Teams & Riders Tadej Pogačar discussion thread

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Roglic doesn't have haters in Slovenia but there is zero doubt Pogacar is way more popular now than Roglic, specially around the world. Pogacar is the face of cycling. Media is working around him, ask about him, etc. He comes from a very small country and only Uran has more followers on Instagram, he will probably surpass him next year.

There's no doubt Pogacar is more popular around the world right now. The topic was about Slovenia though.
 
Sure there are some Pog haters in Slovenia. But there are much more fans who adore him and no disrespect to Mrs. Pog, but she doesn’t know the numbers and how Pog compares to Roglic in terms of who is currently more popular…

Roglic will have a free role because it makes more sense tactically.

P.S. It’s a pity the Pogs are actually hurt by the behaviour of a few drunken idiots.
Roglic will have a free role because his ego and status are big. There is zero chance he will be better/equal than/to Pogacar in this race.
 
Roglic will have a free role because his ego and status are big. There is zero chance he will be better/equal than/to Pogacar in this race.
Maybe you don’t understand what a free role is, but it has nothing to do with being equal/better. It’s about leveraging teams tactical options by having a second threat for either attacking or neutralising attacks. And don’t even try to sell me the story that Rogla is not good enough for that when he’s in form…

Whether he is or isn’t remains to be seen but I’d like to think he will work for Pog if he isn’t. We can talk about his ego tomorrow…
 
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Maybe you don’t understand what a free role is, but it has nothing to do with being equal/better. It’s about leveraging teams tactical options by having a second threat for either attacking or neutralising attacks. And don’t even try to sell me the story that Rogla is not good enough for that when he’s in form…

Whether he is or isn’t remains to be seen but I’d like to think he will work for Pog if he isn’t. We can talk about his ego tomorrow…
I will not sell you any story but when you have a guy like Pogacar who will be able to drop everyone, you should put your focus on making the race harder before his attack. This is the best tactic for Slovenia but I know Roglic is too big to do donkey work (and I agree, this guy doesn’t deserve to be only a domestique).
 
Do we have slovenian fans here? If so, are you in some slovenian forum and know who is more popular?

It is very hard to judge. I think both have substantial fan base in home country. Certanly Pog is champion with younger population but Rogla has more die heart fans.

Thing is that there is a lot of haters from "Rogla's camp" since 2020 TDF and they can be very loud and persistent on social media with narrative that Pog somehow robbed Rogla in that edition.
 
@CyclistAbi yes, @Rackham no (British, living in France, I think). I think @Gargamel35, @acm, @Miha81, @johnymax are Slovenians as well…
After TdF 2020 it was crazy in Slovenia, I'd say 80% were for Rogla and 20% for Pogi. Recently, the situation is more even, although I think Rogla is still more popular. I get it that this is really difficult to understand for the larger nations, but we never had anyone like Roglič before. We were happy when a Slovenian was selected for the Tour team and we could see him on TV...
 
I've already said Rog is more popular in Slovenia than Pog and you laughed at me.

It's not hard to understand. Slovenia is small and was not very succesfull in cycling despite cycling being a very popular activity. Winning a stage in any GT would be huge, winning the whole race was not remotely possible.

Then this humble (very important) guy Roglič shows up. Late boomer after ski jumping career ended with a crash (also important). He was competitive in road cycling like no one from Slovenia ever was. Country went insane. He started to win stages, 1 week races. And than Vuelta happened.

Slovenia had a cycling god that had it all to go for the grail that everybody knew. The Tour. While this guy was falling, crashing, winning and kept the whole country glued to the tv, another cycling guy showed up. He was really good, really quick. So quick that most simply missed him while rooting for Roglič. Yep, it was Pog.

But it was Roglič time to shine and to achieve the grail. Pog was so young and everybody (including Roglič i asure you) underestimated him and thought his time will come after Roglič rides in the sunset with Tour on his shoulder.

Country was ready for the ultimate Rog win. And than he got destroyed in the last day by... Pog. Country colapsed. There was uproar, articles, tv interviews... National hero got beaten by the other Slovenian.

It's like you work your ass of for years to get that promotion and than some young chump gets it months after coming into the company. Maybe he was simply better, sure, but you don't feel better about it either.

There are many simmilar stories in Slovenia. In ski jumping (funny isn't it) for example P. Prevc had a chance to win a world series trophy in the last match of the year at home in Planica, Slovenia. I think he needed to to win the last jump and his oponent needed to be. worse then 5th place. Everything went great, oponent did a bad jump and Prevc was leading the comp. with only one competitor left. It was another Slovenian, Tepeš.
Well, Tepeš jumped, defeated Prevc and won the match while Prevc lost a best in season trophy. That made Tepeš villian nr. 1.

