Teams & Riders Tadej Pogačar discussion thread

[Cycling111]

Contador said this in June 2024, a few days before the start of the Tour. He said he believed Pogacar would have a worse Tour than in other years because he had won the Giro.
He failed; it was Pogacar's best Tour, not his worst.

Contador makes a lot of assumptions based on what he was capable of.
Contador didn't win the Giro-Tour the same year; Pogacar yes.

He was wrong last year; this time it's harder to judge because Contador never had a season classics-Tour.

 

[Red Rick]

Jesus Christ... there is a strong case about MVP being one of the most overrated cyclists in the world. I know this is strange since he is the best cobbled classics rider in the world, probably on his way to surpass Boonen as the best ever but he is so overrated on climbs. He can't have a chance in climbs over 4 minutes (with more than 7% average gradient) but people still think he can win LBL or other hilly classics.

You're not the most overrated based on one terrible take. The talk of Van Aert becoming a GC rider was much louder and significant at the time. Nobody ever talked seriously about Van der Poel doing any GC apart from Contador that one time.

If anything, it's hard to over or underrate Van der Poel cause he stays in his lane entirely.

 

[Red Rick]

Contador said this in June 2024, a few days before the start of the Tour. He said he believed Pogacar would have a worse Tour than in other years because he had won the Giro.
He failed; it was Pogacar's best Tour, not his worst.

Contador makes a lot of assumptions based on what he was capable of.
Contador didn't win the Giro-Tour the same year; Pogacar yes.

He was wrong that time; this time it's harder to judge because Contador never had a classics season in the Tour.

Contador used to do a very heavy spring schedule without classics though. He'd go all out trying to win all of like Ruta del Sol, PN-Catalunya-Itzulia, etc.

 

[Cycling111]

By the way, Contador said Pogacar wouldn't win the Tour because of the Giro, but now he wants Vingegaard to do the Giro-Tour.
Pogacar has changed his mind

https://twitter.com/x/status/1917851780492255241

View: https://x.com/laflammerouge16/status/1917851780492255241

 

[Red Rick]

By the way, Contador said Pogacar wouldn't win the Tour because of the Giro, but now he wants Vingegaard to do the Giro-Tour.
Pogacar has changed his mind

https://twitter.com/x/status/1917851780492255241

View: https://x.com/laflammerouge16/status/1917851780492255241

He actually still implies Giro is bad for your Tour challenge, which indicates that he has not changed his mind. This is actually much more ranting against the Tour being everything than Giro-Tour being possible for Vingegaard.

 

[Peyroteo94]

Contador used to do a very heavy spring schedule without classics though. He'd go all out trying to win all of like Ruta del Sol, PN-Catalunya-Itzulia, etc.

Yeah but it worked for him

 

[Netserk]

Yeah but it worked for him

He never won the Tour after riding the three back-to-back spring stage races.

 

[Peyroteo94]

You're not the most overrated based on one terrible take. The talk of Van Aert becoming a GC rider was much louder and significant at the time. Nobody ever talked seriously about Van der Poel doing any GC apart from Contador that one time.

If anything, it's hard to over or underrate Van der Poel cause he stays in his lane entirely.

He can't win LBL either but somehow there is always this conversation about him being a future LBL winner of Pogi and Remco aren't there.

 

[Red Rick]

Yeah but it worked for him

It didn't. In his best TdF years he had a less intense spring. The only time he did all 3 WT stage races for GC and didn't burn the hell out was 2014.

 

[Peyroteo94]

He never won the Tour after riding the three back-to-back spring stage races.

Yes but he still had a heavy spring schedule in 2010 and 2009.

 

[Peyroteo94]

And in 2014 he was on his way to win the Tour (or maybe Froome would win. Not Nibali for sure).

 

[Rou]

Last year during the Giro a lot of people were saying: ''Why does Pogacar attack so much? Does he really need 6 stages? Is he wasting too much energy for the Tour?'' Matxin in an interview said that Pogacar is containing himself.
If Pogacar is worse in climbing in the TDF this year it WILL NOT be because of fatigue but because of lack of climbing preparation.
Big difference.

 

[Peyroteo94]

He actually still implies Giro is bad for your Tour challenge, which indicates that he has not changed his mind. This is actually much more ranting against the Tour being everything than Giro-Tour being possible for Vingegaard.

Just because Pogacar banalized Giro-Tour attempt, it doesn't mean doing the Giro is a good preparation for the Tour, it isn't.
We cannot apply Pogi's rules to other riders.

 

[Rou]

Just because Pogacar banalized Giro-Tour attempt, it doesn't mean doing the Giro is a good preparation for the Tour, it isn't.
We cannot apply Pogi's rules to other riders.

The Giro 2024 was a perfect storm for Pogacar - weak competition and easy parcour. He was closing Tiberi on Prati di Tivo nose breathing. This year the parcour is also easy but Roglic on the startlist means you can't use the race as preparation.
Vingegaard can't expect to cruise to a Giro victory with Roglic in the startlist. I'm not mentioning Ayuso because I think Jonas can control him easily.

 

[Peyroteo94]

The Giro 2024 was a perfect storm for Pogacar - weak competition and easy parcour. He was closing Tiberi on Prati di Tivo nose breathing. This year the parcour is also easy but Roglic on the startlist means you can't use the race as preparation.
Vingegaard can't expect to cruise to a Giro victory with Roglic in the startlist. I'm not mentioning Ayuso because I think Jonas can control him easily.

Weak competition for Pogacar. For example, Enric Mas is strong competition? I don't think so (even in the Vuelta), at least for Pogacar but Mas can give headaches to riders like Roglic.

