Teams & Riders Tadej Pogačar discussion thread

[rafa92]

The crazy thing is we are comparing a 19 year old to an athlete like Pogacar in his prime!
This is unheard of!

yes pretty crazy, the only thing that remains to be seen is how much margin he still has... he might be much closer to his ceiling than a normal 19 y old, if that's not the case he will soon dominate cycling

 

[CatchyH]

The crazy thing is we are comparing a 19 year old to an athlete like Pogacar in his prime!
This is unheard of!

Just because he's this good at 19 doesn't mean he'll be winning the Tour with a 30 minute gap in 2 years. Pogacar at that age had much more room for improvement than Seixas.

 

[rafa92]

Just because he's this good at 19 doesn't mean he'll be winning the Tour with a 30 minute gap in 2 years. Pogacar at that age had much more room for improvement than Seixas.

the "problem" is that we are already comparing today's pogacar with seixas, not the 19 year old pogacar

 

[CatchyH]

the "problem" is that we are already comparing today's pogacar with seixas, not the 19 year old pogacar

Different people's bodies develop at a different pace. Looks like Seixas is much more physically mature than Pogacar was even at 21.

 

[rafa92]

Different people's bodies develop at a different pace. Looks like Seixas is much more physically mature than Pogacar was even at 21.

ok, but seixas is probably already better than any version of pogacar before 2024, we are not comparing him to a 19 or 21 year old pogacar, but to his current version.

 

[CatchyH]

ok, but seixas is probably already better than any version of pogacar before 2024, we are not comparing him to a 19 or 21 year old pogacar, but to his current version.

This sport has evolved quite a bit since than. Better equipment, better nutrition etc. so it's not that surprising.

 

[Rou]

This sport has evolved quite a bit since than. Better equipment, better nutrition etc. so it's not that surprising.

Come on now. It was expected that young riders like Pablo Torres (who did the insane Finestre performance in 2024) will be serious riders.
Torres is a joke. Seixas is a prime example of accelerated evolution.
This is not the norm. This is an anomaly.
No clinic accusations.

 

[rafa92]

This sport has evolved quite a bit since than. Better equipment, better nutrition etc. so it's not that surprising.

nah, I don't buy it, it has surely evolved but surely does not explain what this 19 year old is doing, it's unprecedented in the history of cycling. Ofc nobody knows if he can still improve, if he can he will soon dominate the sport

 

[CatchyH]

Come on now. It was expected that young riders like Pablo Torres (who did the insane Finestre performance in 2024) will be serious riders.
Torres is a joke. Seixas is a prime example of accelerated evolution.
This is not the norm. This is an anomaly.
No clinic accusations.

I agree that this is not normal. And the reason why is that Seixas is a once in a generation talent that simply breaks the curve. It doesn't make sense but it rarely does when it comes to talents like this.

 

[canina82]

Just because he's this good at 19 doesn't mean he'll be winning the Tour with a 30 minute gap in 2 years. Pogacar at that age had much more room for improvement than Seixas.

But Seixas is already much better than 22 years old Pogacar.
So he will dominate cycling in a near future. The most worrying thing is MVP and WVA are getting old. Who is gonna stop Seixas in 5 years when he starts racing RVV, PR and MSR? Pogacar will probably not be around too...

 

[CatchyH]

But Seixas is already much better than 22 years old Pogacar.
So he will dominate cycling in a near future. The most worrying thing is MVP and WVA are getting old. Who is gonna stop Seixas in 5 years when he starts racing RVV, PR and MSR? Pogacar will probably not be around too...

It'll be the same as it is today. You'll be watching the same man winning almost every race.

 

[Coppi-Bartali]

I agree that this is not normal. And the reason why is that Seixas is a once in a generation talent that simply breaks the curve. It doesn't make sense but it rarely does when it comes to talents like this.

Precisely because it's not normal, you can't assume his evolution will be normal.
Perhaps this is his prime and he won't progresse. Just look at Decathlon in recent years; all their cyclists are in their prime. It's hard to imagine that team performing any better than they are with that squad; they're at their peak.

