Teams & Riders Tadej Pogačar discussion thread

[Unchained]

It's weird that the Olympics are being discussed in context to Tadej, but stranger still the Olympics is being discussed and the games evolution because of rampant cheating is not.
There appears to be another generation gap and that thing that happens, people just choose to forget.
The Olympics used to pride itself on being completely amateur and professionals were banned.
The Olympic police would voice anger at Eastern bloc countries and Chinese for having state sponsored athletic programs that for all intents and purposes were professional athletes.
All this talk of prestige of gold medals has completely misses the mark. Name a sport in the Olympics, cycling, basketball, hockey, endless.. everything was better before the Olympics gave up, completely rolled over and allowed professionals to come in and destroy the spirit of the games.
Countries that had a chance in some sports still do, but to a lesser degree because pros have ruined everything, not made it more prestigious.
It's like gravel racing, it started with all kinds of fellowship vibe, grassroots, have fun, self supported, you get it, not professional.
Now some of the discussion surrounding gravel racing is that it lost it's soul.
The idea that Remco or Tadej could contest an Olympic medal against some kid from Turkey, Malaysia or Iran is certainly soulless.
What a national dilemma for countries who still are training, thinking along some old school Olympic soul, having car washes and bake sales to raise money so their athlete can go to the Olympics and Tadej shows up to destroy them.
Many, many, too many federations will rethink spending enormous time and money to send a rider to the Olympics after witnessing Kigali.
Majority of countries it's completely symbolic, no long shot is going to happen. Tiny countries can use UCI WT standings to calculate their chances at Olympic games.
Maybe Tadej will lay in his Olympic village room or luxury hotel and ask himself the ugly question about Olympic bike racing.. Why would these guys even show up? They know that they have no chance of winning but they still show up.
Guys showing up to Kigali with rim brakes and aluminium box section rims..that's terrible but at the Olympics when riders like that show up and Tadej and the others destroy them it's shameful.
Olympics should be amateur.

 

[hayneplane]

Cavendish is gutted. Track silver medal means nothing as well.

Knighthood revoked

To be fair for Cavendish missing an Olympic Gold Medal on the track when practically all his British contemporaries have won at least one is almost certainly the biggest achievable gap in his palmares as a sprinter.

For Pogacar for sure he would trade one monument for the Olympic title but not if he only had a couple of monument wins.

 

[proffate]

The amateurs of today are better than the pro's of less than a decade ago apparantly.

There have always been lots of non-physiological barriers to going pro. It's just that now with power meters and social media we can discover the people who stayed amateur for reasons other than a lack of vo2 capacity.

I mean I guess if you're obsessed enough with road cycling to come on this forum, it's hard to imagine someone choosing a different life than touring Europe's dingiest motels and throwing oneself down and off mountains, but I guess that Andrew Feather guy and my semi-local hero both found white collar professions more appealing.

 

[BubbaChuck]

its getting clearer that eras before were chumps,but lets wait for more data,lol.

 

[Oldman]

It's weird that the Olympics are being discussed in context to Tadej, but stranger still the Olympics is being discussed and the games evolution because of rampant cheating is not.
There appears to be another generation gap and that thing that happens, people just choose to forget.
The Olympics used to pride itself on being completely amateur and professionals were banned.
The Olympic police would voice anger at Eastern bloc countries and Chinese for having state sponsored athletic programs that for all intents and purposes were professional athletes.
All this talk of prestige of gold medals has completely misses the mark. Name a sport in the Olympics, cycling, basketball, hockey, endless.. everything was better before the Olympics gave up, completely rolled over and allowed professionals to come in and destroy the spirit of the games.
Countries that had a chance in some sports still do, but to a lesser degree because pros have ruined everything, not made it more prestigious.
It's like gravel racing, it started with all kinds of fellowship vibe, grassroots, have fun, self supported, you get it, not professional.
Now some of the discussion surrounding gravel racing is that it lost it's soul.
The idea that Remco or Tadej could contest an Olympic medal against some kid from Turkey, Malaysia or Iran is certainly soulless.
What a national dilemma for countries who still are training, thinking along some old school Olympic soul, having car washes and bake sales to raise money so their athlete can go to the Olympics and Tadej shows up to destroy them.
Many, many, too many federations will rethink spending enormous time and money to send a rider to the Olympics after witnessing Kigali.
Majority of countries it's completely symbolic, no long shot is going to happen. Tiny countries can use UCI WT standings to calculate their chances at Olympic games.
Maybe Tadej will lay in his Olympic village room or luxury hotel and ask himself the ugly question about Olympic bike racing.. Why would these guys even show up? They know that they have no chance of winning but they still show up.
Guys showing up to Kigali with rim brakes and aluminium box section rims..that's terrible but at the Olympics when riders like that show up and Tadej and the others destroy them it's shameful.
Olympics should be amateur.