So yeah, it's not easy to understand why less succesfull rider is more popular then more succesfull one in it's home country. You should be there when everyone, including neighbours grandma and dog were ready to celebrate Roglič TdF triumph and never got it, because Pog got there first.

Most are over this by now. But i still say Pog can win 5 more Tours and no one will care. If Rog wins one, country will explode.

That will probably never happen so let's enjoy it while it lasts because when these two stop racing, Slovenia goes back to cycling dark ages.
 
I've already said Rog is more popular in Slovenia than Pog and you laughed at me.

It's not hard to understand. Slovenia is small and was not very succesfull in cycling despite cycling being a very popular activity. Winning a stage in any GT would be huge, winning the whole race was not remotely possible.

Then this humble (very important) guy Roglič shows up. Late boomer after ski jumping career ended with a crash (also important). He was competitive in road cycling like no one from Slovenia ever was. Country went insane. He started to win stages, 1 week races. And than Vuelta happened.

Slovenia had a cycling god that had it all to go for the grail that everybody knew. The Tour. While this guy was falling, crashing, winning and kept the whole country glued to the tv, another cycling guy showed up. He was really good, really quick. So quick that most simply missed him while rooting for Roglič. Yep, it was Pog.

But it was Roglič time to shine and to achieve the grail. Pog was so young and everybody (including Roglič i asure you) underestimated him and thought his time will come after Roglič rides in the sunset with Tour on his shoulder.

Country was ready for the ultimate Rog win. And than he got destroyed in the last day by... Pog. Country colapsed. There was uproar, articles, tv interviews... National hero got beaten by the other Slovenian.

It's like you work your ass of for years to get that promotion and than some young chump gets it months after coming into the company. Maybe he was simply better, sure, but you don't feel better about it either.

There are many simmilar stories in Slovenia. In ski jumping (funny isn't it) for example P. Prevc had a chance to win a world series trophy in the last match of the year at home in Planica, Slovenia. I think he needed to to win the last jump and his oponent needed to be. worse then 5th place. Everything went great, oponent did a bad jump and Prevc was leading the comp. with only one competitor left. It was another Slovenian, Tepeš.
Well, Tepeš jumped, defeated Prevc and won the match while Prevc lost a best in season trophy. That made Tepeš villian nr. 1.

So yeah, it's not easy to understand why less succesfull rider is more popular then more succesfull one in it's home country. You should be there when everyone, including neighbours grandma and dog were ready to celebrate Roglič TdF triumph and never got it, because Pog got there first.

Most are over this by now. But i still say Pog can win 5 more Tours and no one will care. If Rog wins one, country will explode.

That will probably never happen so let's enjoy it while it lasts because when these two stop racing, Slovenia goes back to cycling dark ages.
I didn't believe Roglic was more popular than Pogacar (in Slovenia) nowadays. But I knew Pogacar was hated from what happened in 2020.
 
Guys, relax. Murn did his job and selected both Rogla and Pogi and rest assured medals and titles will be the result tomorrow and in years to come, whenever following this formula.

As for who is favoured in Slovenia, this i guess is a problem indeed, as selecting one would automatically push the other one behind. For now i would say its a rather healthy rivalry, read that as horrendous to read comments by so called fans all over the place.

Majority is happy with achievements of both and this same majority is a bit opportunistic. That is pro road cycling is not, or better was not considered a traditional sport in Slovenia, compared to some other sports, now obviously the success of Slovenian cyclists changed all that. Rather normal.

Die hard Rogla fans will likely always remain that, mostly due to Rogla being a catalyst for Slovenian pro road cycling. From the back story, to first success, to first big success, to riding for a team that grew organically and became the best team in pro peloton, just like Rogla became best rider in pro peloton. And lets not forget he is still here, winning races and beyond.

Pogi came on the scene and became successful rather quickly. His riding style is rather attractive and securing fans from ever growing fan base came naturally. Winning the Tour helps too, as even in Slovenia majority thinks in terms of the Tour. Couldn't care less about that other part of Pogi seasonal achievements. That is in comparison to the Tour.

Now i guess the problem arises from the fact they are actually competitors on races and even when it comes to national team tensions start to rise, on who works for who and things like that. So i guess some division is a natural outcome and can't be avoided.

All i can say is Rogla isn't retrying just yet and if he becomes world champion tomorrow, that would in the end be such a Slovenian thing to do. If Rogla ends up riding for Pogi, then Pogi likely isn't winning Il Lombardia this year. So the big 3 all got something out of the autumn campaign, Jonas being with child and missing out.

