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Teams & Riders Tadej Pogačar discussion thread

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UAE had a bit of bad luck (De La Cruz and Formolo crashed) and made a bad choice (bringing Aru to the Tour). They could have picked Conti instead of Aru, who has shown that he's able to finish top 15 on the gc in the Dauphine and TdS , he was even working as a domestique in the former.
Things do look better for the next years, McNulty will ride his first gt with the Giro and Dombrowski could play a Poels role (grupetto on most of the stages and up with the best in the high mountains), not to mention that Ardila has tons of potential. No idea about Covi, he could be one of those guys who has raced with Colpack for too long...
With CCC folding as a WT team they should throw some of the money that they have at Hirt, with Aru leaving there should be more than enough money to get 1 or 2 climbing superdomestiques.
 
UAE had a bit of bad luck (De La Cruz and Formolo crashed) and made a bad choice (bringing Aru to the Tour). They could have picked Conti instead of Aru, who has shown that he's able to finish top 15 on the gc in the Dauphine and TdS , he was even working as a domestique in the former.
Things do look better for the next years, McNulty will ride his first gt with the Giro and Dombrowski could play a Poels role (grupetto on most of the stages and up with the best in the high mountains), not to mention that Ardila has tons of potential. No idea about Covi, he could be one of those guys who has raced with Colpack for too long...
With CCC folding as a WT team they should throw some of the money that they have at Hirt, with Aru leaving there should be more than enough money to get 1 or 2 climbing superdomestiques.
tl;dr everything gonna be great at UAE, Aru leaving
 
I am sure that Pogačar will be able to make a list of things currently missing. Based on the experience he will get out of this Tour. Hopefully UAE will listen and we will get to see some improvements, likely on Giro 2021.

P.S. The list could end up being a rather short one, containing only one item, domestique.
 
I am sure that Pogačar will be able to make a list of things currently missing. Based on the experience he will get out of this Tour. Hopefully UAE will listen and we will get to see some improvements, likely on Giro 2021.

P.S. The list could end up being a rather short one, containing only one item, domestique.
He's still got to finish this Tour well to be in a position to recommend team changes.
 
Pogačar more or less has Polanc working for him. He is already a rather mature rider, considering his age, hence he will likely try to ride a bit conservative, knowing he already unleashed one long range attack in week 1. He has a stage win now, focusing on GC position is therefore a bit easier. I wouldn't change much in this regard, stay close to Roglič and try to keep up. If the legs will allow, deep in week 3, try to attack on a good day, and see how that goes. Especially if Roglič and Bernal will be too focused on each other, to notice. Knowing that a bad day might follow.

As for the future, for sure, his team must do a better job and proper hierarchy should get established. And somehow i feel that Pogačar is on the radar of the biggest teams.

Grand Colombier will be huge methinks. It's a big MTF in itself plus there are two steep climbs preceding it. And it's before the rest day, if Pogacar feels well it's his time to attack. Meribel is another big day - arguably the hardest MTF in Tour history may be decisive but the following day can be tricky for tired cyclists (a few climbs including nasty Plateau de Glieres). Still I'm not looking past today - it could be very interesting as well with two steep climbs just before the finish among volcanoes.
 
Sadly Pogacars weak team means he doesn't have many cards to play but hope to drop his opponents on a MTF and don't get screwed in some long range attack. The ITT I think gives him a little advantage over Bernal now.

Bad news is the weather is gonna get hotter on Sunday.
 
Two things i will keep an eye on. First, does Pogačar still have any extra energy stored somewhere, to attack tomorrow on stage 15. Second, how will his attacking so far affect performance in week 3.

Well we could look back to la Vuelta last year. He attacked and gained some time earlier in the race around the first rest day. Then he attacked on got himself on the podium on stage 20. When he attacked the thought was he attacked from too far out.
 
Honestly, i felt he will be riding his first Tour a bit more conservatively. But no, it's like, as he is not wearing maillot jaune, that comes down to attacking, whenever the legs allows it. Not caring about defending the current position all that much. Will be interesting to see, on where will such approach take him, regarding the week 3.
 
Honestly, i felt he will be riding his first Tour a bit more conservatively. But no, it's like, as he is not wearing maillot jaune, that comes down to attacking, whenever the legs allows it. Not caring about defending the current position all that much. Will be interesting to see, on where will such approach take him, regarding the week 3.
I think he'll maintain the current strategy and work off of Roglic. That gives him some stable support not given by his team for the bulk of the race. That would change, of course if he saw Bernal getting too much of a lead and could still actively bridge and expect the JV response would help bring it back. If not; he'll make up time. I don't see him free-lancing that much until the last decisive Km on any climb on his own. That exposes him to surprises from an improving rider in week 3 like Quintana or Landa. If he gets hung out; Roglic will have little choice but to leave him.
 
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This young man is outstanding. He can actually win the whole thing. He showed he has insane recovery, he can drop Roglič in the last week i think. Will it be enough?

First Vuelta, 3 stages and a podium.
First Tour, 2 stages and fighting for the win so far.
Amazing.
I said before the Tour anything worse than a top5 would be a disappointment for me, considering his talent. Now I firmly believe he can win the Tour.
 
I feel like Pogacar's TT is overhyped. Yes, he beat Roglic in the NC this year - but that was a MTT and it was only 9 seconds. In the Vuelta last year Roglic put 1:29 into him. Roglic is one of the best in the world.

Pogacar is definitely a good time trialist but he will need to be in yellow heading into the TT if he is to have a chance of winning - preferably with a buffer of at least 20-30s.

Still, I really do hope he wins.
 
I feel like Pogacar's TT is overhyped. Yes, he beat Roglic in the NC this year - but that was a MTT and it was only 9 seconds. In the Vuelta last year Roglic put 1:29 into him. Roglic is one of the best in the world.

Pogacar is definitely a good time trialist but he will need to be in yellow heading into the TT if he is to have a chance of winning - preferably with a buffer of at least 20-30s.

Still, I really do hope he wins.
With a time trial on the penultimate day form is vital. If Pogacar is able to gain 20 more seconds he may dream of taking it in the TT.
 

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