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Thanks!
That was way too unbelievable. That seems to be normal over the past twoish years now. At this point I'm convinced we're back to the early 2000's as far as doing goes and today is pretty much right there with some other unbelievable performances.
LOLzzzzzzzzzWell I am not a fan of Pogacar and I can't agree. He was showing great potential all last season and in 2020.
2019 ToC - 20 years old
2019 Vuelta podium
2020 Slovenian National Time Trial, beating Roglic
I think was under rated before this Tour. Obviously he won't be under rated now.
Well I am not a fan of Pogacar and I can't agree. He was showing great potential all last season and in 2020.
2019 ToC - 20 years old
2019 Vuelta podium
2020 Slovenian National Time Trial, beating Roglic
I think was under rated before this Tour. Obviously he won't be under rated now.
For me it's all about this ITT. Not so much about his climbing or overall performance, since for me there were too many "loose ends" to make that case. He's shown in the past he was a decent/good timetrialist, but both Slovenian nationals aren't a benchmark. Last year, it was against guys who would easily lose 2-3 minutes in a long ITT against van Aert, Dumoulin & Roglic. He beat them with 29 and 45 seconds (Mohoric & Tratnik). This year there was Corona, the bike change incident and it was a purely climbing TT. He beat Roglic by a few seconds.Well I am not a fan of Pogacar and I can't agree. He was showing great potential all last season and in 2020.
2019 ToC - 20 years old
2019 Vuelta podium
2020 Slovenian National Time Trial, beating Roglic
I think was under rated before this Tour. Obviously he won't be under rated now.
I am sorry but were you making noise about Pogacar one year ago? If not why not? Bit late to wake up now. He has been riding strong all race. He came 3rd in the Vuelta at 20. Do I think its lines up - well yes I do at least as well as several other recent examples. Sorry if this doesn't work for you. You will need to try a little harder than "LOL"s to convince me. I am an open minded person so you should try. LOLs get zero respect. A poster from yesterday I oft disagreed with was the Hitch. But Hitch genuinely explained his points of view so I respected his line of argument. You haven't.LOLzzzzzzzzz
The degree of outlier is massive. Progression, sure ... but if you feel this all lines up, then no comment.
I don't think anyone in the race was under-rating him, least of all PR and his team. That was never part of the narrative for the racers.
Thanks for this post then and now..we have seen lots of young riders do things during this TDF, not crash,not ride off the front unnecessarily..and putting together some great climbing days and uphill time trial greatness..doesn't sound sinister,it's sounds of talent and control. For the haters they will turn one day into an over the top conspiracy..with 4 days left in the tour..6 or 7 riders could have stood on the boxes, nobody ran away with anything,this was a tight ultra competitive tour..Well, I don't know what are your standards but if a rider who finishes 5th in a 2.1 race as the Tour of Slovenia (with some decent names like Majka, Haig, Polanc, Cunego, Visconti, etc. riding) in their first U23 year and has a consistent year with 21 top-10 has, in your opinion, a season that "wasn't too great either", well you can only be satisfied with someone like Evenepoel.
I don't want to comment about his rise as I don't have any negative opinion of it, but since I first saw results of Pogacar as a junior I always considered him a pretty big prospect for the future and had his name under my radar since at least 2016.
Thank you. A good post. I hope Ripper takes note how it should be done.For me it's all about this ITT. Not so much about his climbing or overall performance, since for me there were too many "loose ends" to make that case. He's shown in the past he was a decent/good timetrialist, but both Slovenian nationals aren't a benchmark. Last year, it was against guys who would easily lose 2-3 minutes in a long ITT against van Aert, Dumoulin & Roglic. He beat them with 29 and 45 seconds (Mohoric & Tratnik). This year there was Corona, the bike change incident and it was a purely climbing TT. He beat Roglic by a few seconds.
