Teams & Riders Tadej Pogačar discussion thread

[Peyroteo94]

Ok, plus the 18 minutes and 7 stages and all classifications…hope pog can do it

In Merckx's era, the best climber would get cooked before the mountains.
Merckx is like WVA who could climb like Oscar Only in his hey days.

 

[Charlyghoul]

For the second year in a row, Pogacar is matching Merckx's dominance. This is beyond incredible in this era.

Not at all, he cannot even win the two biggest monuments yet and still has fewer grand tours than Chris Froome, who didn’t even start going for the gc until he was old

 

[hayneplane]

you do realize that if everybody raced today with the same bikes and nutrition of 50 years ago the gaps would be much larger in favour of who has more natural talent? when everybody trains and takes care of nutrition like a maniac and focuses on marginal gains it becomes exponentially harder for anyone to dominate. (it's the equivalent of what happens in competitive markets if you want to find a link to economics).
The gap that pogacar has in the modern era is the biggest testament to his greatness. With old bikes and nutrition his gap with the rest would probably be much larger and his dominance even greater. I really do not understand how people do not get this point

When did Heart rate monitors, Bike Computers with live data tracking start to be mainstream in the peloton?

Gaps were also larger in the pre GPS era as time gaps were not reliable or as readily available so you would just keep pushing at close to peak power as long as possible.

 

[Charlyghoul]

In Merckx's era, the best climber would get cooked before the mountains.
Merckx is like WVA who could climb like Oscar Only in his hey days.

Merckx is a much better climber than you think.
I’ve already said i agree Pog and Ving are brilliant, whether they could climb better than say Bahamontes with the conditions of the time is debatable.
The fact is, you are in the minority to say Pog is the goat already, you might think it, but it doesn’t make it true. You don’t seem to be able to deal with the fact he has to win a lot more to be on Merckx level

 

[hayneplane]

Not at all, he cannot even win the two biggest monuments yet and still has fewer grand tours than Chris Froome, who didn’t even start going for the gc until he was old

How is MSR bigger than RVV or LBL?

 

[rafa92]

When did Heart rate monitors, Bike Computers with live data tracking start to be mainstream in the peloton?

Gaps were also larger in the pre GPS era as time gaps were not reliable or as readily available so you would just keep pushing at close to peak power as long as possible.

how does this has anything to do with what I wrote??

 

[BubbaChuck]

san remo is ciciban race.noone is competative in gts.

 

[Charlyghoul]

There is also another consideration that Pog is an average descender, Merckx was one of the best.
If Pog had an edge anywhere it is in pure climbing , but he needs to take another leap in performance from 23-25, he has to do the same again in order to put Merckx in trouble. Even if he has a gap over Merckx of 90 seconds over a mountain Eddy is making that up on the descent.
Pog doesn’t have the all round racing ability to beat Merckx

 

[Charlyghoul]

How is MSR bigger than RVV or LBL?

Roubaix is the big one, RVV v San remo is the debate for 2nd, to me RVV is somewhat of a smaller brother to Roubaix, San remo needs different abilities, hence San remo is the second best

 

[BubbaChuck]

if he takes another leap in performance,lol.really,than he is god level and greatest sportsman ever.

 

[Peyroteo94]

Merckx is a much better climber than you think.
I’ve already said i agree Pog and Ving are brilliant, whether they could climb better than say Bahamontes with the conditions of the time is debatable.
The fact is, you are in the minority to say Pog is the goat already, you might think it, but it doesn’t make it true. You don’t seem to be able to deal with the fact he has to win a lot more to be on Merckx level

Merckx was not the best climber - this is also Merckx's opinion btw.
Nowadays, a GT is won by the best climber. Just look to the Tour in the last 10 editions.

 

[Peyroteo94]

Roubaix is the big one, RVV v San remo is the debate for 2nd, to me RVV is somewhat of a smaller brother to Roubaix, San remo needs different abilities, hence San remo is the second best

San remo is fighting with GdL to know what is the worst monument.
No one was giving a damn thing for MSR in the early 00s

 

[Charlyghoul]

Merckx was not the best climber - this is also Merckx's opinion btw.
Nowadays, a GT is won by the best climber. Just look to the Tour in the last 10 editions.

