Teams & Riders Tadej Pogačar discussion thread

[HashRouge]

Praises from the great Eddy himself:

"It is now clear that he has no limits" - Eddy Merckx left 'speechless' after Tadej Pogacar's incredible Milano-Sanremo win

Tadej Pogacar's Milano-Sanremo victory this Saturday defied all logic. The World Champion has achieved massive feats of success, however few would've expected him to win, the way he did, after crashin...

cyclinguptodate.com

Hopefully there'll be some refreshing comments from Roger!

I can't wait! Surely the Belgian newspapers will be on the phone to Roger soon?

 

[Earlesseel]

https://cyclingflash.com/news/after...ej-pogacar-matches-roger-de-vlaemincks-record
Cannot wait to see his reaction....

 

[canina82]

https://cyclingflash.com/news/after...ej-pogacar-matches-roger-de-vlaemincks-record
Cannot wait to see his reaction....

Probably will mention he is Mr. Roubaix.

 

[vappa]

Probably will mention he is Mr. Roubaix.

I think the odds of that are lower than Pogacar winning Lombardia

 

[Krzysztof_O]

"Back in my day he wouldn't have dropped me on Cipressa and I would attack and drop them on the Poggio!"

In good old times top cyclists looked like rock & roll stars. Eddie was basically Elvis on the bike. Nowadays, the poor man's Eminem is the best they can show:

 

[Samu Cuenca]

In good old times top cyclists looked like rock & roll stars.

Urán looks like Mick Jagger though.

 

[iBanesto]

 

[canina82]

"Back in my day he wouldn't have dropped me on Cipressa and I would attack and drop them on the Poggio!"

Of course not, Cipressa was introduced in the 80s.

 

[Barkintheeye]

I’m pretty sure that peak De Vlaeminck would have had his b@tt seriously whooped by juniors WVA and MVDP in cyclocross.

 

[vappa]

Of course not, Cipressa was introduced in the 80s.

That just supports what Roger would say

 

[James M]

Where do we rank this performance from him based on his long list of crazy performances now. If we exclude his GT ones like PDB, Isola, Hautacam of the worlds and only Classics wice.

Where does this rank vs his WC 24, 25, Fleche performance and so on. Just cause he blitzed Cipressa last year too doesnt take anything away how rare, special and hard it is. Its hard to gauge imo it was wild but the list is getting long

"This may well have been the best performance of Pogacar's career": Hincapie and Martin in awe of a historic edition of La Primavera

Many are already calling the 2026 edition of Milano-Sanremo one of the finest classics in years. Pogacar crashed with 30 kilometres to go, Van Aert was left stranded behind, and yet both still ended u...

cyclinguptodate.com

 

[Krzysztof_O]

Where do we rank this performance from him based on his long list of crazy performances now. If we exclude his GT ones like PDF, Isola, Hautacam of the worlds.

Classics wice where does this rank vs his WC 24, 25, Fleche performance and so on. Just cause he blitzed Cipressa last year too doesnt take anything away how rare, special and hard it is. Its hard to gauge imo for me the list is getting long

"This may well have been the best performance of Pogacar's career": Hincapie and Martin in awe of a historic edition of La Primavera

Many are already calling the 2026 edition of Milano-Sanremo one of the finest classics in years. Pogacar crashed with 30 kilometres to go, Van Aert was left stranded behind, and yet both still ended u...

cyclinguptodate.com

Lombardy 2024 was ridiculous, to me maybe his best ever classic performance (alongside those WCs). I wouldn't forget Flandres 2023: by far his best classics performance before 2024 (and the first sign of the alien of 2024 onwards). It's really hard to compare this one as it's a completely different race from those: circumstances matter a lot, margins are close i.e. maybe if last year there had been pre-Cipressa turbulences (like this year) then maybe Pogacar would've won solo?

 

[James M]

Lombardy 2024 was ridiculous, to me maybe his best ever classic performance (alongside those WCs). I wouldn't forget Flandres 2023: by far his best classics performance before 2024 (and the first sign of the alien of 2024 onwards). It's really hard to compare this one as it's a completely different race from those: circumstances matter a lot, margins are close i.e. maybe if last year there had been pre-Cipressa turbulences (like this year) then maybe Pogacar would've won solo?

Word. just as I typed it i thought about Lombardia too and also his Strade one...Theres so many. Fleche 25 was absolute ludicrous too but maybe more a wtf moment and glimps of how different league hes in.

Yeah it differentiate a lot with the circumstances and honestly its hard to gauge properly the extent in many of em. Just speculating here personally I think he would.

Not faulting ur lombardia preference. To me maybe it was his WC 24 first but then his WC 25 was more impressive even in which fashion than 24 so. RVV too yeah especially when you contextualize it with the guy he stomps..

 

[canina82]

Where do we rank this performance from him based on his long list of crazy performances now. If we exclude his GT ones like PDB, Isola, Hautacam of the worlds and only Classics wice.

Where does this rank vs his WC 24, 25, Fleche performance and so on. Just cause he blitzed Cipressa last year too doesnt take anything away how rare, special and hard it is. Its hard to gauge imo it was wild but the list is getting long

"This may well have been the best performance of Pogacar's career": Hincapie and Martin in awe of a historic edition of La Primavera

Many are already calling the 2026 edition of Milano-Sanremo one of the finest classics in years. Pogacar crashed with 30 kilometres to go, Van Aert was left stranded behind, and yet both still ended u...

cyclinguptodate.com

Just for curiosity, should we rank just based on his performance or we should look also to the "surprise factor"?
E.g. I think his best performance ever was in 2025 WC but looking also to the "surprise factor", 2024 SB or 2024 PdB. I wasn't expecting these performances.
But after what I saw in Zurich, Kigali wasn't a surprise to me and his performance was brutal, probably the best ever in a WCRR.

