. There is a smattering of a collection of known missing monuments, the vuelta, 1 week stage races like Basque, Swiss, and Dauphiné (these are more important than we might believe), and difficult to obtain classics (targeting Merckx here).
Biggest difficulty is Itzulia and Flanders/Roubaix don’t really go together in the modern era and Sean Kelly doing all of them was insane that could never be imagined seriously now.

Think he will pick off either Suisse or Dauphine next year.
 
I would expect him to become obsessed with eddy’s classics resume.

One-day races and Classics
World Road Race Championships (1967, 1971, 1974)
National Road Race Championships
(1970)
Milan–San Remo (1966, 1967, 1969, 1971, 1972, 1975, 1976)
Paris–Roubaix (1968, 1970, 1973)
Tour of Flanders (1969, 1975)
Liège–Bastogne–Liège (1969, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975)
Giro di Lombardia (1971, 1972)
La Flèche Wallonne (1967, 1970, 1972)
Gent–Wevelgem (1967, 1970, 1973)
Omloop Het Volk (1971, 1973)
Grand Prix du Midi Libre (1971)
Rund um den Henninger-Turm (1971)
Giro del Piemonte (1972)
Amstel Gold Race (1973, 1975)
Paris–Brussels (1973)
Giro dell'Emilia (1973)
Grand Prix de Fourmies (1973)
Trofeo Laigueglia (1973, 1974)
 
I would expect him to become obsessed with eddy’s classics resume.

One-day races and Classics
World Road Race Championships (1967, 1971, 1974)

Milan–San Remo (1966, 1967, 1969, 1971, 1972, 1975, 1976)
Paris–Roubaix (1968, 1970, 1973)
Tour of Flanders (1969, 1975)
Liège–Bastogne–Liège (1969, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975)
Giro di Lombardia (1971, 1972)
If he's got any sense he should worry about the above only. Nobody is going to say he's not the goat because of secondary races.
 
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To have a real chance at PR, even the great Pog has to commit to a cobbles program. Lots of risk. Probably not worth taking it in the phase of his career when he can win a bunch more TDFs

Pogacar could try PR with his weight from last year's Flandres. Then he would still have time to prepare for the TdF. However, I realized that they want to prioritize the Tour and probably won't change it (esp. after realizing that Vingo is such a monster rival). So PR (which is more risky and requires non-optimal weight) could wait longer than I thought and it seems there's no option that he will ever skip the Tour in his schedule (and do full classics assault + Vuelta for example). I'm no longer an optimist regarding PR in 2025 or 2026.
 
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“For me he is just Tadej. I think he is one of the best cyclists in the world. If not the best. But at home he's just a normal guy who does his own laundry and makes dinner. He was just making his own race meal for the start. He's just a normal guy. Even after all his successes. He's just Tadej.
He hasn't changed since I first met him. He's someone who pushes hard on the pedals, he stirs up so many emotions in so many people around the world. But for me, he doesn't have to do anything to be special.
We are very close and we do the same thing. We know exactly what the other needs because we experience it together. And when our careers are over, I don't think our lives will be normal again, because it has never been normal. And then maybe we will start a family. Or maybe start a business. Maybe I will continue studying law.
We will let our children decide for themselves what they want to do. If they do decide to become cyclists, then we will happily follow them in a mobile home in the Tour.
Last year he doubted himself a little bit. Tadej also had a bad fall at 70 km/h. He sat on the road for five minutes because he didn't know what had happened. He wasn't sure of himself last year. There are other things he doubts himself about. I once beat him at pool. I also beat him at darts. But he's gotten a lot better at that now." said Urška Žigart,
 
I would expect him to become obsessed with eddy’s classics resume.

One-day races and Classics
World Road Race Championships (1967, 1971, 1974)
National Road Race Championships
(1970)
Milan–San Remo (1966, 1967, 1969, 1971, 1972, 1975, 1976)
Paris–Roubaix (1968, 1970, 1973)
Tour of Flanders (1969, 1975)
Liège–Bastogne–Liège (1969, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975)
Giro di Lombardia (1971, 1972)
La Flèche Wallonne (1967, 1970, 1972)
Gent–Wevelgem (1967, 1970, 1973)
Omloop Het Volk (1971, 1973)
Grand Prix du Midi Libre (1971)
Rund um den Henninger-Turm (1971)
Giro del Piemonte (1972)
Amstel Gold Race (1973, 1975)
Paris–Brussels (1973)
Giro dell'Emilia (1973)
Grand Prix de Fourmies (1973)
Trofeo Laigueglia (1973, 1974)
I mean, it's also a list of prestigious races that any bike rider would love to put on his palmares, I don't think Pogi will go out of his way to win Frankfurt or the Belgium championships and I don't think he'll stop doing Strade just because it doesn't help him against the Canibal.

