Teams & Riders Tadej Pogačar discussion thread

[Red Rick]

I'm sure Pog dominating Flanders would trigger a priceless reaction from grumpy Patrick and all those overrated cobbles specialists. Or maybe there would be a deafening silence... PDBF style. That would be fun

Well I do think cobbled specialists are overrated.

I think that in the modern peloton on the modern Roude route the archetypical cobblers are pretty overrated and I would take Pogacar over the best Boonen here

 

[Blanco]

Often ?

Maybe it's best suited to another thread, but I am curious as to which races Nibali won despite not being the strongest

Victories for Vincenzo Nibali

Vincenzo Nibali has 54 career victories. The biggest victories were Tour de France in 2014 and Vuelta a España in 2010.

www.procyclingstats.com

I count about 2 with another being arguable due to the nature of the race. And that's about it without getting into the hypothetical rider x crashed out, but would have won otherwise.

stage 20 Tour de France 2019
Milan-San Remo 2018
Giro d'Italia 2016
stage 2 Tour de France 2014
Tirreno-Adriatico 2013
Vuelta a Espana 2010

and probably some more, I can't remember all his wins...

 

[Blanco]

nibali is not even in the same time zone.

Pog is once in generation maybe once in 50-100 years.

Nibali is a guy who won when the best riders of his era were not competing. And an arrogant POS. Maybe he needs to check out Pog’s trophy case…haha!!

Nibali's trophy case is still more impressive.

 

[RunningRouleur]

No, it's exciting to have GT riders do classics and try to win every race.

 

[tobydawq]

stage 20 Tour de France 2019
Milan-San Remo 2018
Giro d'Italia 2016
stage 2 Tour de France 2014
Tirreno-Adriatico 2013
Vuelta a Espana 2010

and probably some more, I can't remember all his wins...

Oh, but they say Nibali has had more good than bad luck. So every time he crashed he apparently would have ridden away into the sunshine if he had remained upright. Even if he is quite invisible in most of his races.

 

[Red Rick]

He's in Pogs thread

He's in Pogs mind

Soon he will be in Pogs soul.

 

[Big Doopie]

Nibali's trophy case is still more impressive.

2-1 already and he is only 23.

and that is the only score that truly matters.

 

[Valv.Piti]

Well I do think cobbled specialists are overrated.

I think that in the modern peloton on the modern Roude route the archetypical cobblers are pretty overrated and I would take Pogacar over the best Boonen here

Really? I have seen footage from De Ronde in 2005 and 2006 recently, and he looked incredible in both of these races. If you dont drop him, he wins, and Tom Boonen in those years were god damn hard to drop.

 

[sir fly]

Really? I have seen footage from De Ronde in 2005 and 2006 recently, and he looked incredible in both of these races. If you dont drop him, he wins, and Tom Boonen in those years were god damn hard to drop.

Boonen shaped the 2006 Ronde on the Koppenberg. I can't recall many editions where the decisive selection was made there. That's how good he was in his prime.

Pogačar certainly brings back the feel of the old days with his qualities and eagerness to score all around the calendar.
There's a difference though to the time of Merckx, Hinault and other greats of the past. In the age of specialization, niches are worth more... harder ceded.
And that's acute angle of the coming Sunday, Pogačar has a bigger fish to fry down the road, while for the vast majority of the field it's the pinnacle of the season.

 

[gunara]

If this is a throwback to the old time, it feels good. Not long ago we went hysterical about E3 winner destroyed climbers in Tour de Suisse, and recent Tour winner doing well enough in Roubaix. It's so yesterday.

I'll still feel uneasy though if Pog drop the "specialists" on the berg/won reduced sprint against them/or worst ride away on the flat runs-in on Sunday, but only for awhile, then learn to live with it.

 

[Red Rick]

Really? I have seen footage from De Ronde in 2005 and 2006 recently, and he looked incredible in both of these races. If you dont drop him, he wins, and Tom Boonen in those years were god damn hard to drop.

I think the current route is just much less suited to Boonen than the old one. All of the top guys now can compete on much more hilly courses than De Ronde as well.

