Teams & Riders Tadej Pogačar discussion thread

[Lequack]

https://twitter.com/x/status/1853799623917289772

View: https://twitter.com/my_whoosh/status/1853799623917289772

Full episode is out now! Give it a listen.

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QRkeGiHXRs8

 

[rallybanana]

Since 2026 and 2027 WC are tailormade for him and 2028 is a Olympic year, he should only attempt Tour-Vuelta in 2029? That's late.

There's always the Horner option - wait until 2039

 

[hayneplane]

Since 2026 and 2027 WC are tailormade for him and 2028 is an Olympic year, he should only attempt Tour-Vuelta in 2029? That's late.

2028 Giro-Olympics-Vuelta might be the optimum schedule

 

[ZvitaFeltna]

He should win Vuelta and then focus on whatever he wants. Win all races bar PR and then focus on his favourite races

He should focus on Vuelta in 2028 when World's RR is in Abu Dhabi for the sprinters. 2025, 2026 and 2027 WRR are on terrain suitable for him and he should focus 100% next 3 years on that. Maybe this is his only chance to win.

 

[Peyroteo94]

He should focus on Vuelta in 2028 when World's RR is in Abu Dhabi for the sprinters. 2025, 2026 and 2027 WRR are on terrain suitable for him and he should focus 100% next 3 years on that. Maybe this is his only chance to win.

It's an Olympic year so no Vuelta.

 

[Peyroteo94]

May I remind some people Pogacar already won the WC road race? @ZvitaFeltna 2025,2026 and 2027 are not his only chance to win WC. He already won it! There are 3 races he must win to become the GOAT. MSR, PR and Vuelta.

 

[Froome]

May I remind some people Pogacar already won the WC road race? @ZvitaFeltna 2025,2026 and 2027 are not his only chance to win WC. He already won it! There are 3 races he must win to become the GOAT. MSR, PR and Vuelta.

Not enough.

Merckx won 19 monuments, 3 worlds, 11 Grand Tours.

525 victories.

 

[Salvarani]

He won a award for "Best performance in the 2024 season". Congrats GOAT for that legendary ride in Zurich!

Pog is the GOAT

One and only

🐐

 

[snipeheem]

Not enough.

Merckx won 19 monuments, 3 worlds, 11 Grand Tours.

525 victories.

Bill Russell GOAT 11 championships !!! Jordan who , Lebron who ?

 

[Peyroteo94]

Do we have access to the parcours for WC 26 and 27?

No but rumours are that 2026 WC will be hilly like GP Montreal and 2027 WC will be in the French Alps. They will not make a flat course there. It's even possible that we will have the hardest WC ever.

 

[KZD]

It's an Olympic year so no Vuelta.

Why not? The Olympics in 2028 will be held during July so Pogačar should have several weeks to prepare himself for the Vuelta.

Also if Pogačar wins the WCRR in the next three seasons, he will become the first rider ever to win it 4 times, which would make him even more of a legend. Meanwhile he just needs a single Vuelta win.

 

[Froome]

Bill Russell GOAT 11 championships !!! Jordan who , Lebron who ?

I talked about individual wins.

Besides that, Merckx is the most complete rider ever. He won PR and was beating pure sprinters.

 

[Peyroteo94]

Why not? The Olympics in 2028 will be held during July so Pogačar should have several weeks to prepare himself for the Vuelta.

Also if Pogačar wins the WCRR in the next three seasons, he will become the first rider ever to win it 4 times, which would make him even more of a legend. Meanwhile he just needs a single Vuelta win.

He will not win 4 consecutive WC. He can do it bur he doesn't have a solid team like Big Nations (France, Belgium, Italy, etc) to control easily the race. This year he attacked with 100 km to the finish line because he felt his team wasn't capable of closing that gap.

 

[KZD]

He will not win 4 consecutive WC. He can do it bur he doesn't have a solid team like Big Nations (France, Belgium, Italy, etc) to control easily the race. This year he attacked with 100 km to the finish line because he felt his team wasn't capable of closing that gap.

Well Slovakia had a worse team than Slovenia and Sagan manage to win it 3 times so I wouldn't rule out Pogi winning it 4 times. Even if he wins it 'just' 3 times, he would already equal Merckx and he can also get something like a WCTT or the Olympic RR gold too.

 

[Panda Claws]

Sagan's team was so bad that it became okay. Nobody could expect Slovakia to do any work at a WC.

 

[Peyroteo94]

Sagan's team was so bad that it became okay. Nobody could expect Slovakia to do any work at a WC.

This. And Sagan was a better sprinter than Pogacar. Pogacar has to drop everybody, other teams will not work with him and will try to antecipate Pogacar's attack

 

[Poursuivant]

MSR will be his kryptonite until his retirement. In fact, I don't see him ever winning it. I hope to be wrong.
Paris Roubaix is a matter of time, 2 more kilos of pure muscle and no one will be able to follow him.

I think after reading Pogacar saying “I am already thinking about MSR and trying something different,” it doesn’t take much imagination to mean he will launch on the Cipressa. I think that will be his best chance to win too.

 

[Peyroteo94]

Winning 3 WC is far easier in a team like Spain (Freire) or Belgium (Merckx) than Slovakia. So Sagan's palmares in WC is more impressive for me.

 

[Peyroteo94]

I think after reading Pogacar saying “I am already thinking about MSR and trying something different,” it doesn’t take much imagination to mean he will launch on the Cipressa. I think that will be his best chance to win too.

But he can't drop a normal WVA or MVP there.

 

[Poursuivant]

But he can't drop a normal WVA or MVP there.

It will be hard but not impossible. But even if a small group of 4/5 go with him and reach the Poggio before the peloton, surely his chances are higher in that situation than if it’s a group of 30/40?

 

[Peyroteo94]

It will be hard but not impossible. But even if a small group of 4/5 go with him and reach the Poggio before the peloton, surely his chances are higher in that situation than if it’s a group of 30/40?

MVP is not going to be dropped by Pogacar unless they bring Manie back.

 

[KZD]

This. And Sagan was a better sprinter than Pogacar. Pogacar has to drop everybody, other teams will not work with him and will try to antecipate Pogacar's attack

Pogačar doesn't need to drop everyone, he just needs to drop riders that are faster than him like Van der Poel, Van Aert and Pedersen. At least in Rwanda with more than 5000 meters of elevation that shouldn't be an issue

 

[scribers]

No but rumours are that 2026 WC will be hilly like GP Montreal and 2027 WC will be in the French Alps. They will not make a flat course there. It's even possible that we will have the hardest WC ever.

Without a guarantee pogi has to focus on the known opportunity this year. No vuelta this year

 

[scribers]

Were there even sprinters in the 60’s and 70’s? Or is that just what they called good riders who couldn’t climb well?

 

[Peyroteo94]

Pogačar doesn't need to drop everyone, he just needs to drop riders that are faster than him like Van der Poel, Van Aert and Pedersen. At least in Rwanda with more than 5000 meters of elevation that shouldn't be an issue

But others will not work with him