Teams & Riders Tadej Pogačar discussion thread

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After TdF 2020 it was crazy in Slovenia, I'd say 80% were for Rogla and 20% for Pogi. Recently, the situation is more even, although I think Rogla is still more popular. I get it that this is really difficult to understand for the larger nations, but we never had anyone like Roglič before. We were happy when a Slovenian was selected for the Tour team and we could see him on TV...
Interesting to get that perspective. Thanks.
 
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It's perception. In the end it doesn't matter all that much beyond on how you perceive it. And Tour 2020 wasn't exactly favourable, when it comes to Pogi and Slovenian perception of the win. And AFAIK similar sentiment went beyond Slovenian borders.

As for getting into it too much, this is likely another interesting fact indeed, likely i will be hard to match peak Rogla emotion, nation wide, going forward. That is likely only possible on some historical breakthroughs or if you are new to the sport, or both. Or i guess some sort of combo that can't really be explained, it happens or it doesn't. Now on the world stage Pogi is likely closer to achieving that and on the home stage Rogla already done it so hard to see anybody beating that anytime soon. It's like you will always remember the moment and emotions when you went in some new era. Living in that era, well, intensity tends to wear down.
Sounds like Roglic’s emergence as a star cyclist in Slovenia was much like the first time (or the 1st time in a very, very long time) a city’s pro sports team makes a run at a championship. It’s so new that it becomes the talk of the office, or in school, or the factory and even folks who aren’t sports fans can’t help get caught up in it and start following what’s happening. It’s not jumping on the bandwagon so much, rather it becomes the common theme for a time in that community. And it’s kind of magical that 1st time, and won’t ever be quite the same after that.
 
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Quiet day on the mens pro-cycling news front, so let's talk to mummys,
Ma Pogi says her little boy is hurt, "'mama, they don't like me".
Maybe she should chat with Ma Vingegaard about not doing back flips in the pool on rest days and should be reconning the TT course instead ... That's a woman who knows her pro-cycling!
 
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Neutral party - I am not Slovenian. I am of the older generation but you could count me as a Rogla fan in 2020 but I could never hate Pogacar for what happened.

I too was disappointed and shocked at what happened in the 2020 TdF. But I already knew at that moment how young Pogacar was so it wasn't hard to come to terms with. Since then Pogacar has continued to develop and shown his versatility in one day races mixed with amazing attacking panache. Overconfidence brought him down in the 2022 Tour. Then we had the drama of 2023 clouded by his LBL crash. This year the tables of fortune were turned on his great rival.

Sadly I think Roglic missed his chance to win the Tour de France in 2020. That is how the cards fell. And I can't see him defeating his teammate in the worlds.

I would lie if I wouldn't say I had mixed feelings about that final ITT. On one hand I loved how young pretender turned tables and how unexpected happened, on the other hand I felt sorry for Rogla. That helmet scene was hearthbreaking.

The hate is still alive in some "fans" and I feel for Pog and his family. I actually left some fan groups when their members cheered after Pog's blowout in 2023 TDF edition. Would not do it to the most hated rider let alone to the fellow citizen.
 
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I've already said Rog is more popular in Slovenia than Pog and you laughed at me.

It's not hard to understand. Slovenia is small and was not very succesfull in cycling despite cycling being a very popular activity. Winning a stage in any GT would be huge, winning the whole race was not remotely possible.

Then this humble (very important) guy Roglič shows up. Late boomer after ski jumping career ended with a crash (also important). He was competitive in road cycling like no one from Slovenia ever was. Country went insane. He started to win stages, 1 week races. And than Vuelta happened.

Slovenia had a cycling god that had it all to go for the grail that everybody knew. The Tour. While this guy was falling, crashing, winning and kept the whole country glued to the tv, another cycling guy showed up. He was really good, really quick. So quick that most simply missed him while rooting for Roglič. Yep, it was Pog.

But it was Roglič time to shine and to achieve the grail. Pog was so young and everybody (including Roglič i asure you) underestimated him and thought his time will come after Roglič rides in the sunset with Tour on his shoulder.

Country was ready for the ultimate Rog win. And than he got destroyed in the last day by... Pog. Country colapsed. There was uproar, articles, tv interviews... National hero got beaten by the other Slovenian.