And in the end you got to love Rogla in terms of i just listened to Horner, going bananas on how Rogla should man up and tell everybody on what he is going to do, then Mezgec already declaring they are all in for Pogi, noting that they just have to tell Rogla that too, as somehow didn't managed just yet ... I personally love it and wouldn't have it any other way. If you want reassurance then first try that in your own relationship.
 
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It is very hard to judge. I think both have substantial fan base in home country. Certanly Pog is champion with younger population but Rogla has more die heart fans.

Thing is that there is a lot of haters from "Rogla's camp" since 2020 TDF and they can be very loud and persistent on social media with narrative that Pog somehow robbed Rogla in that edition.
Neutral party - I am not Slovenian. I am of the older generation but you could count me as a Rogla fan in 2020 but I could never hate Pogacar for what happened.

I too was disappointed and shocked at what happened in the 2020 TdF. But I already knew at that moment how young Pogacar was so it wasn't hard to come to terms with. Since then Pogacar has continued to develop and shown his versatility in one day races mixed with amazing attacking panache. Overconfidence brought him down in the 2022 Tour. Then we had the drama of 2023 clouded by his LBL crash. This year the tables of fortune were turned on his great rival.

Sadly I think Roglic missed his chance to win the Tour de France in 2020. That is how the cards fell. And I can't see him defeating his teammate in the worlds.
 
I've already said Rog is more popular in Slovenia than Pog and you laughed at me.

It's not hard to understand. Slovenia is small and was not very succesfull in cycling despite cycling being a very popular activity. Winning a stage in any GT would be huge, winning the whole race was not remotely possible.

Then this humble (very important) guy Roglič shows up. Late boomer after ski jumping career ended with a crash (also important). He was competitive in road cycling like no one from Slovenia ever was. Country went insane. He started to win stages, 1 week races. And than Vuelta happened.

Slovenia had a cycling god that had it all to go for the grail that everybody knew. The Tour. While this guy was falling, crashing, winning and kept the whole country glued to the tv, another cycling guy showed up. He was really good, really quick. So quick that most simply missed him while rooting for Roglič. Yep, it was Pog.

But it was Roglič time to shine and to achieve the grail. Pog was so young and everybody (including Roglič i asure you) underestimated him and thought his time will come after Roglič rides in the sunset with Tour on his shoulder.

Country was ready for the ultimate Rog win. And than he got destroyed in the last day by... Pog. Country colapsed. There was uproar, articles, tv interviews... National hero got beaten by the other Slovenian.

It's like you work your ass of for years to get that promotion and than some young chump gets it months after coming into the company. Maybe he was simply better, sure, but you don't feel better about it either.

There are many simmilar stories in Slovenia. In ski jumping (funny isn't it) for example P. Prevc had a chance to win a world series trophy in the last match of the year at home in Planica, Slovenia. I think he needed to to win the last jump and his oponent needed to be. worse then 5th place. Everything went great, oponent did a bad jump and Prevc was leading the comp. with only one competitor left. It was another Slovenian, Tepeš.
Well, Tepeš jumped, defeated Prevc and won the match while Prevc lost a best in season trophy. That made Tepeš villian nr. 1.

So yeah, it's not easy to understand why less succesfull rider is more popular then more succesfull one in it's home country. You should be there when everyone, including neighbours grandma and dog were ready to celebrate Roglič TdF triumph and never got it, because Pog got there first.

Most are over this by now. But i still say Pog can win 5 more Tours and no one will care. If Rog wins one, country will explode.

That will probably never happen so let's enjoy it while it lasts because when these two stop racing, Slovenia goes back to cycling dark ages.
That's just their fault for getting into it too much though, right?
 
That's just their fault for getting into it too much though, right?

It's perception. In the end it doesn't matter all that much beyond on how you perceive it. And Tour 2020 wasn't exactly favourable, when it comes to Pogi and Slovenian perception of the win. And AFAIK similar sentiment went beyond Slovenian borders.

As for getting into it too much, this is likely another interesting fact indeed, likely i will be hard to match peak Rogla emotion, nation wide, going forward. That is likely only possible on some historical breakthroughs or if you are new to the sport, or both. Or i guess some sort of combo that can't really be explained, it happens or it doesn't. Now on the world stage Pogi is likely closer to achieving that and on the home stage Rogla already done it so hard to see anybody beating that anytime soon. It's like you will always remember the moment and emotions when you went in some new era. Living in that era, well, intensity tends to wear down.
 
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