Teams & Riders Tadej Pogačar discussion thread

[Lequack]

He also seems to be doing some martial arts up in Sierra Nevada

View this content on Instagram

View this content on Instagram

View: https://www.instagram.com/p/B7i5Gk2lUcA/

 

[Lequack]

He posted: "As promised blog about 1st week of Vuelta 2019 is up on my website. "

Memories on my first Grand Tour: La Vuelta, week 1 | Tadej Pogačar

We are already in the middle of “winter” preparations for the coming season – and I still owe you a report I promised a while ago, but never found the time to tackle. I don’t think much about the past, unless someone asks me. My thoughts are focused on the future, on trainings and the

tadej-pogacar.com

 

[Lequack]

Trying his hand at his new role of bike washer:

https://twitter.com/x/status/1221774708074536960

View: https://twitter.com/TeamUAEAbuDhabi/status/1221774708074536960?s=20

 

[Logic-is-your-friend]

 

[Lequack]

Seems all that kung-fu training has paid off. First race of the season and first win.

 

[Salvarani]

Pog vs Bernal at the Tour will be really great. Hope both stay healthy and shows up in great form.

 

[Lequack]

Maybe he should've gone to the Giro with less competition this year.

 

[Blanco]

Impressive win! Didn't knew he has that kick, it's not a small thing to beat Valverde mano a mano on such a finish.

 

[johnymax]

Impressive win! Didn't knew he has that kick, it's not a small thing to beat Valverde mano a mano on such a finish.

He can do it all...good bike handling skills, one of the best sprinters among climbers, a good time trialist and obviously a fantastic climber. He also seems to get better the harder it gets. A Champion in the making.

 

[Logic-is-your-friend]

Impressive win! Didn't knew he has that kick, it's not a small thing to beat Valverde mano a mano on such a finish.

He showed he has a kick in California vs Higuita (who is very fast as well) and in Algarve vs Mas & Poels last year.

Pog vs Bernal at the Tour will be really great. Hope both stay healthy and shows up in great form.

Not sure we should put him next to Bernal yet. It will be interesting to see how much both of them have improved from last year.

 

[memyselfandI]

He is in my opinion biggest GT talent outside current older heavyweight gc podium finishers.

 

[tobydawq]

He is in my opinion biggest GT talent outside current older heavyweight gc podium finishers.

He is a GC podium finisher.

 

[Logic-is-your-friend]

He is a GC podium finisher.

He means bigger than younger GT riders who never rode a GT before (think about it), but not as big as Kruijswijck, Valverde, Roglic, Thomas, Bernal...

 

[hayneplane]

He flew past Valverde today like we were watching him on x2 speed and the rest on normal playback speed.

If his upward trajectory continues at this kind of pace then he looks like he could be a big chance of winning Flèche Wallone, ORR and push Bernal and Roglic to the limits in the Tour.

 

[KZD]

He flew past Valverde today like we were watching him on x2 speed and the rest on normal playback speed.

If his upward trajectory continues at this kind of pace then he looks like he could be a big chance of winning Flèche Wallone, ORR and push Bernal and Roglic to the limits in the Tour.

I am not sure about the Olympics because the recovery time will be very short after the Tour but for the World Championships he could be one of the main contenders.

He is very complete like Roglic but at only 21 years old. Scary.

 

[memyselfandI]

At least his recovery is very very good as can be seen how he rode itt in Vuelta after stage win. He's got just those some extra kilos of muscle that separates him of more climberlike type of athletes. I think more GT winning type is always tad more tt'er than climber.

 

[Logic-is-your-friend]

I am not sure about the Olympics because the recovery time will be very short after the Tour but for the World Championships he could be one of the main contenders.

He is very complete like Roglic but at only 21 years old. Scary.

His ITT isn't nearly as good though, but he also had the punch and he obviously has no issues with 3 weeks and mountains. I think his ITT is on Bernal his level.

 

[Bolder]

At least his recovery is very very good as can be seen how he rode itt in Vuelta after stage win. He's got just those some extra kilos of muscle that separates him of more climberlike type of athletes. I think more GT winning type is always tad more tt'er than climber.

I'm always surprised by big his legs are. I don't necessarily think he's overweight, and given his performance so far he hardly has to lose any weight, but he might be able to go down a few kilos.

I don't know what his one-day ambitions are. I think for now he's all in on winning a GT first. Kind of funny to hear that from a 21 year old but that's the new state of play these days...

 

[Lequack]

I'm always surprised by big his legs are. I don't necessarily think he's overweight, and given his performance so far he hardly has to lose any weight, but he might be able to go down a few kilos.

I don't know what his one-day ambitions are. I think for now he's all in on winning a GT first. Kind of funny to hear that from a 21 year old but that's the new state of play these days...

Ye in some aspect he's similar to maybe Remco, who both seem to have some "baby fat"

 

[yaco]

Pogacar is a better ITTer than Bernal - We'll find out more during 2020.

 

[Logic-is-your-friend]

Pogacar is a better ITTer than Bernal - We'll find out more during 2020.

Indeed we'll see soon enough. I think it's the same ballpark. Bernal is far from a bad ITT'er. In ToC two years ago, he only lost 7 seconds in a 35k ITT to Sivakov, who was a known ITT prodigy in the U23. Only 17s to Politt, 18 to Martinez. Ahead of McNulty, Asgreen, De Plus... all decent to good ITT'ers. A few months earlier he beat Martinez in a 25k ITT for the NC. Pogacar may have won the NC ITT as well, but there wasn't really a benchmark since Roglic wasn't riding. He beat Tratnik over 43k with 45s. Tratnik finished 6m15s down to Dennis in the WCC ITT and 5m06s to Evenepoel over 54k. In the Vuelta Pogachar finished a second behind Martinez and 30 seconds ahead of Lopez, who is a considerably worse ITT'er than Bernal.

I really think they will be pretty close.

 

[Lequack]

From today

 

[Red Rick]

Indeed we'll see soon enough. I think it's the same ballpark. Bernal is far from a bad ITT'er. In ToC two years ago, he only lost 7 seconds in a 35k ITT to Sivakov, who was a known ITT prodigy in the U23. Only 17s to Politt, 18 to Martinez. Ahead of McNulty, Asgreen, De Plus... all decent to good ITT'ers. A few months earlier he beat Martinez in a 25k ITT for the NC. Pogacar may have won the NC ITT as well, but there wasn't really a benchmark since Roglic wasn't riding. He beat Tratnik over 43k with 45s. Tratnik finished 6m15s down to Dennis in the WCC ITT and 5m06s to Evenepoel over 54k. In the Vuelta Pogachar finished a second behind Martinez and 30 seconds ahead of Lopez, who is a considerably worse ITT'er than Bernal.

I really think they will be pretty close.

Lots depends on form, and in that regard Bernal's Tour ITT was kinda poor cause he was also getting dropped in the Pyrenees.

Extrapolating 'beat x and x lost y time in WCTT' is a bit *** imo.

 

[Logic-is-your-friend]

Lots depends on form, and in that regard Bernal's Tour ITT was kinda poor cause he was also getting dropped in the Pyrenees.

Extrapolating 'beat x and x lost y time in WCTT' is a bit *** imo.

Sure it is, but it's the only reference we have so far. That's why i'm saying they're in the same ballpark and not making absolute statements.
Also "Bernal's ITT in Pau was bad" but he only lost 1m36 to the winner. Pogacar lost 1m29 to the winner in the Vuelta ITT. The Vuelta ITT was 9k longer though.

 

[Lequack]

What a ride again today. Such panache to his riding style as well, not afraid to attack from far away.