Teams & Riders Tadej Pogačar discussion thread

[The bald fraud]

UAE team for LBL is probably the best lineup they ever had in this race.

Pogacar
Del Toro
Novak
Wellens
Sivakov
Cosnefroy

Del Toro DNF in Itzulia. Let's hope he will be ready for the Ardennes.

 

[Rou]

I think Pogi will do the same as in Strade. Hard leadout then do a long attack that will cook Seixas if he tries to follow.

Long attack where?
The hills are 3-4 mins.

 

[jotafap]

Long attack where?
The hills are 3-4 mins.

Well, if he were to attack over that entire hill, I’d say it would be a very long attack.

 

[Rou]

Well, if he were to attack over that entire hill, I’d say it would be a very long attack.

Yeah, good strategy. Treat Seixas like van der POEL and La Redoute like Kwaremont.
Full attack from the bottom until someone collapses.

 

[jotafap]

Yeah, good strategy. Treat Seixas like van der POEL and La Redoute like Kwaremont.
Full attack from the bottom until someone collapses.

Well, it works for him pretty much every time. 😃

 

[canina82]

I think Del Toro doesn't have anything broken so he can still be at Liege.
McNuggets rode PN, Catalunya and Pais Vasco, maybe he needs to rest after this week.

 

[Monsi]

Long attack where?
The hills are 3-4 mins.

All Pogi needs is a 1 minute hard attack. That’s how he cracked Seixas at Strade.

 

[yaf2]

5 Pounds of Raw Muscle: How Pogačar Bulks for the Cobbles and Cuts for the Climbs

Pogačar packs on weight and power over winter in a subtle transformation that allows decimation of the Tour of Flanders and the Tour de France.

velo.outsideonline.com

“He has improved significantly compared to last year,” Pogačar’s nutritionist Gorka Prieto last week told L’Equipe.
Ufff🔥

 

[canina82]

5 Pounds of Raw Muscle: How Pogačar Bulks for the Cobbles and Cuts for the Climbs

Pogačar packs on weight and power over winter in a subtle transformation that allows decimation of the Tour of Flanders and the Tour de France.

velo.outsideonline.com

“He has improved significantly compared to last year,” Pogačar’s nutritionist Gorka Prieto last week told L’Equipe.
Ufff🔥

The difference between Pogacar's weight in classics and in the Tour is 1.5-2 kg. He was 66 kg when he rode RVV so he is probably trying to reach 64-64.5 kg in the Tour.

 

[rafa92]

5 Pounds of Raw Muscle: How Pogačar Bulks for the Cobbles and Cuts for the Climbs

Pogačar packs on weight and power over winter in a subtle transformation that allows decimation of the Tour of Flanders and the Tour de France.

velo.outsideonline.com

“He has improved significantly compared to last year,” Pogačar’s nutritionist Gorka Prieto last week told L’Equipe.
Ufff🔥

imo we haven't seen this improvement yet, I'm not saying he has not improved but that we have not seen it yet and that's because of the crash in MSR. Ofc that had an impact on his performance in msr, he could have been even more impressive on cipressa and poggio without the crash. But imo also in flanders the crash had an impact. When it comes to pogacar people never seem to consider the impact of his crashes. Even if he did not sustain serious injuries, when you crash like that you certainly have consequences and for 4-5 days you can't train properly, which is exactly what pogacar said in his interview before flanders.

 

[canina82]

imo we haven't seen this improvement yet, I'm not saying he has not improved but that we have not seen it yet and that's because of the crash in MSR. Ofc that had an impact on his performance in msr, he could have been even more impressive on cipressa and poggio without the crash. But imo also in flanders the crash had an impact. When it comes to pogacar people never seem to consider the impact of his crashes. Even if he did not sustain serious injuries, when you crash like that you certainly have consequences and for 4-5 days you can't train properly, which is exactly what pogacar said in his interview before flanders.

In both races he was stronger this year compared to last year.

 

[rafa92]

In both races he was stronger this year compared to last year.

imo he was on a similar level, maybe a tiny bit stronger but certainly not significantly better (like Prieto said)

 

[canina82]

imo he was on a similar level, maybe a tiny bit stronger but certainly not significantly better (like Prieto said)

He was significantly better. Numbers show that. Sometimes context is important but not this time.

 

[rafa92]

He was significantly better. Numbers show that. Sometimes context is important but not this time.

which numbers exactly?

 

[canina82]

which numbers exactly?

40 watts difference compared to last year in SB. Climbing times also in the monuments.

 

[BubbaChuck]

Vdp was still attacking last year in remo and flanders,this year he is barelly holding on flat despite being in better form.On poggio he dropped him like button,while last year he counter atatcked at the top.

 

[rafa92]

40 watts difference compared to last year in SB. Climbing times also in the monuments.

