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Teams & Riders Tadej Pogačar discussion thread

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#fignon84

Armstrong most years. At least the later ones.

Anyway, I'm starting to admire the "I don't give a **" attitude he shows on and off the road.
"Why should I be worried?", well, of course he's right, there is absolutely no reason to be worried. He's a cannibal and an innocent child at the same time, with no clue how it could be so hard to others, loves to dominate, loves to win, hates to lose.
 
Armstrong most years. At least the later ones.

Anyway, I'm starting to admire the "I don't give a **" attitude he shows on and off the road.
"Why should I be worried?", well, of course he's right, there is absolutely no reason to be worried. He's a cannibal and an innocent child at the same time, with no clue how it could be so hard to others, loves to dominate, loves to win, hates to lose.
To be fair, I think he misunderstood the question as should he be worried for Vingegaard. He seemed to backtrack almost straight away when he said it.

But I agree that he is certain of himself. When asked if Pogacar is Pogacar's only rival, Pogacar said yes
 
Armstrong most years. At least the later ones.

Anyway, I'm starting to admire the "I don't give a **" attitude he shows on and off the road.
"Why should I be worried?", well, of course he's right, there is absolutely no reason to be worried. He's a cannibal and an innocent child at the same time, with no clue how it could be so hard to others, loves to dominate, loves to win, hates to lose.
That was a stupid question you would expect from someone who never watched cycling before to be honest. Might as well have asked him if he will fight with Cavendish tomorrow.
 
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Just wait till he wins the Vuelta in a few weeks.

I think freshness factor could be important there. Bernal is focusing solely on the race (no Olympics, right?). Roglic will be fresher as well (and he already showed he could be a contender in Tour & Vuelta). Two GTs B2B is an uncharted territory for Pog and I wouldn't put my money on his victory there (especially given 2 time zone changes in the meantime - Tokyo). If he feels flat after the Olympics maybe it's better if he withdraws from the Vuelta and maintains his aura.
 
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Interesting interview by Vaughters:


He gives a sensible explanation of Pogacar's dominance in the Alps: not only terrible weather (affecting other guy's energy supply more the Pog's) but also chaotic and crazy tempo on that day (stage 8) and the whole first week of the Tour, which made other riders climb at merely 5.8 w/kg (OTOH Pog recovered better from these efforts)
 
Chapeau to him, but the entertainment is killed either way. Whether we do it like Ineos or like Pogacar, there is no competition.
Hopefully we'll see someone that will challenge him for something!!! :)

He will be challenged at one point. But teams who want to beat him should look out for riders with good bike handling, descending and positioning skills. Because although I don't really want to put blame on riders who crash, it just needs to be said that Thomas crashing, Porte crashing, Evenepoel crashing and even Lopez or Roglic crashing does not come totally unexpected; the risk is just higher for them than for someone like Pogacar.
 
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He will be challenged at one point. But teams who want to beat him should look out for riders with good bike handling, descending and positioning skills. Because although I don't really want to put blame on riders who crash, it just needs to be said that Thomas crashing, Porte crashing, Evenepoel crashing and even Lopez or Roglic crashing does not come totally unexpected; the risk is just higher for them than for someone like Pogacar.
Too be fair to Roglic that was outside sources.
 
He will be challenged at one point. But teams who want to beat him should look out for riders with good bike handling, descending and positioning skills. Because although I don't really want to put blame on riders who crash, it just needs to be said that Thomas crashing, Porte crashing, Evenepoel crashing and even Lopez or Roglic crashing does not come totally unexpected; the risk is just higher for them than for someone like Pogacar.
I think these riders in bold and Bernal are the most important as of right now. I don't think that neither Thomas nor Porte were going to be any factor at all.
 
I think these riders in bold and Bernal are the most important as of right now. I don't think that neither Thomas nor Porte were going to be any factor at all.

I think they could have been a factor in a numbers game as long as Pogacar didn't know what they are capable of... I don't think they could have been close to challenging him on their own. :)

Too be fair to Roglic that was outside sources.

Yes, probably. On the other hand, maybe van der Poel would have stayed on his bike in that situation. I don't know. Roglic is not a bad bike handler per se, but he still seems to have problems with certain situations and riding in the peloton.
 
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He even looked like he was enjoying working for another rider. Guess it must help when the guy you are busting a gut for is highly likely to reward your efforts with a stage win for the team.

And that other rider being a Slav to boot! They can jointly (mutually comprehensibly) cuss out the other riders.

Doing it against Carapaz (& Castroviejo) probably helped as well, in tandem with another (purported partial) Slav, Kuss.
 
I think they could have been a factor in a numbers game as long as Pogacar didn't know what they are capable of... I don't think they could have been close to challenging him on their own. :)



Yes, probably. On the other hand, maybe van der Poel would have stayed on his bike in that situation. I don't know. Roglic is not a bad bike handler per se, but he still seems to have problems with certain situations and riding in the peloton.

Post facto, Rog's probably relieved he didn't have to go head-to-head with Pog. It would be too demoralizing to get outclassed by this kid in more than just one time trial (like 2020), though I imagine he might have ended up closer timewise to Pog than Vinnie will..
 
Pogačar already has 11 wins this season.

He is winning at the same rate of a Cavendish, Kittel or Ewan on their better years which is almost unheard of for a modern GC rider.
Froome had 13 victories in 2013, Contador had 11 in 2009, 10 in 2008. Neither of the two had Pogi's sprint. Rogla had 13 wins in 2019, 12 in 2020 (with the reduced season).
 
I just love the voracious appetite for winning, no soft pedalling and resting on his margin, just all out to win every classification feasible and snaffle extra stage wins. Insane that if he wins the TT on Saturday he will already be at 10 GT stage wins after just 3 attempts all of which were podium finishes on GC.

At minimum he will be on pace to match Hinault.
 

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