Teams & Riders Tadej Pogačar discussion thread

[Cookster15]

@Cookster15

As this is Pogačar thread. In how many races do you reckon he will participate this year. Being prepared to lose? And will he do a lot of races or not so many?

P.S. And he is not the only one.

He will target the TdF and hope to be strong enough to be competitive at these minor races. Looking at recent events, he already is.

 

[CyclistAbi]

@Cookster15

Yeah. So far he looks to be rather competitive.

 

[gregrowlerson]

LOL. Contador was smokin from Tirreno till the Tour in 2014, more like 2009 than 2011. His recovery after the Tour fall and then killing it in the Vuelta against a mutant Froome is proof of this. Yes Froome fell too at the Tour, but both had the same time to get back into top shape and Contador bested the Alien.

Pogi will be like the Russian guy in Rocky IV, "l will break you." He even looks like a skinnier version of Dolph Lundgren!

But he didn't break him though.

Does this mean that Pog is destined to fail against Vingegard?

There's no easy way out

 

[gregrowlerson]

Regarding 2014 what if's; Who climbed better out of TDF Nibali and Vuelta Contador? I suspect Nibali, but I think that's an interesting line of discussion.

 

[houtdffan]

Regarding 2014 what if's; Who climbed better out of TDF Nibali and Vuelta Contador? I suspect Nibali, but I think that's an interesting line of discussion.

Tour Contador. Nibali was about to vomit blood on the first MTF finish, while Contador looked like he just got out of a hot shower

 

[gregrowlerson]

Tour Contador. Nibali was about to vomit blood on the first MTF finish, while Contador looked like he just got out of a hot shower

Yes, those 3 seconds. But it was more of a hilltop finish; Contador was better suited to more explosive climbing efforts than Nibali (a bit like Pog and Jonas).

 

[houtdffan]

Yes, those 3 seconds. But it was more of a hilltop finish; Contador was better suited to more explosive climbing efforts than Nibali (a bit like Pog and Jonas).

Contador also said afterward he thought he was going for the stage win. Had he known he was 2 minutes back, he said he would have focused on taking even more time out of Nibali. He probably would have got a good 20 seconds had he raced from the bottom instead of thinking he was sprinting for a stage win

 

[gregrowlerson]

Contador also said afterward he thought he was going for the stage win. Had he known he was 2 minutes back, he said he would have focused on taking even more time out of Nibali. He probably would have got a good 20 seconds had he raced from the bottom instead of thinking he was sprinting for a stage win

Contador should have already known that he was 2 minutes back

Alberto pushed the pace from about halfway up anyway, and gradually dropped other riders like Porte. It wasn't like he was doing track stands with Andy, so 20 seconds is very unlikely in your scenario imo.

 

[houtdffan]

Contador should have already known that he was 2 minutes back

Alberto pushed the pace from about halfway up anyway, and gradually dropped other riders like Porte. It wasn't like he was doing track stands with Andy, so 20 seconds is very unlikely in your scenario imo.

He should have known. I was like WTF when I heard that from him after the stage.

Nabili was about to absolutely explode on that climb. Another km of full on racing, he ships big time

 

[Krzysztof_O]

@Cookster15

As this is Pogačar thread. In how many races do you reckon he will participate this year. Being prepared to lose? And will he do a lot of races or not so many?

P.S. And he is not the only one.

Pogacar will race all events to win and he's never prepared to lose. The only races where his chances are small are those shortly after the Tour.

 

[skippo12]

Great to see that nine years later we still manage to derail threads with Nibali vs Contador debates. Priorities!

 

[Berflamand]

Sporza reports that Tadej will skip Strade Bianche because he wants to win Paris-Nice.

 

[Krzysztof_O]

Sporza reports that Tadej will skip Strade Bianche because he wants to win Paris-Nice.

What? That's a pity if true. SB is a great race (plus potential duel with WVA , MVP this year) and it fits so well in a combo with Tirreno.

 

[Monsi]

Sporza reports that Tadej will skip Strade Bianche because he wants to win Paris-Nice.

Makes perfect sense. At least he arrives as fresh as possible at Paris-Nice. Now, his main obstacle is that long TTT.

 

[DNP-Old]

Makes perfect sense. At least he arrives as fresh as possible at Paris-Nice. Now, his main obstacle is that long TTT.

Great for us though. Let him start two minutes down, the race would be carnage.

 

[SafeBet]

Sporza reports that Tadej will skip Strade Bianche because he wants to win Paris-Nice.

That's a shame.

 

[acm]

True. There were rumors about that in Slovenian media a few days ago. Understandable if he wants to ride Paris-Nice.

 

[Krzysztof_O]

Makes perfect sense. At least he arrives as fresh as possible at Paris-Nice. Now, his main obstacle is that long TTT.

Such a long TTT in a week race makes little sense TBH. The GC result is too biased towards a team performance. In a 3 week race its impact would be amortized way more by individual performances.

 

[Monsi]

Such a long TTT in a week race makes little sense TBH. The GC result is too biased towards a team performance. In a 3 week race the impact would be amortized way more by individual performances.

I do agree it's too long. I think 20 km would have been reasonable. But hey, we still don't know what squads UAE and Jumbo will send so we'll see.

 

[Krzysztof_O]

I do agree it's too long. I think 20 km would have been reasonable. But hey, we still don't know what squads UAE and Jumbo will send so we'll see.

Yup, 15-20 km would be better. It was just a general remark without considering actual strength of particular teams.

 

[Nick2413]

Letting go of TA and Strade for Paris Nice doesn’t seem worth it, but I suppose winning PN at some point would be a nice trophy.

 

[Peyroteo94]

What he does to beat Vingegaard. He wants to beat him, he doesn't care about Paris Nice, it's all about beating a guy who gave him deep mental wounds after that 2022 Tour.

 

[Krzysztof_O]

What he does to beat Vingegaard. He wants to beat him, he doesn't care about Paris Nice, it's all about beating a guy who gave him deep mental wounds after that 2022 Tour.

He easily beat him in Tirreno last year and also in Lombardy (so after the Tour). It doesn't matter that much cause Vinge at the Tour is a different beast,

 

[yaco]

Such a long TTT in a week race makes little sense TBH. The GC result is too biased towards a team performance. In a 3 week race its impact would be amortized way more by individual performances.

Traditionally PN is split by cross-winds, so the TTT is ok.

 

[Elos Anjos]

What he does to beat Vingegaard. He wants to beat him, he doesn't care about Paris Nice, it's all about beating a guy who gave him deep mental wounds after that 2022 Tour.

Deep mental wounds