"40 watts difference compared to last year in SB". My comment did not mention SB, but if you really want to go there, I'm telling you that comparison makes zero sense, maybe you don't remember but last year he crashed and had to change bike in sb, do you really think comparing the watts of these 2 races tells you anything?
Climbing times in monuments were not that different, I compared his strava files for flanders and there are climbs where he went faster this year and others where he was faster in 2025, the differences are very small. Also context matters, this year they had headwind in some climbs and cross tailwind in others, the conditions might have been completely different last year, so checking some small differences in climbing times certainly doesn't give you the proof he was significantly better than last year.

 

[rafa92]

Vdp was still attacking last year in remo and flanders,this year he is barelly holding on flat despite being in better form.On poggio he dropped him like button,while last year he counter atatcked at the top.

And who is telling you what mvdp performance was in the two races?
in msr this year he finished 8th and was dropped by pidcock, maybe he was not in a super day.
In flanders mvdp this year was closer to pogacar than last year and I know pogacar worked more but that was true also in 2025

 

[BubbaChuck]

last year ganna could follow on poggio and cipressa,lol. also pog was dragging them more this year than last.peopel forget but vdp alst year sucked van aart up the kwaremont.pog this year was keešping remco on a leash.

 

[canina82]

"40 watts difference compared to last year in SB". My comment did not mention SB, but if you really want to go there, I'm telling you that comparison makes zero sense, maybe you don't remember but last year he crashed and had to change bike in sb, do you really think comparing the watts of these 2 races tells you anything?
Climbing times in monuments were not that different, I compared his strava files for flanders and there are climbs where he went faster this year and others where he was faster in 2025, the differences are very small. Also context matters, this year they had headwind in some climbs and cross tailwind in others, the conditions might have been completely different last year, so checking some small differences in climbing times certainly doesn't give you the proof he was significantly better than last year.

Both races this year were harder for Pogacar and the rest. He was 8" faster on Cipressa and he was chasing hard the peloton during 6' before hitting the bottom of Cipressa.
In RVV, the race was also harder this year, weather was worse, he was working with 100 km to go (harder tempo and for that reason, the race exploded very early), his climbing times on Kwaremont were better according to someone here that put the climbing times from 2024-2026 (the decisive climb).

 

[Bratone]

The eye test doesn’t show that he’s significantly stronger, like we’re seeing with Vingegaard or Seixas. Of course, that can be deceiving, and in Pog’s case, it will probably be impossible to see another jump like we did in 2024 or like we’re seeing now with Seixas. I honestly think it’s more likely that others will close the gap rather than him increasing it even further.

On the other hand, UAE has been very unlucky with injuries. He’s missing two of his strongest domestiques from last year, Wellens and Narváez, and now Del Toro is also out for LBL, so he has to do more work himself.

 

[canina82]

The eye test doesn’t show that he’s significantly stronger, like we’re seeing with Vingegaard or Seixas. Of course, that can be deceiving, and in Pog’s case, it will probably be impossible to see another jump like we did in 2024 or like we’re seeing now with Seixas. I honestly think it’s more likely that others will close the gap rather than him increasing it even further.

On the other hand, UAE has been very unlucky with injuries. He’s missing two of his strongest domestiques from last year, Wellens and Narváez, and now Del Toro is also out for LBL, so he has to do more work himself.

My eye test tells me he is gonna rip Vingegaard in the TdF. But in 3 weeks, we will see his climbing level even if his focus is on explosive and short efforts.

 

[yaf2]

imo we haven't seen this improvement yet, I'm not saying he has not improved but that we have not seen it yet and that's because of the crash in MSR. Ofc that had an impact on his performance in msr, he could have been even more impressive on cipressa and poggio without the crash. But imo also in flanders the crash had an impact. When it comes to pogacar people never seem to consider the impact of his crashes. Even if he did not sustain serious injuries, when you crash like that you certainly have consequences and for 4-5 days you can't train properly, which is exactly what pogacar said in his interview before flanders.

Ofc the crash in msr affected his performance in both msr & flanders. This shouldn’t be put to question or discussion as he said it himself in the radio that he hit his knee quite bad, and there were some rumors & pics of his knee a little swollen. I’ve also experienced that a knee pain can significantly impact pushing pedals on a bike & it doesn’t go away easily & it requires some days of rest until u start to feel better again. The point is already in roubaix he might feel his best again & we could see what Gorka preito called a significant improvement or at least hope so.

 

[rafa92]

Ofc the crash in msr affected his performance in both msr & flanders. This shouldn’t be put to question or discussion as he said it himself in the radio that he hit his knee quite bad, and there were some rumors & pics of his knee a little swollen. I’ve also experienced that a knee pain can significantly impact pushing pedals on a bike & it doesn’t go away easily & it requires some days of rest until u start to feel better again. The point is already in roubaix he might feel his best again & we could see what Gorka preito called a significant improvement or at least hope so.

I agree, this is exactly the point I was trying to make. That crash was probably a small setback that had an impact on his performance in the last 2 races and prevented this significant improvement, but in the next races there's a chance we will see it

 

[canina82]

But what did you expect from Pogacar in both MSR and RVV? To go solo on Cipressa? And in RVV?