Unfortunately the networks put up so much money the OOC has become addicted to the kickbacks and perks. They, in turn; allow every relatively meaningful incursion of professional sport into the Olympic tent. The net effect is a slurry of broadcast highlights and human(?) interest(?) stories to prolong eyes on the tube.

 

[scribers]

***. What we going to talk about for 5 months? I hope it isn’t comparing remcos Olympic palmares the whole time

 

[KZD]

https://twitter.com/x/status/1977738670976250176

View: https://x.com/mou55981652/status/1977738670976250176?s=46&t=X4NqNG7J5ZQ-MxPOi53ECQ


My maths ain’t great. But 26 monuments???

Mou is exaggerating but after winning 3 monuments this season and getting on the podium of the other two, I think Pogacar might beat Merckx's 19 monuments wins record after all.

 

[Krzysztof_O]

Mou is exaggerating but after winning 3 monuments this season and getting on the podium of the other two, I think Pogacar might beat Merckx's 19 monuments wins record after all.

Getting close to 19 monuments is likely. He may miss the record by 1-2 monuments though.

 

[Rou]

Pog is probably cuddling with his wife now while the young del Toro is still working hard for UAE. 71 race days and still going, still winning.
It appears only the Pogster is afraid of 'burning out'.

 

[Miss Violet Smith]

***. What we going to talk about for 5 months? I hope it isn’t comparing remcos Olympic palmares the whole time

I'll be over in the Nordic Skiing/ Biathlon thread, waiting for Beitosprinten.

 

[MariaB]

***. What we going to talk about for 5 months? I hope it isn’t comparing remcos Olympic palmares the whole time

We shall walk in the purgatory, indeed.

 

[Cycling111]

***. What we going to talk about for 5 months? I hope it isn’t comparing remcos Olympic palmares the whole time

You can always go to other threads to read the complaints, and then you'll wish for that 5-month break

The thread "Lesser known races" is unbearable on days like today.

 

[Cycling111]

According to Velo, Pogacar is expected to participate in the Giro-Tour next year. Before that, Liège and possibly Flanders, but without participating in the UAE Tour, Paris-Roubaix, FW, or Amstel.

Even if UAE achieves 100 wins, I think they're hurt by Visma winning two GTs. Matxin said at the beginning of the year that the team's goal was to win all three GTs.
If this news is confirmed, it seems because the team wants to secure two GTs and ensure Visma doesn't win one more than them.

 

[Offline]

According to Velo, Pogacar is expected to participate in the Giro-Tour next year. Before that, Liège and possibly Flanders, but without participating in the UAE Tour, Paris-Roubaix, FW, or Amstel.

Even if UAE achieves 100 wins, I think they're hurt by Visma winning two GTs. Matxin said at the beginning of the year that the team's goal was to win all three GTs.
If this news is confirmed, it seems because the team wants to secure two GTs and ensure Visma doesn't win one more than them.

I think it will be Almeida doing the double and leading the Giro and helping Pogacar in the tour after. And because I can’t see Pogacar doing the Vuelta after the Tour and I think Del Toro doing the Tour. I think the Vuelta is open for a McNulty GC shot.

 

[Wyndbrook]

***. What we going to talk about for 5 months? I hope it isn’t comparing remcos Olympic palmares the whole time

Cyclocross.