It's like you work your ass of for years to get that promotion and than some young chump gets it months after coming into the company. Maybe he was simply better, sure, but you don't feel better about it either.

There are many simmilar stories in Slovenia. In ski jumping (funny isn't it) for example P. Prevc had a chance to win a world series trophy in the last match of the year at home in Planica, Slovenia. I think he needed to to win the last jump and his oponent needed to be. worse then 5th place. Everything went great, oponent did a bad jump and Prevc was leading the comp. with only one competitor left. It was another Slovenian, Tepeš.
Well, Tepeš jumped, defeated Prevc and won the match while Prevc lost a best in season trophy. That made Tepeš villian nr. 1.

So yeah, it's not easy to understand why less succesfull rider is more popular then more succesfull one in it's home country. You should be there when everyone, including neighbours grandma and dog were ready to celebrate Roglič TdF triumph and never got it, because Pog got there first.

Most are over this by now. But i still say Pog can win 5 more Tours and no one will care. If Rog wins one, country will explode.

That will probably never happen so let's enjoy it while it lasts because when these two stop racing, Slovenia goes back to cycling dark ages.
Sure, but if thats the case, Slovenia simply doesnt deserve Pogacar. I don't understand this mentality at all.
 
Sure, but if thats the case, Slovenia simply doesnt deserve Pogacar. I don't understand this mentality at all.
Yeah, they have probably the most gifted talented rider of all times in a very popular sport and some are not supporting him because he destroyed other slovenian fair and square in a race. If Roglic wasn't racing like a mountain sprinter (like he didn't in this 2024 Vuelta), he would have a better shot of winning the Tour.
 
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Sure, but if thats the case, Slovenia simply doesnt deserve Pogacar. I don't understand this mentality at all.

You have to understand nation's history and mentality to understand that. Hard work over success, pain and suffering over smooth ride, etc.

It looked to easy for Pog in 2020 as most of so called fans do not understand that he is dedicated to cycling longer than Rogla. At the end it is what it is and I believe once Rogla retires those "fans" will simply disappear.
 
Yeah, they have probably the most gifted talented rider of all times in a very popular sport and some are not supporting him because he destroyed other slovenian fair and square in a race. If Roglic wasn't racing like a mountain sprinter (like he didn't in this 2024 Vuelta), he would have a better shot of winning the Tour.
"destroyed" is a very hyper-ventilated characterization. He beat him on the key stage by being fresher; he used Visma all the way to the TT. That's being strategically smart and Pogacar probably has a cadre' of team strategists that helped him through that Tour. Unfortunate for Primoz but the opportunity of a lifetime for Tadej.
 
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Some guys are taking this Pog/Rog hatred narrative out of proportion. As usually😁

First of all, in sports, whenever there’s a rivalry within the country, there’s bound to be fans of one side or another. Take football for instance where you’ve even got city derbys. In cycling, it’s far less likely that riders of the same country become big rivals in the same cycling disciplines but whenever it does happen, you’ll get haters. Or are you telling me that Wout/Remco WC feud didn’t happen. Belgian media was all over the place, criticising Remco at that time for not helping Wout enough. It was a circus! Slovenian media never said a bad word about any of our riders.

Do Belgians now not deserve Remco because there are some Wout fan se over there?

Secondly, the Pog haters are real minority. I don’t know a single Pog hater of all the people I know and some of them were literally in tears after LpdBF. And it’s while it’s true Rogla has no real hater in Slovenia, some people hold it against him the laugh on Granon stage. I’ve heard it mentioned a couple of times now.
 
"destroyed" is a very hyper-ventilated characterization. He beat him on the key stage by being fresher; he used Visma all the way to the TT. That's being strategically smart and Pogacar probably has a cadre' of team strategists that helped him through that Tour. Unfortunate for Primoz but the opportunity of a lifetime for Tadej.
Just see WVA and Dumoulin reaction and you know Jumbo and Roglic were destroyed that day. We watch a legendary moment and there isn't way to say it, Pogacar completely destroyed Roglic. Almost 2 minutes when they were very even in the mountains
 
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You have to understand nation's history and mentality to understand that. Hard work over success, pain and suffering over smooth ride, etc.