Pogacar could try PR with his weight from last year's Flandres. Then he would still have time to prepare for the TdF. However, I realized that they want to prioritize the Tour and probably won't change it (esp. after realizing that Vingo is such a monster rival). So PR (which is more risky and requires non-optimal weight) could wait longer than I thought and it seems there's no option that he will ever skip the Tour in his schedule (and do full classics assault + Vuelta for example). I'm no longer an optimist regarding PR in 2025 or 2026.
Tough to say for sure. I think he is very aware that as dominant as he has looked in GTs this year, he can't take his foot off the gas in terms of being the best Pogi he can be at the Tour. Maybe if he runs circles around Vingo, Remco and the rest again in 2025 he'll start having some creative ideas again.
 
I would expect him to become obsessed with eddy’s classics resume.

One-day races and Classics
World Road Race Championships (1967, 1971, 1974)
National Road Race Championships
(1970)
Milan–San Remo (1966, 1967, 1969, 1971, 1972, 1975, 1976)
Paris–Roubaix (1968, 1970, 1973)
Tour of Flanders (1969, 1975)
Liège–Bastogne–Liège (1969, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975)
Giro di Lombardia (1971, 1972)
La Flèche Wallonne (1967, 1970, 1972)
Gent–Wevelgem (1967, 1970, 1973)
Omloop Het Volk (1971, 1973)
Grand Prix du Midi Libre (1971)
Rund um den Henninger-Turm (1971)
Giro del Piemonte (1972)
Amstel Gold Race (1973, 1975)
Paris–Brussels (1973)
Giro dell'Emilia (1973)
Grand Prix de Fourmies (1973)
Trofeo Laigueglia (1973, 1974)
Pogacar already has 1 big point of difference where he beats Eddy as Merckx never won the same monument 3 years in a row as Tadej has done with Lombardia.
 
To have a real chance at PR, even the great Pog has to commit to a cobbles program. Lots of risk. Probably not worth taking it in the phase of his career when he can win a bunch more TDFs
Yeah, he shouldnt do a cobbles program right now. He can do it later.

He should continue on the level he has now when it comes to stage-racing + the hillier/mountainous monuments.

Trying to do full cobbles program and then shift focus to GTs in the middle of the season, no. Asking for trouble.
 
Yeah, he shouldnt do a cobbles program right now. He can do it later.

He should continue on the level has now when it comes to stage-racing + the hillier/mountainous monuments.

My thoughts as well. Flandres will probably also be skipped (as he's already won it). Except hilly classics, only the ciciban race (MSR) will remain in his schedule.
 
To have a real chance at PR, even the great Pog has to commit to a cobbles program. Lots of risk. Probably not worth taking it in the phase of his career when he can win a bunch more TDFs
0 need for that. Meme cobbles races are nothing like PR. Also no particular need to bulk up specifically for Roubaix to give it a go.

The only problem about PR is it makes LBL hardet
 
Pogacar already has 1 big point of difference where he beats Eddy as Merckx never won the same monument 3 years in a row as Tadej has done with Lombardia.

I see that Merckx won LBL three years in a row from 1971 to 1973. But Pogačar has a good chance of winning Lombardia four years in a row this season.

I really think that after Tadej's succesful Giro-Tour double this year, he should ride two Grand Tours again in 2025.

Tour-Vuelta would allow for a bigger spring classics campaign (maybe with Flanders) and the possibility of winning the only Grand Tour that is missing from his palmares but would likely mean no Lombardia as I expect him to ride the Worlds instead.

Giro-Tour worked well this season and would allow for the usual late season peak for Worlds and Lombardia. The drawback is likely less spring classics just like this season and another year without the Vuelta.

I think the decision will come down to the difficulty of the GT routes and whether the Giro route goes through Slovenia for instance.
 
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