Teams & Riders Tadej Pogačar discussion thread

[Peyroteo94]

If he wins GdL, best classic season of all time, and among the best overall season of all time

I'm curious to see if this season will be considered better than last year.

 

[Peyroteo94]

He won all big RR (Vuelta,LBL 2X, OGRR) except WC when Pogacar was out. It is reasonable to think that Pogacar wouls win at least 3 of those races if not all 4) so don't start with "Pogacar has had some good fortune...". Tell me one RR where Remco would be favourite over Pogacar, just one?

Yup. It's very possible Remco wouldn't win half of his big wins if he was racing against Pogacar. But you just beat who is there in the race. It was Pogacar's decision to not race ORR, LBL or the Vuelta.

 

[Peyroteo94]

We talk a lot about Pogacar's zone 2 but here Sven says Pogacar's zone 3 is what makes him special.

'In one-day races, he can become Pogačar's equal' – Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe confidently plotting how to help Remco Evenepoel close the gap on Slovenian champion

'I'm convinced that Remco hasn't reached the end of his development yet and that he can take the step towards Pogačar' says Sven Vanthourenhout

www.cyclingnews.com

 

[Eddy Evenepoel]

We talk a lot about Pogacar's zone 2 but here Sven says Pogacar's zone 3 is what makes him special.

Im not sure he's talking about the standard zone 3 in the way people talk about Pogacars zone 2 training, but about the third system of energy generation in the body.

Vanthourenhout spoke of three separate engines of the body to HLN, which generate energy for exercise, from the first, which uses fat and oxygen – basic endurance, to a second, more intense level where sugars and oxygen are used up. But he focused on the third, most intense of the three, as to where Evenepoel can improve in comparison to the World Champion – with Pogačar thriving during the most anaerobic efforts where his rivals falter as lactic acid accumulates.

"It's in that third zone that Pogačar is so good," said Vanthourenhout, having witnessed the new gradual seated attack that Pogačar has utilised several times since changing coach in 2023. "Remco's basic fitness isn't inferior, but Tadej has an advantage in that regard. And that's what we're going to try to work on.

Above Zone 2 there are many more zones based on which model you use (traditionally between 5 and 8 zones in total), look for example this example from BikeRadar:

https://imgur.com/a/d5RkUIz

When talking about anaerobic efforts I think it's definitively talk about the higher end of Treshold zone and above Vanthourenhout is speeking about in this specific case. That also rhymes with Remco saying he need to improve his 3-5 minute effort to be able to stay with Pogacar during these longer seated attacks without killing himself.

 

[Peyroteo94]

Perfect opportunity to win TdS. Just 5 days of racing in 2026. A pity to see TdS with just 5 days though.

https://www.reddit.com/r/peloton/comments/1o0lykn/2026_cycling_calendar_all_the_new_uci_races_and

View: https://www.reddit.com/r/peloton/comments/1o0lykn/2026_cycling_calendar_all_the_new_uci_races_and/

 

[Peyroteo94]

Im not sure he's talking about the standard zone 3 in the way people talk about Pogacars zone 2 training, but about the third system of energy generation in the body.


Above Zone 2 there are many more zones based on which model you use (traditionally between 5 and 8 zones in total), look for example this example from BikeRadar:

https://imgur.com/a/d5RkUIz

When talking about anaerobic efforts I think it's definitively talk about the higher end of Treshold zone and above Vanthourenhout is speeking about in this specific case. That also rhymes with Remco saying he need to improve his 3-5 minute effort to be able to stay with Pogacar during these longer seated attacks without killing himself.

Remco needs to improve his FTP. He can follow Pogacar for 3' but he will explode later since he needs to go way harder than Pogacar. This is not just in long efforts, I'm pretty sure Remco can't follow Pogacar on 2 km hills of Pogacar goes at his max.

 

[Krzysztof_O]

@Eddy Evenepoel

Yes, the coach definitely meant something else than the standard zone3 (which is mix of fat and sugars burn and moderate intensity with no strong lactate accumulation (almost exclusively aerobic)).

3-5 minutes effort is the upper part of zone5. Part of the energy is anaerobic (that's why lactates accumulate quickly) and after 1 minute or so the body produces near VO2max aerobic response (nasty effort!). That's an important part: if Pogacar has higher VO2max he can maintain higher intensity and/or clear lactates faster after a strong acceleration. IMO VO2max is the key here but more generally (for longer climbs) it's anaerobic threshold (so zone4 power).

The correlation between VO2max and threshold power is very high for those well-trained athletes (but some of them could respond better to training stimulation (or other stuff we can't talk about here) and have better threshold than others at the same VO2max level). I think many of forum members believe that Pogacar has crazy VO2max but his lower zones "follow" it very nicely (are super high), due to training at crazy high VO2max for most of the year (for whatever reasons). All his zones from 2 to 5 are absurdly high.

 

[YavorD]

MSR. The race and climbs are not hard enough so Remco could benefit from his TT skills in the final and Pogacar has not the benefit of his exceptional recovery vs the field. We have seen that MSR is difficult for Pogacar. I give Remco more chances to win.

But then Remco's presence increase Pogacar's chances to win IMO.
That said, I do agree that Evenepoel has (a slightly) bigger chance to win MSR.

 

[Rou]

https://twitter.com/x/status/1975602412766568906

View: https://x.com/InsideOut2912/status/1975602412766568906/photo/1

The guy in the middle is called Benji Naesen.

 

[Fos]

Remco needs to improve his FTP. He can follow Pogacar for 3' but he will explode later since he needs to go way harder than Pogacar. This is not just in long efforts, I'm pretty sure Remco can't follow Pogacar on 2 km hills of Pogacar goes at his max.

He can not follow any meter if Pogi has a proper train.

 

[Lorzenz08]

I'm curious to see if this season will be considered better than last year.

True I think we are in unchartered territory so difficult to say, the Triple Crown is generally considered the highest feat but maybe because no one has yet achieved the Best Classic season + TdF.
So I guess this will be the debate. Triple Crown + 2 monuments versus All Monuments podium + TdF.

 

[red_flanders]

https://twitter.com/x/status/1975602412766568906

View: https://x.com/InsideOut2912/status/1975602412766568906/photo/1

The guy in the middle is called Benji Naesen.

Also half the forum...

 

[Peyroteo94]

Also half the forum...

In one specific thread...

 

[Peyroteo94]

True I think we are in unchartered territory so difficult to say, the Triple Crown is generally considered the highest feat but maybe because no one has yet achieved the Best Classic season + TdF.
So I guess this will be the debate. Triple Crown + 2 monuments versus All Monuments podium + TdF.

I still think last year is better. Triple Crown is the second highest feat in cycling.