A year ago he was 18th in Pais Vasco, 5th in Algarve, 11th in the Vuelta. Two years ago he was only 16th in the Euro championships U23. And today he beats van Aert, Roglic and Dumoulin (easily three of the 10 most prominent/top ITTers, along with Dennis, Evenepoel, Ganna, Campenaerts, Küng) on the 30k flat part and further extends his lead on the climb. And while the three Jumbo riders are within half a minute of each other, he beats the best of them by 1m20s. It's a very remarkable progress to say the least. He's gone from subpar to decent to ridiculing worldbeaters in 2 years time. When you see him on the bike, he isn't compact like Evenepoel, Campenaerts or even Roglic, so i also don't think he's that aero or has progressed on his aero position on the bike to an extend that can explain what we're seeing.
That's too easy, imho. He was already strong enough last year in the Vuelta to climb with the best, and still he was only 11th in the ITT. So while you could explain his rise as a climber, for me his rise as a worldbeating ITT'er is a lot harder to take. If he really was "still too young" last year, he also wouldn't have been on the podium of the Vuelta either.Thank you. A good post. I hope Ripper takes note how it should be done.
But as you would also know stage 20 TTs are not just about the best time trialist or climber but about who is recovering the best after three weeks of racing. With the exception of Dumoulin none of those names you listed in your second paragraph are Grand Tour leaders. And since he only came on the scene last season at 20 years of age I don't think we can say Pogacar came from nowhere. He is simply young. When Contador arrived at 2006 Tour de Romandie at 23 years of age I don't recall instant claims of doping then and that was despite his rumored implication of Puerto.
What strikes me is this ability to rebound after being on the down side in the last couple of mountain stages.
He looked to be fading in last year's Vuelta as well (losing a minute to Roglic, Valverde and others on Becerril de la Sierra) only to completely erase the field a couple of days later and get his spot on the podium.
Now exactly the same happens in the Tour. There must be something to it.
I am sorry but were you making noise about Pogacar one year ago? If not why not? Bit late to wake up now. He has been riding strong all race. He came 3rd in the Vuelta at 20. Do I think its lines up - well yes I do at least as well as several other recent examples. Sorry if this doesn't work for you. You will need to try a little harder than "LOL"s to convince me. I am an open minded person so you should try. LOLs get zero respect. A poster from yesterday I oft disagreed with was the Hitch. But Hitch genuinely explained his points of view so I respected his line of argument. You haven't.
This is where the clinic really lets itself down. So many know it all's who leave facts logic and reason behind.
To the first paragraph, this is exactly something I noted earlier, along with some pretty drastic changes this year and in this race.I think that people's suspicions come from the fact that Pogacar went as fast as Dumoulin on the flat section, and in addition to that, did a faster climb (and much faster than everyone but Porte, who was much slower on the flat) than everyone.
Also, whilst big natural improvements can be expected with younger riders, historically, a reason why top GT GC riders are usually in their late 20's, is because strength to ride out three week races strongly tends to build over time (having said that, Bernal is also young of course).
I don't see how Pogacar has protected status.
Hardly Giuseppe Saronni's wallet?
Is Slovenia such a big new market for the UCI to develop?
Did the UAE overlords step in with backhanders?
Harder to swallow
than the Anglo/Sky/Dawg protection theory
Yeah I agree with this.Well the new arms race is begun. What we saw was the opening salvos of the war. The other teams are not going to go gently into the night. Especially Astana, QST, Movistar. After all their budget goal is not to be cannon fodder.
As if they bust a TDF winner. Maybe in 8 years like Cobo, but never at the end of the year.
Landis
4 days
Landis.As if they bust a TDF winner. Maybe in 8 years like Cobo, but never at the end of the year.
If all the mainstream cycling podcasts are to go by, not gonna happen. Richard Moore, Caley Fretz and all the rest, all fan boys.So far all the commentators are all skirting around the issue but i hope some reporter asks him the hard questions and he better be ready for those, young kid or not.