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Teams & Riders Tadej Pogačar discussion thread

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Not impressed by Aru on Tour de l'Ain. If Pogačar will be able to keep the pace with the favorites on Critérium du Dauphiné, then likely Pogačar will be ranked above Aru, in the Tour team.

Publicly they will probably stick with the line that Aru is the leader and gets the ‘1’ dossard but if they really believe that privately and don’t put full resources towards Pogacar then the management are idiots.
 
Ala is like Bettini, pure explosion, but not so good on real mountains.
Pogi is other way around, good on hard mountains with the decent turn of speed.
Bettini is a very good comparison but I wouldn't say that Ala is not so good on real mountains. He almost won the Tour last year and won the polka dot jersey before. He is a level below the best climbers but he can still be good on real mountains too.
 
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Come on he didn't almost win the Tour last year. He looked like he might after the Tourmalet hten he already got dropped badly the day after so teams were just waiting cuase they knew he'd get recked eventually
You are correct but that wasn't the point. My point was he can be very good also on real mountains. As you mentioned Tourmalet (a real mountain), where he was 2nd only a couple of seconds behind Pinot.
 
You are correct but that wasn't the point. My point was he can be very good also on real mountains. As you mentioned Tourmalet (a real mountain), where he was 2nd only a couple of seconds behind Pinot.
Tourmalet was soft pedalled. It was a joke of a stage design. It was clear the next day if you push him over the edge early he doesn't recover. He only finished as high as he did cause half the Alps got canceled.
 
Roglic wouldn't be there on the Poggio either if he waited for Alaphilippe to attack
I feel you are really overselling Alaphilippe here. He's the best at this, but he was followed by a guy weighing well over 10 kilo more. I don't think Roglic, if he tried, would be that far off. Roglic also has a high base speed as an ITT'er, is also light and powerful and is very punchy. I'm not saying he'd beat him (though i wouldn't be so sure as you that it couldn't happen) but he would definitely be good enough to have followed van Aert. Obviously, i don't know how Roglic would digest a 300km classic with a nervous finale, but strictly speaking about "hanging on" to Alaphilippe on a climb "like" the Poggio, no doubt in my mind, frankly.
 
It's hard to oversell the only rider in history climbing the Poggio 3 times under 6 minutes.
He's the best Poggio rider out there (possibly ever) and Van Aert only managed to bridge because he's a freaking monster in the shape of his life.

I don't think Roglic would be close honestly.
 
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I feel you are really overselling Alaphilippe here. He's the best at this, but he was followed by a guy weighing well over 10 kilo more. I don't think Roglic, if he tried, would be that far off. Roglic also has a high base speed as an ITT'er, is also light and powerful and is very punchy. I'm not saying he'd beat him (though i wouldn't be so sure as you that it couldn't happen) but he would definitely be good enough to have followed van Aert. Obviously, i don't know how Roglic would digest a 300km classic with a nervous finale, but strictly speaking about "hanging on" to Alaphilippe on a climb "like" the Poggio, no doubt in my mind, frankly.
Altough I agreed with Red Rick at first, you might be right here. I remember reading a story about how Van Aert was sprinting and pushing extreme numbers in training camp 2019 on a slight uphill sector with a seated Rogla on his wheel not losing even a meter.
 
It's hard to oversell the only rider in history climbing the Poggio 3 times under 6 minutes.
He's the best Poggio rider out there (possibly ever) and Van Aert only managed to bridge because he's a freaking monster in the shape of his life.

I don't think Roglic would be close honestly.
Pretty much. And van Aert did get dropped and only got back on the descent because he is the heavier and more powerful rider.

Meanwhile, Roglic has beaten a declining Valverde a few times, and Valverde would win on the Mur de Huy after getting murdered on the easier, more explosive Cauberg.
 
It maybe that Alaphilippe runs out of time to reach all Bettini did. Needs about double everything.

Bettini even outsprinted Baden Cooke in the Giro with more panache than Groenewegen. :rolleyes:
Baden Cooke, now there's a name i haven't heard in a long time.

And i don't mean this in a Star Wars sense to imply i'm Baden Cooke, to be clear.
 

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