 

[AmRacer]

The Giro 2024 was a perfect storm for Pogacar - weak competition and easy parcour. He was closing Tiberi on Prati di Tivo nose breathing. This year the parcour is also easy but Roglic on the startlist means you can't use the race as preparation.
Vingegaard can't expect to cruise to a Giro victory with Roglic in the startlist. I'm not mentioning Ayuso because I think Jonas can control him easily.

Roglic can use the Giro as prep for the Tour 🤔

 

[Peyroteo94]

And do you really think Roglic can give any troubles to Pogacar nowadays in a GT? If so, how?

 

[Cycling111]

Roglic can use the Giro as prep for the Tour 🤔

The Giro-Tour hasn't been won since 1998, but some are convinced it's the best thing for a 35-year rider who hasn't won the Tour even without a double.

It's something I read in the Roglic thread.
Another totally underrated achievement by Pogacar. Since Pogacar achieved it, it seems everyone is going to win the Tour doing the Giro.

I even read that Roglic would do well in De Ronde, when it's a race with a thousand crashes.
Since Pogacar dominates De Ronde, everyone is going to win De Ronde, even rides who have had thousands of accidents like Roglic

Everything Pogacar wins, others will do by imitation, as if it were easy.

 

[AmRacer]

The Giro-Tour hasn't been won since 1998, but some are convinced it's the best thing for a 35-year rider who hasn't won the Tour even without a double.

It's something I read in the Roglic thread.
Another totally underrated achievement by Pogacar. Since Pogacar achieved it, it seems everyone is going to win the Tour doing the Giro.

I even read that Roglic would do well in De Ronde, when it's a race with a thousand crashes. Everything Pogacar wins, others will do by imitation, as if it were easy.

*2024

 

[Samu Cuenca]

And do you really think Roglic can give any troubles to Pogacar nowadays in a GT? If so, how?

By crashing into him.

 

[Cycling111]

*2024

Yes, after 26 years, being 25 and in a historic year in which he also won the world championship and two monuments.

Roglic, 10 years older, hasn't won the Tour, not even against the debutant Pogacar. Imagine beating the experienced Pogacar, Vingegaard, and Remco, when no rider over 33 has won the Giro-Tour, because it's so difficult. And the rider who did it at 33 was a dominant rider like Coppi 70 years ago. Roglic isn't even the best rider of this era.

Since Pogacar did it, it's now easy. Roglic will do it. He's never won the Tour, but he´ll win TDF doing the Giro, breaking Coppi's record. And in 2026 Roglic will be podium in De Ronde
Everything Pogacar does continues to be undervalued.

By crashing into him.

Now that you mention it, Pogacar hasn't had any DNF in GT. It's no coincidence.
He may have bad luck some year, but he handles well the early stages , when there are usually more accidents.

This year's Tour will start with several sprints. Many accidents are expected.

 

[Peyroteo94]

Yes, after 26 years, being 25 and in a historic year in which he also won the world championship and two monuments.

Roglic, 10 years older, hasn't won the Tour, not even against the debutant Pogacar. Imagine beating the experienced Pogacar, Vingegaard, and Remco, when no rider over 33 has won the Giro-Tour, because it's so difficult. And the rider who did it at 33 was a dominant rider like Coppi 70 years ago. Roglic isn't even the best rider of this era.

Since Pogacar did it, it's now easy. Roglic will do it. He's never won the Tour, but he´ll win TDF doing the Giro, breaking Coppi's record. And in 2026 Roglic will be podium in De Ronde
Everything Pogacar does continues to be undervalued.

Now that you mention it, Pogacar hasn't had any DNF in GT. It's no coincidence.
He may have bad luck some year, but he handles well the early stages , when there are usually more accidents.

This year's Tour will start with several sprints. Many accidents are expected.

The best year to do the double was in 2018. They had one more week to rest and Froome failed (he was fading in the last week). Froome is consensually a top10 GT rider ever and I think I can speak for a lot of us when I say he would win the Tour 2019 (and become a record holder of TdF wins) without that stupid crash in a TT recon.

 

[Peyroteo94]

Roglic is not attempting Giro-Tour, he is trying to win the Giro because he is too far behind Vingegaard and Pogacar. He had by far the best preparation last year and still was miles behind in every mountain/hilly stage.

 

[Shortcut]

The Giro-Tour hasn't been won since 1998, but some are convinced it's the best thing for a 35-year rider who hasn't won the Tour even without a double.

It's something I read in the Roglic thread.
Another totally underrated achievement by Pogacar. Since Pogacar achieved it, it seems everyone is going to win the Tour doing the Giro.

I even read that Roglic would do well in De Ronde, when it's a race with a thousand crashes.
Since Pogacar dominates De Ronde, everyone is going to win De Ronde, even rides who have had thousands of accidents like Roglic

Everything Pogacar wins, others will do by imitation, as if it were easy.

I think, he can do it. Obviously something needs to happen to Pogi but that is the case for everybody. I think Jonas is not such a headache for Roglic because for Roglic the Pogi's riding style is the worst thing happening to him. We still (i doubt we ever will) didn't see Roglic coming in optimal shape to TdF because he crashed every year before it and in most cases during it. Also (again if he doesn't crash) he will easily win this year Giro. Ayuso will have one really bad day, i believe already in first week, others are really not a problem.

 

[Cycling111]

This is true however it is a shame they took so much time to understand what was the best tactic in MSR. So many wasted opportunities on the Poggio.

I know. I'm talking about the opinions people have about Giro-Tour.
I'm convinced he knows what his real goals are.