Teams & Riders Tadej Pogačar discussion thread

[James M]

lol watching cycling now without Pogacar is like going from Messi to watch Declan Rice. Its not the same at all.

Cycling without Pogacar just dont hit the same when weve gotten used/spoiled to watch the best to do, it just how it goes. Only natural.

Amen. No matter if its even Evenepoel its just not the same level and nevermind the rest..

Pogacar is truly something else and weve all gotten spoiled to watch him and what he did this year is not normal at all. Were all lucky thats just bottom line cause he is not normal at all not even by historic perspective.

 

[Peyroteo94]

His main stated goal on the season from the beginning was this WC

His main goal was the Tour

 

[scribers]

Dear lord

 

[RedheadDane]

Amen. No matter if its even Evenepoel its just not the same level and nevermind the rest..

Pogacar is truly something else and weve all gotten spoiled to watch him and what he did this year is not normal at all. Were all lucky thats just bottom line cause he is not normal at all not even by historic perspective.

At the same time; it's kinda nice to watch a race, and not have a clue who's gonna win.

 

[snipeheem]

At the same time; it's kinda nice to watch a race, and not have a clue who's gonna win.

Not for us, Pogi fans

 

[Gigs_98]

Not for us, Pogi fans

It is though for us cycling fans

 

[Peyroteo94]

Don't know why it is tough for cycling fans, I have been reading a lot about how Remco is better than Pogacar in classics (belgians being belgians) so I'm very excited for that duel.

 

[Rou]

Pogacar missing the Vuelta was a huge mistake for a couple of reasons.
Firstly, UAE probably won't achieve what Visma did last year.
Secondly, Pogacar won't become the most legendary cyclist ever by winning the Grand Tour Treble.
Thirdly, Pogacar is making a gamble by focusing on the World's. He doesn't have Belgium's team to set him up and support him properly. What if Remco goes in a random breakaway with 120kms to go? Slovenia's weakass team can't do anything. What if Pogacar crashes or has a flat tire? It's a one day race where you can't fix things the next day. I hope Pog doesn't regret not doing the Vuelta.

 

[Valv.Piti]

First 9 days wouldn't be pleasent for Pog. Exhaustion and putting too much strain on your body is a real thing, its very wise not to do it IMO. Extreme heat and basically no rest the whole year into a third GT is a recipe for disaster, even for ubermensch such as him.. sure, he could have won potentially, but at what prize?

 

[Peyroteo94]

Pogacar missing the Vuelta was a huge mistake for a couple of reasons.
Firstly, UAE probably won't achieve what Visma did last year.
Secondly, Pogacar won't become the most legendary cyclist ever by winning the Grand Tour Treble.
Thirdly, Pogacar is making a gamble by focusing on the World's. He doesn't have Belgium's team to set him up and support him properly. What if Remco goes in a random breakaway with 120kms to go? Slovenia's weakass team can't do anything. What if Pogacar crashes or has a flat tire? It's a one day race where you can't fix things the next day. I hope Pog doesn't regret not doing the Vuelta.

This. Pog is slovenian so he will have Novak to support him and that's it.

 

[Peyroteo94]

First 9 days wouldn't be pleasent for Pog. Exhaustion and putting too much strain on your body is a real thing, its very wise not to do it IMO. Extreme heat and basically no rest the whole year into a third GT is a recipe for disaster, even for ubermensch such as him.. sure, he could have won potentially, but at what prize?

He would be in zone 2 riding against this Roglic and Mas

 

[Berniece]

Don't know why it is tough for cycling fans, I have been reading a lot about how Remco is better than Pogacar in classics (belgians being belgians) so I'm very excited for that duel.

I haven’t read that at all, was it on a different forum maybe?

 

[Valv.Piti]

He would be in zone 2 riding against this Roglic and Mas

Chances are he would win, I know that. Like obviously, but I think its wise in the grand scheme of things even though it would be historic. Im just not that confident that a season like that won't come back and haunt him, and there's still some absolute huge races left to win this season. Plan always was to target Worlds and I see no reason why he shouldn't stick with that, after all, that was the biggest goal along with TdF (and the Giro, but that was already won before the race started).

