Teams & Riders Tadej Pogačar discussion thread

[Peyroteo94]

Likely wind can play apart here indeed. Will be interesting to see if he has his new TT position with higher stance.

https://twitter.com/x/status/1891505560874340528

View: https://x.com/laflammerouge16/status/1891505560874340528

So we will not see Pogacar's TT

 

[James M]

Goats season starts today. I hope everyone enjoys it.🥳

Hoping for no crashes or injuries etc this season, let’s see what he can do for the history books.

Fresh coming of and holder of the greatest season/version ever seen in cycling while simultaneously producing the best numbers ever seen across the board while seemingly improving at the end.

Needless to say people are excited for whats to come this season. More history likely to be written.

 

[yaf2]

Has anybody saw classica jaen today and deltoros level? We might as well have said he is washed when we saw vuelta murcia 2 days ago. Today was all about pog opening his motor engine so be calm gents if you want to witness greatness alive

 

[Peyroteo94]

Next 2 stages will be better to assess his level.

 

[Lequack]

Where is mou to reassure us!

 

[Rou]

Here are Pog's results in ITTs in UAE:
In 2021 he finished 4th, 24 secs behind the winner on a 13 km time trial.
In 2022 he finished 4th, 18 secs behind the winner on a 9 km time trial.
I'm writing this so we can have a reference for tomorrow's ITT.

 

[MyFTP5.9w/kg]

So we will not see Pogacar's TT

UAE Tour has TV coverage from 0km. This is not a third world country.

 

[Netserk]

UAE Tour has TV coverage from 0km. This is not a third world country.

It literally is (or was, it's an outdated term): https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Third_World

 

[Unchained]

As for the muscle mass thing, while you can debate what's optimal, I think it's a very lame excuse to not race Roubaix. Only way to find out what you need is to try to race it, even if you don't specifically bulk up for it.

IMO, spring schedule becoming too hard, risk of crashes and injuries, and even team politics are all better reasons to not race it than "i can only race if I'm heavier"

I forget some of the movies were there is some ultra complicated equation on a blackboard and a non student, janitor, casual passersby solves the problem. Body mass, muscle mass, genetic elements, aerodynamics of body, equipment, weather, rolling resistance of tires and road, just too many things to consider, so how much force you can crush into the pedals, as you pointed out in earlier posts are just part of it.. And road surfaces, other conditions that are typical in Roubaix are tough to measure or factor for.. Thousands of variables.. More reasons to race than not to race.

 

[Peyroteo94]

UAE Tour has TV coverage from 0km. This is not a third world country.

Good news. Happy and thrilled to see his position on the bike

 

[Peyroteo94]

He looks very skinny and for classics I thought he would be heavier. Even his arms look so thin.

 

[Lequack]

He looks very skinny and for classics I thought he would be heavier. Even his arms look so thin.

Maybe white bib is slimming

 

[Berniece]

He looks very skinny and for classics I thought he would be heavier. Even his arms look so thin.

That’s his jersey

 

[Unchained]

Has anybody saw classica jaen today and deltoros level? We might as well have said he is washed when we saw vuelta murcia 2 days ago. Today was all about pog opening his motor engine so be calm gents if you want to witness greatness alive

His level looks good.. Team had him to do Giro instead of Vuelta like last year, he had a series of problems, small hand injury, and his gravel worlds and U23 didn't turn out. He also celebrated his 21st birthday and has like all professionals had to change his racing schedule, pre 18 years old he did lots of mountain bike racing and available cyclocross. He is in a constant state of improvement in time trialing..this last week are his first 2 starts both were top ten, both were selection so he was able to make the breakaway. Today was also encouraging that he was able to attack, settle down and maintain riding solo for @10k plus. I personally was concerned that he was scratched from his original schedule that had him racing in January instead of mid February. He rode solid today and while his result wasn't podium at Murcia, he still was aggressive, made the selection. UAE looks like they have very hands on management of young talent, had 18 year old development rider in Murcia with great, impressive ride..and had 21 year old Antonio Morgado riding lights out great, including a victory and same playbook with medium range solo effort. Del Toro is going to benefit from riding, living, racing with other young riders who are being encouraged to race bold instead of long learning curve, racing conservative to gain experience. UAE style is going to involve big losing, but when you let young riders race high risk the wins are that much more special. Del Toro, 2 pro races so far and 7th is worst result. Had 3 wins in first year!!

 

[Peyroteo94]

Maybe white bib is slimming

Maybe but baby fat is definitely gone

 

[yaf2]

His level looks good.. Team had him to do Giro instead of Vuelta like last year, he had a series of problems, small hand injury, and his gravel worlds and U23 didn't turn out. He also celebrated his 21st birthday and has like all professionals had to change his racing schedule, pre 18 years old he did lots of mountain bike racing and available cyclocross. He is in a constant state of improvement in time trialing..this last week are his first 2 starts both were top ten, both were selection so he was able to make the breakaway. Today was also encouraging that he was able to attack, settle down and maintain riding solo for @10k plus. I personally was concerned that he was scratched from his original schedule that had him racing in January instead of mid February. He rode solid today and while his result wasn't podium at Murcia, he still was aggressive, made the selection. UAE looks like they have very hands on management of young talent, had 18 year old development rider in Murcia with great, impressive ride..and had 21 year old Antonio Morgado riding lights out great, including a victory and same playbook with medium range solo effort. Del Toro is going to benefit from riding, living, racing with other young riders who are being encouraged to race bold instead of long learning curve, racing conservative to gain experience. UAE style is going to involve big losing, but when you let young riders race high risk the wins are that much more special. Del Toro, 2 pro races so far and 7th is worst result. Had 3 wins in first year!!

The way I saw this first races in this season uae have made a step in performance when you analyze it. Riders like Jan christen, morgado and now del Toro have progressed considerably they use to have strong attacks but couldn't manage it for long periods during a race but what I'm seeing this year is a little different

 

[Peyroteo94]

UAE is not racing correctly and are missing a lot of wins already

 

[YavorD]

UAE is not racing correctly and are missing a lot of wins already

They have exactly the same number of wins they had at this point last season.
You win some and you lose some. You can't win it all.

 

[Lequack]

https://twitter.com/x/status/1891620796595945918

View: https://x.com/lucasaganronald/status/1891620796595945918

 

[jmdirt]

What's up with the handlebars? Are riser bars more aero?

 

[Krzysztof_O]

UAE is not racing correctly and are missing a lot of wins already

I think already at the start of last year he looked skinny without much baby fat. But he doesn't seem bigger this year ahead of cobbled classics.

 

[Peyroteo94]

They have exactly the same number of wins they had at this point last season.
You win some and you lose some. You can't win it all.

You are right but they already lost a couple of races due to tactics

 

[Peyroteo94]

I think already at the start of last year he looked skinny without much baby fat. But he doesn't seem bigger this year ahead of cobbled classics.

He looks very skinny. Maybe it is his bib however he doesn't look so bulky (in the legs) like he was in 2023 for example.

 

[Peyroteo94]

His TT looks like other years. He will never be good enough to challenge top guys like Remco, Ganna or Tarling in these flat TTs.

 

[Red Rick]

His TT looks like other years. He will never be good enough to challenge top guys like Remco, Ganna or Tarling in these flat TTs.

Probably not.

But I would also think he prepared less for UAE than the previous times he's raced it because it's a dumb sandbox race that's zone 1 for 90% of the time. So I think it's not great for the rest of your spring if you actually go and do specific prep and taper a lot for this race.