 

[BubbaChuck]

Well itsnot that surprising, after coppi,cannibal and badger you had 4 decades without true supreme all rounder. Now pog and paulinho.I always wondered,what happened with that type of baller. Specialization was wrong answer.

 

[rafa92]

Precisely because it's not normal, you can't assume his evolution will be normal.
Perhaps this is his prime and he won't progresse. Just look at Decathlon in recent years; all their cyclists are in their prime. It's hard to imagine that team performing any better than they are with that squad; they're at their peak.

it's a possibility that he has very little room of improvement from here, I still remember reading articles calling ayuso the greatest teenage climber in history and being much better than pogacar at a young age and from there if you look at his numbers he has stalled, so we will see, if seixas can improve from year he will be the best quite soon but that's not a guarantee

 

[jotafap]

But Seixas is already much better than 22 years old Pogacar.
So he will dominate cycling in a near future. The most worrying thing is MVP and WVA are getting old. Who is gonna stop Seixas in 5 years when he starts racing RVV, PR and MSR? Pogacar will probably not be around too...

Jesus man, I understand the hype, I really do, but already predicting that he will dominate races like Paris–Roubaix and the Tour of Flanders at this point is way too much... It’s also not like there won’t be any new big talents appearing in the meantime.

 

[GdL]

Well itsnot that surprising, after coppi,cannibal and badger you had 4 decades without true supreme all rounder. Now pog and paulinho.I always wondered,what happened with that type of baller. Specialization was wrong answer.

If you're not Merckx or Pogacar, specialization gives you more chances to win races against those monsters.
Do you think MVDP would be that strong if he trained to be equally strong on all terrain and all races?

 

[canina82]

Jesus man, I understand the hype, I really do, but already predicting that he will dominate races like Paris–Roubaix and the Tour of Flanders at this point is way too much... It’s also not like there won’t be any new big talents appearing in the meantime.

Why it's too much? It's very clear he is a fantastic rider in any terrain. His technique is very good like we saw in SB and in many descents. He rode a lot of CX races in his youth. This guy has everything.

 

[vappa]

I think this year's Mur time is overrated because it would mean Schmid, Tulett and Cosnefroy are top 10 punchers in history and clearly they're not even close

 

[Monsi]

I think this year's Mur time is overrated because it would mean Schmid, Tulett and Cosnefroy are top 10 punchers in history and clearly they're not even close

Or last year's times are underrated due to the weather conditions.

 

[Krzysztof_O]

But Seixas is already much better than 22 years old Pogacar.
So he will dominate cycling in a near future. The most worrying thing is MVP and WVA are getting old. Who is gonna stop Seixas in 5 years when he starts racing RVV, PR and MSR? Pogacar will probably not be around too...

You are going too far. Seixas' progression has been great but let's see at what level he stagnates and for how long he keeps it. Each case is different. I don't doubt he will be winning the biggest races (rather sooner than later) but Pogacar's achievements is the highest benchmark since Merckx times, it doesn't happen often.

 

[HashRouge]

I think people need to calm down a little bit. I am sure that Seixas will be beating Pogacar in the future, whenever that time comes. But perhaps we should stop with the "he's already better than 22 year old Pogacar" (what, the Pogacar who had won two Tours before his 23rd birthday?!) and "he's better than any version of Pogacar before 2024" (what, the Pogacar who crushed MdvP in RvV in 2023?). And please come don't come back to me with watts per kilo or climbing times or anything like that, because everybody seems to be faster now than they were in 2022/ 2023.

 

[BubbaChuck]

Pogacar the saviour of cycling against reign of terror.

 

[Krzysztof_O]

Pogacar the saviour of cycling against reign of terror.

Will Teddy save cycling on Sunday?

 

[Coppi-Bartali]

Will Teddy save cycling on Sunday?

Yes, and on Tuesday it will have to be Lipowitz in Romandy.

 

[rallybanana]

Messiah? Reign of terror? I'm not sure who to cheer for on Sunday