 

[Peyresourde]

Personally I might rank it first even above all his GT-performances and Lombardia. The watts he pushed were insane and the technical aspect (descending + sprint) was also top notch.

The gaps were small and he did not drop Pidcock, but it is often difficult to get your head around how important drafting is at these speeds. The performance differential between him and Pidcock was at least the same as to Evenepoel in Lombardia.

 

[canina82]

Word. just as I typed it i thought about Lombardia too and also his Strade one...Theres so many. Fleche 25 was absolute ludicrous too but maybe more a wtf moment and glimps of how different league hes in.

Yeah it differentiate a lot with the circumstances and honestly its hard to gauge properly the extent in many of em. Just speculating here personally I think he would.

Not faulting ur lombardia preference. To me maybe it was his WC 24 first but then his WC 25 was more impressive even in which fashion than 24 so. RVV too yeah especially when you contextualize it with the guy he stomps..

Combloux after his awful TT was pretty insane too. Most of us were shocked by how easy he dropped (and distanced) Vingegaard.

 

[James M]

Combloux after his awful TT was pretty insane too. Most of us were shocked by how easy he dropped (and distanced) Vingegaard.

I wasnt even 1% suprised by that from what we saw prior that year from him and you know I wasnt amigo.

Just for curiosity, should we rank just based on his performance or we should look also to the "surprise factor"?

But after what I saw in Zurich, Kigali wasn't a surprise to me and his performance was brutal, probably the best ever in a WCRR.

Just your own preference personally i meant by performance.

Why whoever from Seixas, Del Toro or anyone who eventually when he retires takes the crown. We wont see anyone remotely close to win in the fashion weve come acustomed to with him imo, its a completely different league.

 

[James M]

but it is often difficult to get your head around how important drafting is at these speeds. The performance differential between him and Pidcock was at least the same as to Evenepoel in Lombardia.

Absolutely. The drag differential on Cipressa is ridiculous how much they benefit vs him there its laughable.

 

[Krzysztof_O]

Personally I might rank it first even above all his GT-performances and Lombardia. The watts he pushed were insane and the technical aspect (descending + sprint) was also top notch.

The gaps were small and he did not drop Pidcock, but it is often difficult to get your head around how important drafting is at these speeds. The performance differential between him and Pidcock was at least the same as to Evenepoel in Lombardia.

Wasn't this MSR similar to last year MSR performance wise? Only that last year he made more furious attacks (and more start/stop ) to drop MVP. I would think they are similar except MVP not being a factor at the end (which likely changed the outcome).

Edit: I think I get the difference: last year drafting was less important and conditions for attack better due to very favourable wind.

 

[canina82]

Only in Zurich I saw this happiness. Incredible to see this was probably his main goal of the season.

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[Peyresourde]

Wasn't this MSR similar to last year MSR performance wise? Only that last year he made more furious attacks (and more start/stop ) to drop MVP. I would think they are similar except MVP not being a factor at the end (which likely changed the outcome).

Edit: I think I get the difference: last year drafting was less important and conditions for attack better due to very favourable wind.

This year he was faster on both climbs and the wind on Cipressa was less favorable. On Poggio he got a big assist from the motorbikes, but a 10 second difference on a sub 6 minute climb is still half a world.

I will still make a post about the watts in my climbing thread, but I am not quite finished yet.

 

[Krzysztof_O]

This year he was faster on both climbs and the wind on Cipressa was less favorable. On Poggio he got a big assist from the motorbikes, but a 10 second difference on a sub 6 minute climb is still half a world.

I will still make a post about the watts in my climbing thread, but I am not quite finished yet.

His Poggio was less consistent last year as it was basically a shootout vs MVP (who also attacked at the end). It was more start/stop (but the effort must have been gigantic), it's really impossible to compare it to this year. This year he focused on pacing more to distance MVP.

As for Cipressa agreed that this year conditions were worse to attack and to achieve great time.

 

[Peyresourde]

His Poggio was less consistent last year as it was basically a shootout vs MVP (who also attacked at the end). It was more start/stop (but the effort must have been gigantic), it's really impossible to compare it to this year. This year he focused on pacing more to distance MVP.

As for Cipressa agreed that this year conditions were worse to attack and to achieve great time.

Yes, this is true and impossible to incorporate accurately into my calculation. The pace this year was less stop-start, but still not consistent. In the 500m flat section of the Poggio he probably pushed only 5 w/kg or something like that and he still surged/attacked multiple times.

 

[Krzysztof_O]

Yes, this is true and impossible to incorporate accurately into my calculation. The pace this year was less stop-start, but still not consistent. In the 500m flat section of the Poggio he probably pushed only 5 w/kg or something like that and he still surged/attacked multiple times.

There is a parameter called normalized power. It takes into account intervals and calculates upped watts equivalent. I don't know how strictly it's associated with physiology (of maybe it's just a mathematical adjustment working "more or less" and potentially introducing even more errors). Anyway, it's impossible to calculate without knowing detailed power chart (detailed segment division would be needed).

 

[James M]

Only in Zurich I saw this happiness. Incredible to see this was probably his main goal of the season.

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Hard to imagine how many times hes reconned it over the years i think. Next‑level determination. Says alot about Pogacar when he is this loved by his peers as we can see.