Teams & Riders Tadej Pogačar discussion thread

[hayneplane]

I see him in perfect trajectory, he's around the same shape he was last year at this point

True. I was a bit worried last year when he couldn’t drop everyone here but then he crushed them in Montreal and went on to deliver a staggering performance in the Worlds.

If he doesn’t look great on Sunday then it will be more concerning.

 

[Peyroteo94]

Maybe Narvaez is not in shape, he has decided not to go to Rwanda.

Adam has been in a bad shape all year. If he doesn't improve next year, they shouldn't take him to the Tour.
Since his contract renewal, his performance has declined.

Today was not a great day for Adam. Quebec is very flat.

 

[Peyroteo94]

Yes. Maertens.

And do u know that he crashed out of the giro that year while wearing pink. And not sure if he raced again that year.

When people state emphatically that Cav was the GOAT sprinter I ROTFFLOL every time. Maertens was the absolute GOAT for sprinting. He could also crush an ITT and won the 1976 worlds from a two-man break.

I didn't know. I only follow (international) cycling regularly since 2000. Have some memories of Pantani but nothing more (outside Volta a Portugal)

 

[Cycling111]

Today was not a great day for Adam. Quebec is very flat.

The first part of the climb was 9-11%.
The initial part served as a selection. Adam has been bad all year, though.

If this seems flat, Rwanda time trial has a maximum of 6% in a short section, mostly 3-5%

 

[Peyroteo94]

The first part of the climb was 9-11%.
The initial part served as a selection. Adam has been bad all year, though.

If this seems flat, Rwanda time trial has a maximum of 6% in a short section, almost is at 3-5.

They were riding at 50 kph, 200m at 10% will not damage sprinters

 

[Cycling111]

They were riding at 50 kph, 200m at 10% will not damage sprinters

To De Lie and Van Aert yes, only 4 riders were able to follow Pogacar.

The climbs in the time trial have a lower percentage.
That's why I said before that it will be very difficult to beat Remco.

 

[Shortcut]

That race is really hard to control, i would say even harder than MSR because Pogacar needs to be totally on the front or at best 5sec before last climb starts. You can't gain much time there and after that you need to bring it home (it's flatter as it seems). You can't win it with long solo attack and if you are going to soon you will need someone who will work with you. He just wanted to break a little bit a peloton and find someone who will go with him-no one wanted to pull and race was already over. I think he is in great form but thinking he can go solo on that race is really crazy and naive.

 

[Peyroteo94]

That race is really hard to control, i would say even harder than MSR because Pogacar needs to be totally on the front or at best 5sec before last climb starts. You can't gain much time there and after that you need to bring it home (it's flatter as it seems). You can't win it with long solo attack and if you are going to soon you will need someone who will work with you. He just wanted to break a little bit a peloton and find someone who will go with him-no one wanted to pull and race was already over. I think he is in great form but thinking he can go solo on that race is really crazy and naive.

The best way is wait for the sprint.

 

[Divergence]

It is about time other rider figure out to never and that is never ride with Pog in the group. It might seem appealing to ride with him and get second but those who ride usually burn themselves out and do not get anything. Today was beautiful, seeing Pog not in the top 10

 

[Peyroteo94]

It is about time other rider figure out to never and that is never ride with Pog in the group. It might seem appealing to ride with him and get second but those who ride usually burn themselves out and do not get anything. Today was beautiful, seeing Pog not in the top 10

Yes but Pogacar wins a lot of races by doing long solos.

 

[Cycling111]

It is about time other rider figure out to never and that is never ride with Pog in the group. It might seem appealing to ride with him and get second but those who ride usually burn themselves out and do not get anything. Today was beautiful, seeing Pog not in the top 10

Yes, because Pogacar usually wins thanks to the collaboration he receives.

In Flanders, Liège, Lombardy... all were solo wins. In the victory in the one where he rode the most kilometers with rivals, Flanders, he was the one who did everything at the front, attacks to select the group and leading.

Which race are you referring to? I don't remember which classic he won thanks to help from his rivals.

 

[Cycling111]

Comment better suited for the clinic me thinks.

He always makes these kinds of comments.

