I agree with this. He's fighting against his own physiology. I know Berniece said he needs to work on his technique on the cobbles, but I'm not sure that is the problem (though obviously Wout and MdvP are more skilled). He's pretty good on the cobbles, really, especially for someone who has only ridden Roubaix twice. I think he just has to push so hard, all of the time, to try and make any difference on flat cobbled sectors that he is really pushing himself to the absolute limits of his own capabilities. You keep riding at the limit for that long, especially once fatigue sets in, you start making mistakes.
That is exactly why he might do it. Because he already won almost everything worth winning. Vuelta is nothing, he can or could win it any time and everybody knows it. Not so much PR.
We've been hearing that for years. What if when he finally shows up at 30 he is no longer this good and fails?
Better to put it in his palmares when he is in his prime and not risk it because it will be a huge choke if he retires without one.
I think he ought to ride it this year if he comes out of the Tour in good shape. He's the double world champion, he doesn't need to go all in on preparing for the WC again this year. Ride the Vuelta and then just see how the WC turns out. Next year is good for him too, if he doesn't win this year.
Choke for what? Having a case for best cyclist in history? It doesn't matter what he wins, there will always be people saying he's not and people he is. In reality, he won't care at all.
TdF and Giro are that much more important and he can't ride all three of them. He won't ride Giro if he wants to be competitive for spring classics, he will have to ride TdF, because team owners won't let him not to and he won't care for Vuelta, because Worlds and autumn classics are more important.
I think he likes to be a World champion. Much more then Vuelta winner. This year looks like Vuelta won't have much serious competition so it could be a good shot even at 90%.
Maybe for you but for the 99% of the cycling world the Vuelta is bigger. We can delude ourselves by not liking some race but reality is reality.
I prefer LBL and GDL to MSR but MSR is more prestigious. That's it.
There is no point in convincing you. Lombardia is relevant because Pogacar rides it and has made it his playing ground.
It is the lowest prestige monument and almost no one cares about it.
- Sep 12, 2022
- 10,035
- 11,284
- 22,180
I say that because he loses positions in every corner to those guys. Which is a skill issue. Not that he rides badly, didn't he do CX as a youngster?
- Oct 4, 2024
- 100
- 138
- 1,030
No, it's not.
In terms of importance and prestige.
1.TDF
2. Giro/Vuelta (depends on level of competition)
3. World's
4.Paris-Roubaix
5.Flanders
6.MSR
7.LBL
8.GDL
The cleanest and most accurate list. Doesn't matter if we like it or not.
San Remo has always been prestigious, but it also depends on the era. Suddenly, Liège-Bastogne-Liège isn´t important race, while San Remo is everything. When San Remo was won by sprinters in a massive sprint, it suffered a crisis of popularity and was a heavily criticized race.
Historically, it has always had more prestige, yes. But I think that now Liège-Bastogne-Liège is being undervalued and San Remo is being over hyped because of what has happened recently in both races.
The Vuelta is a race that even Indurain, being Spanish, didn't care about. Merckx went to win it because he was paidan indecent amount of millions at the time and because they designed the route with him in order to better reach the other objectives.
I mean, no cyclist in history has given any importance to the Vuelta, not even the Spaniard biggest star.
That the World Championship is a thousand times more important than the Vuelta is indisputable.
Historically, it has always had more prestige, yes. But I think that now Liège-Bastogne-Liège is being undervalued and San Remo is being over hyped because of what has happened recently in both races.
The Vuelta is a race that even Indurain, being Spanish, didn't care about. Merckx went to win it because he was paidan indecent amount of millions at the time and because they designed the route with him in order to better reach the other objectives.
I mean, no cyclist in history has given any importance to the Vuelta, not even the Spaniard biggest star.
That the World Championship is a thousand times more important than the Vuelta is indisputable.
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- Jul 7, 2013
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He did it. Obviously he will never have the skills of Vans, who's been doing off road all their lives. He can improve it a bit but the problem seems to be more fundamental: watts. After two editions I am more certain. He's still among the very best though.
- Sep 12, 2022
- 10,035
- 11,284
- 22,180
I don't know if that's the problem. If no one had issues, and he didn't have to switch his bike 3 times, the result would be the same, but it wouldn't have been Van Aert that won. So the watts are only an issue if he needs to be the best in the race, but you don't need to be the best to win Paris-Roubaix.
No.
The Vuelta has never had the historical prestige of the Giro. Even Indurain went to win the Giro two times, (three, but he lost one) and he didn't go tothe Vuelta until he was already washed and forced by Banesto because he lost the Tour.
Merckx went only one year for an obscene amount of money and with a prearranged route to focus on the classics he wanted to win that year.
That's the importance they placed on the Vuelta. Giro prestige was always far superior.
I do agree, I just don't think that is necessarily his main problem. WvA and MdvP are two of the best cobbled specialists out there - they are better than 99% of the peloton when it comes to the Roubaix cobbles. Pogacar is not as good as them, but he's still better than most of the riders who started yesterday (I'm judging by the fact that he has started twice, and come second twice). But the point I was making in my previous comment was that a lot of the mistakes he made yesterday were because he was having to ride at the absolute limit of his physical capability all the time in an attempt to drop riders who are better suited to the race than he is. It causes huge fatigue and high stress (plus the earlier flat tyre and chase to get back on), and that leads to more mistakes/ issues with corners. I do think more riding on the cobbles will help, I just don't think that technique is the only (or even the main) reason he was making mistakes/ losing ground on the corners yesterday. Hope that makes sense!
What you said was true 15 years ago.
Not anymore. Every year nowadays the Vuelta has a better field than the Giro and I consider them equal.
What I said is still true right now. It's like San Remo; San Remo was heavily criticized when it was a sprinter´s race, but it had historical prestige. Ask Simon Yates which he prefers: the Vuelta or the Giro, which he won.
The fact that going to the Vuelta has become more convenient because of training for the Tour has nothing to do with prestige.
No, it's not. If Pogacar won a Vuelta against Vingegaard he would value it more than a Giro win against Martinez.
Do you get my point? They are so close that COMPETITION LEVEL matters.
Yates' Giro victory is better than his Vuelta because of the epic (and ridiculous) comeback on the climb that broke him.
This is what hurt me the most. Watching MVDP get erased from the race and Pogi failing against the eternal second WVA...
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