 

[Cycling111]

I think it will be Almeida doing the double and leading the Giro and helping Pogacar in the tour after. And because I can’t see Pogacar doing the Vuelta after the Tour and I think Del Toro doing the Tour. I think the Vuelta is open for a McNulty GC shot.

You are wrong, the Vuelta a WT race, McNulty wins in Croatia and Slovakia

McNulty won't be given a GT to lead. He celebrated a top-10 in the Giro as something historic, he knows he's not capable. Jay Vine has a better chance; the Vuelta is really the only GT Vine could win because of the route.

I doubt Del Toro will do the Tour-Vuelta, especially if he's doing his first Tour.

If Pogacar doesn't do the Giro, I wouldn't rule out him doing the Vuelta. He knows the Montreal course; he doesn't need to do the previous classics. I have a feeling Pogacar will do the Vuelta when least expects it.
I think the UAE doesn't want Visma to win two GTs another year, and they know Pogacar is their only guarantee. Almeida isn't going to win the Giro against Vingegaard.

 

[Lorzenz08]

In my opinion, the limited possibilities to win actually add to the prestige of the event but I understand how others can see it differently.

Also it's not true that Pogacar only had one chance in his career to get the gold when he was 21. It was his own choice to not participate in Paris (or to not prioritize it that year) but it definitely was a chance.

As to the bolded part, now you're just making things up. I'm pretty sure that Remco will still consider it his biggest win even if Pogacar wins the next Olympics. I think that will only change when/if he wins the TdF.

I don't know Carapaz won the Olympics and yet most people mostly know him as this (previously) very good GT guy who won the Giro once.

 

[Shortcut]

According to Velo, Pogacar is expected to participate in the Giro-Tour next year. Before that, Liège and possibly Flanders, but without participating in the UAE Tour, Paris-Roubaix, FW, or Amstel.

Even if UAE achieves 100 wins, I think they're hurt by Visma winning two GTs. Matxin said at the beginning of the year that the team's goal was to win all three GTs.
If this news is confirmed, it seems because the team wants to secure two GTs and ensure Visma doesn't win one more than them.

According to Pogacar ( i mean he is probably the best source) he will care about MSR and P-R more than anything next year. There is no way he is riding Giro. Jonas will go there, probably Almeida+Del Toro and Remco. Pogacar goes to Vuelta next year, without real competition. He doesn't need to prove himself anymore at WC or GdL. If he wins it, great (one of those he can win even with Vuelta in his legs). Pogacar said himself he was injuried at TdF so skipping Vuelta made sense. Next year skipping Vuelta doesn't make sense, especially without Jonas going there. SB,MSR,RVV, P-R, LBL, TdS, TdF, Vuelta, WC, EC, GdL. 55 racing days.

 

[scribers]

I’d bet it depends on where they think mvps numbers are for P-R

 

[Rob5091]

Ma Pogi is upset. Stop being nasty to the GOAT!
https://cyclinguptodate.com/cycling...raises-concerns-for-welfare-of-world-champion

 

[HashRouge]

According to Velo, Pogacar is expected to participate in the Giro-Tour next year. Before that, Liège and possibly Flanders, but without participating in the UAE Tour, Paris-Roubaix, FW, or Amstel.

Even if UAE achieves 100 wins, I think they're hurt by Visma winning two GTs. Matxin said at the beginning of the year that the team's goal was to win all three GTs.
If this news is confirmed, it seems because the team wants to secure two GTs and ensure Visma doesn't win one more than them.

The source for the Velo story seems to be HLN, so we still don't know exactly where those rumours are coming from. However, the Velo story also cites Alex Carrera, Pog's agent, as saying that the big goals next year are the Tour, MSR and Roubaix, which is exactly what Pog himself said on Saturday. At the moment, this is leading me to think that the rumours of no Roubaix are absolute rubbish.

Tadej Pogačar to Miss Paris-Roubaix and Amstel Gold in 2026, Target Giro?

Reports suggest world champion Pogačar may be considering a repeat of key elements of his 2024 program.

velo.outsideonline.com