 

[Berniece]

I think he is fine, race didn’t say much. Will win Montreal easily

 

[Salvarani]

Ciciban race

 

[Shortcut]

He needs some races where he can still relax. It is really mentally hard to ride every race full gas because if you don't win "he is not in shape"
or "he has bad racing IQ". And on top of that whole peloton is racing against him on every terrain, somehow he still needs to be good teammate and is not allowed to win "to much" because that is not nice. He should also not wait for sprint because it is to boring and also not win after solo attacks because it's again... to boring.

 

[Krzysztof_O]

Worlds start in 9 days, he doesn't have time to build his shape. He probably misses some miles and will be better in 2 days.

Agreed that it would be easier to peak if he prepared solely for WC RR. The TT complicates things. We will see.

 

[Peyroteo94]

Agreed that it would be easier to peak if he prepared solely for WC RR. The TT complicates things. We will see.

He will basically have Wednesday and Thursday to train hard before the TT

 

[Cycling111]

This travel isn't convenient for the time trial. Remco and others will be there for a few more days.

But for the road race, I wouldn't draw too many conclusions from yesterday's performance. We'll have to see how he feels tomorrow, and his attitude could be different, especially with the time trial in mind. Maybe he doesn't want to do a solo like last year because he didn't do the time trial last year. This year, he has a few days.

I've already said that these races are good to prepare WCR because they have long distances, but they're not suitable for ITT because there are only a few days left until the time trial. Jet Lag...

 

[Red Rick]

It's pretty obvious that Pogacar doesn't take this race that seriously, and I think it mostly serves as a warmup for Montreal.

His attack was pretty weak, and he had to sit down pretty quickly while guys that were positioned badly at the bottom of the climb closed the gap fairly easily. And after that, I'm surprised by how quickly Pogacar just ran out of gas completely.

It all perfectly aligns with winning Montreal by 1 minute and then Rwanda WCRR by 4 minutes. ITT can go either way, he can suck really badly or he can crush it.

 

[Cycling111]

It's pretty obvious that Pogacar doesn't take this race that seriously, and I think it mostly serves as a warmup for Montreal.

His attack was pretty weak, and he had to sit down pretty quickly while guys that were positioned badly at the bottom of the climb closed the gap fairly easily. And after that, I'm surprised by how quickly Pogacar just ran out of gas completely.

It all perfectly aligns with winning Montreal by 1 minute and then Rwanda WCRR by 4 minutes. ITT can go either way, he can suck really badly or he can crush it.

If the expectation is that he will win by 1 minute tomorrow, then in the post-race everyone will be commenting that he is washed .

Not even last year did he make that difference. 24 seconds.

 

[Red Rick]

If the expectation is that he will win by 1 minute tomorrow, then in the post-race everyone will be commenting that he is washed .

Not even last year did he make that difference. 24 seconds.

Admittedly I simply misremember the gap from last year. It felt like a lot more because once he attacked the race was over, but alright.

Basically I expect him to win in similar fashion to last year.

 

[ppanther92]

Now you see why cycling is not a videogame and Pogacar missed the Vuelta for a reason. He was cooked after the Tour.

I also think Vingegaard does actually quite well, given how hard they rode the Tour.

But its probably also safe to say that Pogi deliberately had an extended rest to get another peak for world cup, while a Vuelta start wouldn’t allow to have a new buildup. So I wouldn’t overinterpret the result.

 

[Peyroteo94]

If the expectation is that he will win by 1 minute tomorrow, then in the post-race everyone will be commenting that he is washed .

Not even last year did he make that difference. 24 seconds.

But those 24 seconds looked like 45 seconds.

 

[Fos]

Yes, because Pogacar usually wins thanks to the collaboration he receives.

In Flanders, Liège, Lombardy... all were solo wins. In the victory in the one where he rode the most kilometers with rivals, Flanders, he was the one who did everything at the front, attacks to select the group and leading.

Which race are you referring to? I don't remember which classic he won thanks to help from his rivals.

I only remember Pidcock in Strade😅

 

[Cycling111]

I only remember Pidcock in Strade😅

it wasn´t a chasing group. In any case, he would have won because it was a 1 vs. 1.

I don't remember when Pogacar has won a race because he was helped in a chasing group. They don't even usually help him in the first group .