Ok, fair enough! But I still don't think those are his best numbers if fully fit, raced and trained.
Better prep might likely prevent what happened on Bonette / Isola but it would not have made much difference to what we saw on PdB. Pog won by 6 minutes and Vingo never collapsed - unlike Pog on Loze last year. I also think Pog is more explosive no matter what circumstances. So I’m still favouring Pog if they both have ideal prep.
Don't you think TT's will be crucial to decide who will need to attack to gain time?
Remco should try the Giro next year. I think he is losing a golden opportunity to win there. He will not win the Tour unless Pogi and Vingo aren't there.
And then Pogi decides the Giro-Tour double worked so well that he'll do it again
.
He is way too good to just have a chance of getting a podium in the Tour. He already said he will do the Tour but he has unfinished business in the Giro and next year is the perfect opportunity for him. Pogacar will not do the Giro, he will try to win Tour-Vuelta.And then Pogi decides the Giro-Tour double worked so well that he'll do it again
IMO Remco is way too good not to try for the Tour!
Your predictions have been spot on since the Giro but I can't agree with you, Pogacar wasn't even racing full gas in the Giro, Remco would never compete against Pogacar even if he showed with Giro legs.
You are overestimating Remco's ability. He was losing more than a minute and half (mean) consistently to Pogacar in the high mountains (I counted stages 14, 15, 19, 20). If Pogacar was going hard, probably the mean would be like 2 minutes. Remco was very good to his own standards but he is too far from Pogacar and I don't believe Giro's Pogacar is way worse than Tour's Pogacar. Of course Pogacar would need to go deeper but he would win easily, maybe not by 10 minutes but a 3/4 minutes gap is a sure thing to me.
If he is way too good to just have a chance of getting a podium at the Tour, then he has a chance, albeit slim, of winning.
You can't compare those 10 minutes for 2 reasons and I think you will agree with me.
Everyone has a slim chance of winning the Tour. Remco would need a scenario like 2014 Nibali to win the Tour. I don't think it will happen because Vingo and Pogacar are better bike handlers than Remco.
Doing the peak of his life and then making his competitors so dizzy in week 1 that they crash out before the proper GC days even start?
Every champion is strong mentally, Remco, Pogacar, Vingegaard, etc. They are so successful because they are tough as nails. However despite being young and having room to improve, he won't close the gap to Pogacar or Vingegaard. The gap is too big and he is not a natural climber when we compare with those 2 mutants
He can hope and dream but I think he will not have a chance. I just wanted to see him winning the Giro but next year will be Almeida's golden opportunity. As a portuguese fan, I am delighted about that.Doing the peak of his life and then making his competitors so dizzy in week 1 that they crash out before the proper GC days even start?
Yes please!
well actually no please to crashes!
Remco IMO is too young and too good to stop believing he can improve and catch up. Elite athletes as good as Remco can't go around accepting there is no hope, imagine if Italy didn't bother go to Euro 2020 just because Spain and Germany were probably better on paper!
He closed what? He didn't even prepare Vuelta last year (He DNF the Giro). Of course he would do better this year.
The gap to Vingegaard 2023. Which everyone deemed impossible after his previous GT performances
if he accepts he has no chance, then he has a mentality problem. Remco has too keep pushing himself and he does that by throwing down with the best at the TdF.
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