It’s more or less always been that way, saying that, Thomas was not a better climber than Froome.
Merckx was a humble guy who would praise his opponents, he definitely was the best climber or certainly chose to it.
Again, before his accident he was a great climber, afterwards he was maybe just a very very good one.

 

[Charlyghoul]

San remo is fighting with GdL to know what is the worst monument.
No one was giving a damn thing for MSR in the early 00s

Well should be easy for pogi to win one then?

 

[Charlyghoul]

I always thought Roubaix , San remo, Flanders, Lombardy , liege.
My reasoning is flanders and Roubaix are right next to each other, and flanders is the inferior, so that elevates San remo somewhat.
Liege is in a part of the season when there are other hard classic like Amstel, Lombardy is sort of out on its own , also it’s one monument where heavy guys struggle so makes it unique.
Anyway that’s my reasoning.

 

[Charlyghoul]

Oh another thing is only really great riders can win them all, guys like Eddy and Roger.
Tadej and Mathieu so far are clearly inferior if we’re looking across all monuments. Specialised era ? Specialised to fail maybe

 

[BubbaChuck]

lol,it makes no sense,but lol.

 

[Peyroteo94]

It’s more or less always been that way, saying that, Thomas was not a better climber than Froome.
Merckx was a humble guy who would praise his opponents, he definitely was the best climber or certainly chose to it.
Again, before his accident he was a great climber, afterwards he was maybe just a very very good one.

Merckx was anything but humble. I'm not saying he was arrogant but he was a killer and a champion so if he really said he wasn't the best climber, it's probably because there were better climbers.

 

[Peyroteo94]

Oh another thing is only really great riders can win them all, guys like Eddy and Roger.
Tadej and Mathieu so far are clearly inferior if we’re looking across all monuments. Specialised era ? Specialised to fail maybe

Roger is better than Pogacar IYO?

 

[Charlyghoul]

lol,it makes no sense,but lol.

Makes no sense ?
The thing is only three cyclists have ever won all five monuments , and guess what ? they all raced during Merckx era..
And all those monuments were founded many years before that era…
We can see that the Merckx era, far from being weak, was actually very strong.

 

[Charlyghoul]

Roger is better than Pogacar IYO?

In classics so far yes of course, he won them all

 

[Charlyghoul]

The fact is it was a heyday for one day riders in Merckx era , and he still was the best.
In his tour victories look at the top ten you will see grand tour winners on the podium in all of his wins bar one, I think.
Merckx is goat for a reason

 

[BubbaChuck]

whats your eksplanation for that era.so many races,crazy conditions.doping,everybody had a bike.cause its crazy that eddie raced more than 1000 races.

 

[Lorzenz08]

The fact is it was a heyday for one day riders in Merckx era , and he still was the best.
In his tour victories look at the top ten you will see grand tour winners on the podium in all of his wins bar one, I think.
Merckx is goat for a reason

When Merckx was racing all the cyclists beyond the top 20 had to have second jobs to make a living.


This was a completely different era, much more amateur.

 

[Unchained]

Nobody was asking Eddy Merckx to do hundreds of podcasts, nobody wanted Eddy to do photo shoots and TV commercials for sponsor products, events and team media, constantly!! there was no such thing.
Merckx didn't tweet anything and in his era cycling news came through newspapers and magazines...
Tens of thousands of people didn't ask for clarification of comments that Merckx made in person or in print.
People were not stalking Merckx trying to intentionally cross paths while shopping, eating, going to church, haircut, coffee, getting a beer, enjoying a cigarette, rolling away from team house or his family residence to go training.. Just wasn't the amount of interest or connectivity, Eddy has said so.

UAE and Pogacar are likely to start to document his every activity, like podcasts, pre post race media, sponsorship commitments and race schedule that has him possibly in Australia, Middle East, Canada, throughout Western Europe, Africa.. Maybe commitment or 2 in China.. Some of that stuff is going to be turned down or completely eliminated and see if the reduction in schedule eases the mental strain being put on Pogacar..Is there good reasons for him to be ready to race in February and still be ripping for worlds at the end of September.. Maybe it's too much.