It looked to easy for Pog in 2020 as most of so called fans do not understand that he is dedicated to cycling longer than Rogla. At the end it is what it is and I believe once Rogla retires those "fans" will simply disappear.
If so, why they love Doncic? A fat guy, who doesn't give a s#it about training and he is probably the most gifted player in today's NBA.
 
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If so, why they love Doncic? A fat guy, who doesn't give a s#it about training and he is probably the most gifted player in today's NBA.

I guess different sport that is not associated with hard work as much. Very different fan base but it the end if Doncic would "cost" Dragic a ring end result would probably be similar.

Even Doncic went through some scrunity after 2022 Euro debacle with Poland. But it is a team sport so it is not quite the same.
 
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You have to understand nation's history and mentality to understand that. Hard work over success, pain and suffering over smooth ride, etc.

It looked to easy for Pog in 2020 as most of so called fans do not understand that he is dedicated to cycling longer than Rogla. At the end it is what it is and I believe once Rogla retires those "fans" will simply disappear.
2020 wasn't easy by any means. He was in trouble on many occasions that race, but Roglic just threw in the end. That wasn't Pogacar's fault.

Every country would be compeltely ecstatic about him. Take peak Sagan hype and double it.

But I guess I don't understand Slovenia's mentality if they still hold onto that TdF and somehow hold it aganst a 20 year old phenomenon that Roglic underperformed and threw an easy race.
 
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2020 wasn't easy by any means. He was in trouble on many occasions that race, but Roglic just threw in the end. That wasn't Pogacar's fault.

Every country would be compeltely ecstatic about him. Take peak Sagan hype and double it.

But I guess I don't understand Slovenia's mentality if they still hold onto that TdF and somehow hold it aganst a 20 year old phenomenon that Roglic underperformed and threw an easy race.

Didn't he say that they don't generally do that anymore, only a few? So that would hardly be the mentality of a nation.
 
2020 wasn't easy by any means. He was in trouble on many occasions that race, but Roglic just threw in the end. That wasn't Pogacar's fault.

Every country would be compeltely ecstatic about him. Take peak Sagan hype and double it.

But I guess I don't understand Slovenia's mentality if they still hold onto that TdF and somehow hold it aganst a 20 year old phenomenon that Roglic underperformed and threw an easy race.

I know. As I said these toxic "fans" will be out as soon as Rogla retires. I just ignore them as this is best thing to do.

There will be hard fall to reality for Slovenian cycling once current generation retires. So any moment spent on hate is moment lost to appreciate the level of our current top riders.
 
Sure, but if thats the case, Slovenia simply doesnt deserve Pogacar. I don't understand this mentality at all.
It is simple really, Roglic was their first love, Pogacar robbed him in that Tour, and is currently much better. They cheer for weaker one and the one they think was damaged. They kind of sympathize with him. It's a typical thing in my country (Serbia), and Slovenia isn't that far from us. I for example also root for Roglic, it just came naturally to me.
 
From psychological point of view Rogla managed to unite Slovenia in a common goal, to win the Tour. He and his team worked hard to get to there and it felt deserved. It was a common dream and comparable to the event such as one landing on the moon, for the first time. Pogi was at that point perceived well too, as Rogličes protegee. Then the TT happened and obviously this couldn't end well. In a way a nation was cheated of celebrating winning the Tour, for the first time. We've got punked by cycling gods, at some party, after a lot of vine, they decided lets give them two, at the same time.

Anyway. That is in my opinion in the past now, lots of things happened since then and now, although divided, we do enjoy both and their success. Generally speaking.

As for Slovenians not deserving one or both. Meh, was Merckx universally loved? It's life. Better to focus on the being loved part, as as soon you are loved, some will envy you and haters are the result.

What some of you seem to suggest is on why don't we give up Rogla and praise Pogi instead. I feel that here the main problem is some people and journalist in Slovenia are now trying to force Pogi, over Rogla. And we all know, love can't be forced. On top of that such level of suceess Pogi is having does bring in a lot of shady people and fans. Listening to their reassoning is sometimes enough, to conclude, well, no. Rogla isn't going anyware anytime soon and we for sure won't retire him over Pogi. That is something even Pogi will need to grasp, at best they can share.
 
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