Another GT is no joke at all, especially not the Vuelta in this extreme heat.

 

[Peyroteo94]

Chances are he would win, I know that. Like obviously, but I think its wise in the grand scheme of things even though it would be historic. Im just not that confident that a season like that won't come back and haunt him, and there's still some absolute huge races left to win this season. Plan always was to target Worlds and I see no reason why he shouldn't stick with that, after all, that was the biggest goal along with TdF (and the Giro, but that was already won before the race started).

Another GT is no joke at all, especially not the Vuelta in this extreme heat.

Giro was a walk. For us, before this year, Giro-Tour was very difficult to do it specially after seeing GT legends like Froome and Contador failing to accomplish this double. But for Pogacar, Giro wasn't a race of 21 stages. It was a training camp of 21 days, he was just cruising for almost the entire Giro. I just saw him going really hard in the second TT and Livigno stage.

 

[Valv.Piti]

Giro was a walk. For us, before this year, Giro-Tour was very difficult to do it specially after seeing GT legends like Froome and Contador failing to accomplish this double. But for Pogacar, Giro wasn't a race of 21 stages. It was a training camp of 21 days, he was just cruising for almost the entire Giro. I just saw him going really hard in the second TT and Livigno stage.

The Giro was easy, but its still a GT and that does cost something. One thing is the psychical aspect (it was very easy for him, we all know that), another thing is the mental thing, being in the lead the entire race, transfers between stages, podium, stress etc. etc.

 

[scribers]

Kuss rode three GT last year, and has looked like dog *** this year. Is this the cost? I don't know, but it's not nothing.

 

[Peyroteo94]

The Giro was easy, but its still a GT and that does cost something. One thing is the psychical aspect (it was very easy for him, we all know that), another thing is the mental thing, being in the lead the entire race, transfers between stages, podium, stress etc. etc.

For 99% of riders, this is entirely true but I don't know if we can say the same about Pogacar. This 2024 version of him is something we never saw. Something mythical, angelic, he didn't seem human this season.

 

[scribers]

The vuelta has something like 33% more total vert than the giro. And something like 20% more than the tour. Add the heat the first half of the vuelta has experienced and maybe to skip the attempt this year was not such an unfounded idea.

 

[Peyroteo94]

The vuelta has something like 33% more total vert than the giro. And something like 20% more than the tour. Add the heat the first half of the vuelta has experienced and maybe to skip the attempt this year was not such an unfounded idea.

He will need to win WC if not, this decision is a disaster.

 

[scribers]

he’s had a great season already. not even you can take that away.

 

[Peter von]

Kuss rode three GT last year, and has looked like dog *** this year. Is this the cost? I don't know, but it's not nothing.

It's easy to get that thought for sure.

Obvisoulsy Pogi is more used to riding for GC and all that jazz, but he is still so young, so why risk burning his candle at both ends now?

If he can ride circles around Vingegaard, Rogla, Remco and everyone else again in 2025, maybe they go for the treble in 2026 and Pogi only races a few other races than the 3 GTs?

I mean a treble attempt would be truly epic, but IMO even Pogi needs to plan for it all year and not do it on a whim. precisely to avoid burnout.

 

[Peyroteo94]

But why are we comparing Kuss with fu##ing Pogacar? Giro-Tour is hard, all of us thought it was a mistake to do the Giro if he wanted to win the Tour again, do you know what happened? Pogacar dominated both races very easily.

 

[scribers]

Geraint Thomas, who started all this by asking pogi during the tour “why not ride the vuelta?”, is sure glad he himself is not riding this vuelta. Too damn hard

 

[Peyroteo94]

He is training with his buddy Tim Wellens behind Wellens's father. He thought Sola was the mind behind Pogacar's success but it is all about Mr. Wellens and his moto.

 

[YavorD]

He will need to win WC if not, this decision is a disaster.

But what if doing (and winning) the Vuelta turned out to be bad decision for the future?
What if he doesn't win the Vuelta (which would be somewhat understandable given he probably didn't project his form to be high in early September) and burns himself in the process?
That's certainly a possibility.

Is the risk-reward worthy?