Teams & Riders Tadej Pogačar discussion thread

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Before he tries at sprint he needs to try at least one time already on Berta with Del Toro and Narvaez. If there 15-20 riders at begining of Cipresa those two can do great lead out. If they try that and Tadej still doesn't win.. then that is it.
On Berta? That’s absurd. They should put one guy to make a hard race in the capos. Probably Politt, a guy who can't position himself and his team in the front.
 
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Changing the subject, what do you imagine will be the Tour team next year?

I can easily imagine it as Pogi, Del Toro, Almeida, Yates, Sivakov (or Soler) Narvaez, Wellens and Pollitt. The inclusion of Del Toro might raise eyebrows but I think he's likely to get onto the TdF podium which would please sponsors and Mexico more than perhaps winning the GIro or Vuelta.

Supposedly, UAE won't send younger riders to more than one GT per year.
 
Changing the subject, what do you imagine will be the Tour team next year?

I can easily imagine it as Pogi, Del Toro, Almeida, Yates, Sivakov (or Soler) Narvaez, Wellens and Pollitt. The inclusion of Del Toro might raise eyebrows but I think he's likely to get onto the TdF podium which would please sponsors and Mexico more than perhaps winning the GIro or Vuelta.

Supposedly, UAE won't send younger riders to more than one GT per year.
Pogacar
Almeida
Soler
Narvaez
Politt
Wellens
McNulty
Yates/Sivakov
 
I think it would be good for Del Toro to do the Tour alongside Pogacar, if he goes with the right attitude, not like Ayuso. That's how some riders started, like Lemmond alongside Hinault.

I wouldn't rush him to go to the Giro. Besides, Vingegaard will go to the Giro, and we have to be realistic; if he hasn't been able to beat Simon Yates, he won't be able to do it with Vingegaard in a few months.
The Tour is a race they have to know; it's very different from any other GT, and doing it as a domestique without any pressure other than helping is a good way to go.
He could even lead other one-week races, and if he goes to the Tour as a domestique, he won't be as tired as if he went to the Vuelta as a leader and could extend his season in autul. Almeida is completely coocked after the Vuelta.
 
This is what he hinted at in his statements at the Vuelta.

He's going to turn 30 next year, I think it's obvious that he's going to go.
Yeah Jonas said that if the decision was only up to him, he would ride the Giro next year. But of course he will have to talk it up with Visma before making a final decision on whether he goes Giro-Tour or not.

In that case, I would just prefer Del Toro goes to the Tour unless he insists he wants to target the Vuelta GC.
 
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I'm very sceptical that Vingegaard will enter next year's Giro, whatever hints he may have given this year. As we saw at the Vuelta, he doesn't have the ability to race two consecutive Grand Tours at the same high level and I think it pretty much rules him out of contention at the Tour de France. And I don't think he would do that, or his team would risk him turning up sub-standard.
 
I'm very sceptical that Vingegaard will enter next year's Giro, whatever hints he may have given this year. As we saw at the Vuelta, he doesn't have the ability to race two consecutive Grand Tours at the same high level and I think it pretty much rules him out of contention at the Tour de France. And I don't think he would do that, or his team would risk him turning up sub-standard.
He was fine doing the Tour-Vuelta in 2023. He was probably even the strongest in the 3rd week of the Vuelta that year. His underperformance at the Vuelta this year was due to his sickness.
 
He was still far from his best shape (what he showed in the Tour).
But then again, I actually think that nowadays the Tour-Vuelta is much harder to maintain high lever for both races than the Giro-Tour.
With the way they ride/rode the Tour this year, being dead after the Tour is perfectly normal, so him looking worse in the Vuelta is/was to be expected.
Whilst you can start the Giro a bit undercooked and with the right circumstances (field, route, crashes...) win it without digging too deep, thus being at your best in the Tour.