He would still be my #1 guy for Roubaix though.

 

[Blanco]

2-1 already and he is only 23.

and that is the only score that truly matters.

So he already caught the likes of Coppi, Bartali, Contador, and ahead of Girardengo, Binda, Van Looy, De Vlaeminck, Kelly, Bettini, Cancellara... Only 8 guys left...
Interesting logic

 

[tobydawq]

So he already caught the likes of Coppi, Bartali, Contador, and ahead of Girardengo, Binda, Van Looy, De Vlaeminck, Kelly, Bettini, Cancellara... Only 8 guys left...
Interesting logic

Girardengo = Callum Scotson

0-0

 

[Red Rick]

Girardengo = Callum Scotson

0-0

Say what you will but Primoz Roglic isn't better than me.

Neither at cycling or at skijumping.

 

[tobydawq]

Say what you will but Primoz Roglic isn't better than me.

Neither at cycling or at skijumping.

Because he didn't win the ski jumping Tour de France?

 

[BigCoward]

2-1 already and he is only 23.

and that is the only score that truly matters.

If you don't know anything about cycling perhaps.

 

[Billie]

I think the current route is just much less suited to Boonen than the old one. All of the top guys now can compete on much more hilly courses than De Ronde as well.

He would still be my #1 guy for Roubaix though.

The new route has a lot more cobbles than the old route? The old route had hardly any cobbles before the Muur. Ten bosse, Wolvenberg, Berendries, Leberg, Valkenberg, Boigneberg were all on asphalt. I think in the 60 kms before the Muur there was only cobbles on the Haaghoek.

 

[Red Rick]

Because he didn't win the ski jumping Tour de France?

That too. Also didn't win the 4 hills or OG in skijumping.

 

[Red Rick]

The new route has a lot more cobbles than the old route? The old route had hardly any cobbles before the Muur. Ten bosse, Wolvenberg, Berendries, Leberg, Valkenberg, Boigneberg were all on asphalt. I think in the 60 kms before the Muur there was only cobbles on the Haaghoek.

I think the hilly section is harder, which I think is the key difference much more so than the cobbles.

I think cobbles are very overrated apart from Roubaix which needs 50km of the worst kind to create a crazy race.

 

[topcat]

If you don't know anything about cycling perhaps.

A big fight between you two.

 

[tobydawq]

I think the hilly section is harder, which I think is the key difference much more so than the cobbles.

I think cobbles are very overrated apart from Roubaix which needs 50km of the worst kind to create a crazy race.

As if it's only at the final few kilometres that the craziness starts....

 

[Red Rick]

As if it's only at the final few kilometres that the craziness starts....

Put in 20km of cobbles without hills and you get a lot of reduced bunch sprints. The 2 most recent cobbled stages in the Tour without rain didn't create any gaps and ended up in a reduced sprint and Tony Martin holding one off.

The only significance of cobbles in De Ronde is that makes it very hard to get out of the saddle to accelerate in places. Otherwise the cobbles in De Ronde barely matter.

 

[tobydawq]

Put in 20km of cobbles without hills and you get a lot of reduced bunch sprints. The 2 most recent cobbled stages in the Tour without rain didn't create any gaps and ended up in a reduced sprint and Tony Martin holding one off.

The only significance of cobbles in De Ronde is that makes it very hard to get out of the saddle to accelerate in places. Otherwise the cobbles in De Ronde barely matter.

The stage in 2018 didn't end up in a reduced bunch sprint.

But yeah, there were not that many gaps between the GC riders.

 

[Big Doopie]

So he already caught the likes of Coppi, Bartali, Contador, and ahead of Girardengo, Binda, Van Looy, De Vlaeminck, Kelly, Bettini, Cancellara... Only 8 guys left...
Interesting logic

um…well, yeah, duh.

 

[Big Doopie]

If you don't know anything about cycling perhaps.

haha!

tough one for me will be when he surpasses Lemond (the greatest ever!!). How will I be able to twist my logic to hold on to my narrative!?