Tadej Pogacar and Mauro Giannetti

[BullsFan22]

Darn tootin’!

 

[ppanther92]

Alright, it's only the Giro, the competition is weak, however you look at it, but Wonderboy doesn't suffer. He kept Ganna in check yesterday and now this. There's something going on. It's too much.

He does exactly how anybody expected in my book. Again, why would he suffer a lot if no one here can push him to his limit?

 

[ppanther92]

There are basic laws of human physiology. Merely being ‘clearly the best rider’ doesn’t make you immune to them. If everyone else has to knock it off after a sustained additional effort, then why not the wonder boy? He put in an effort today that peak Froome could have sustained for, oh, about thirty to forty seconds. That gets him a gap of maybe 100 to 150 metres. Then he would have had to do what his body and watt meter are telling him. Knock it off, recover and maintain the gap as much as possible until he can maybe go again further up the road. But look at Pogacar, look at how the initial acceleration is made and then the wattage effort is sustained, the speed constant for a very long period of time. Uphill. At extreme altitude. That’s extremely odd to say the least. Pas normal as they say.

Well, because there are two cyclists that are well above the rest in GTs. I would actually make the claim, while riding away Pogacar was less on the limit than Thomas and Martinez in their sprint in the end. So after all, he might be further from his limit than the others. We actually see the Pogacar you want to see when he faces Vingegaard. His efforts have to be way more measured cause otherwise exactly what you say is happening. So it often ends in only a sprint as well between them.

The way bigger question is - why are 2 riders so far above the rest? But not - why doesn't Pogacar suffer from a calculated effort to ride away from Thomas & Co., while being a clearly far better climber.

 

[ppanther92]

his numbers for today dont really look that good to be fair. they're pretty close to what Bernal was doing on the high altitude stages in 2021. this field is just a joke, there's one other real 3 week rider in the race and he's 38.

Exactly. Nothing that would make Vingegaard shiver happened today.

 

[Extinction]

He does exactly how anybody expected in my book. Again, why would he suffer a lot if no one here can push him to his limit?

I hope this is the case, otherwise the Tour will be a comical farce.

 

[ppanther92]

Cracking 2 days in Tour doesn't prove anything. Even with doping you can have bad days. Pog is the dude who arrives fresh as a daisy at the end of monuments after huge solos.
You don't recover 3 minutes if you don't go into red.

Thats not what I am saying. Rather that today he never had to go in the red (as the whole Giro) - so what suffering would we expect? Vs. Vingegaard he has to go into the red and that cracked him the last 2 times.

 

[ppanther92]

I hope this is the case, otherwise the Tour will be a comical farce.

I honestly don't think there is some sort of "new" Pogacar. Slightly improved would already be great on his previous level. But he still might win the Tour with Vingegaard's injury ofc. Roglic and Evenepoel I somehow don't trust to be on the same level as those two in GTs.

 

[ppanther92]

exactly.
Poga is not breaking a sweat at this Giro- It may sound exaggerated, but ask yourselves how can a rider have a 6+ plus gap to his nearest competitor at the end of the 2nd Week, with the option of even widening it more since the last week is supposed to be suitable for that purpose? can we foresee a 10 minute plus gap at the end of Il Giro? and you have to ask, how "weak" was hi competition ?

I mean, I know the dominance is crazy. But TdF 21 (Pogacar 7:03 on Carapaz, 10:02 on O'Connor) - always listing the best other than the two dominators. TdF 22 (Vingegaard 7:22 on Thomas, 13:39 on Gaudu), TdF 23 (Vingegaard 10:56 on Yates, 12:23 on Yates).

For me thats all pretty much in line. And with all love for Thomas, think TdF fields usually also should be more competitive, yet those two still had crazy gaps to the rest.

 

[Ripper]

I mean, I know the dominance is crazy. But TdF 21 (Pogacar 7:03 on Carapaz, 10:02 on O'Connor) - always listing the best other than the two dominators. TdF 22 (Vingegaard 7:22 on Thomas, 13:39 on Gaudu), TdF 23 (Vingegaard 10:56 on Yates, 12:23 on Yates).

For me thats all pretty much in line. And with all love for Thomas, think TdF fields usually also should be more competitive, yet those two still had crazy gaps to the rest.

Good post! I think this Giro demonstrates just how far above everyone else both riders are. When you take their lead over everyone else, it really puts it out there.

 

[Extinction]

I honestly don't think there is some sort of "new" Pogacar. Slightly improved would already be great on his previous level. But he still might win the Tour with Vingegaard's injury ofc. Roglic and Evenepoel I somehow don't trust to be on the same level as those two in GTs.

Right, but it's all the rest. He's been on fire since February, excuse me March, dominating every race he has entered. You can't be that good, considering there are other monsters. There is something going on.

 

[Rackham]

I expected a Pog demolish job in this Giro. Nothing here is new. The scale of the gap is simply dependent on how much he wants to do 6 weeks before the TdF. It was beautiful scenery though today (a bit off-topic in this part of the forum but Pog's solo climb amidst the snow covered mountains was very spectacular from an aesthetic standpoint).

The Tour meanwhile is another matter altogether. It'll be tighter & it'll be more intense. There's so much at stake (namely money) for the teams involved so everything is automatically dialled to the max - whether it's the tension & stress in the bunch or the whole media frenzy surrounding it.

The Belgian press in particular is going to be a factor this time as well (things could get spicy on that front). I don't know about others but I'm actually looking forward to July. Maybe it'll disappoint (it often does) but on paper there's potential for some real drama.

And yes, it'll be powered by current year rocket fuel. But it is what it is.

 

[Ilmaestro99]

In my opinion they should test him left right and centre everyday and constantly dismantle his bikes. I would like it if they annulled all his results in October 2021 as well as this year

 

[Samu Cuenca]

In my opinion they should test him left right and centre everyday and constantly dismantle his bikes. I would like it if they annulled all his results in October 2021 as well as this year

They should dismantle his body, too. Maybe they'd finally find Froome's missing watts.

 

[Extinction]

There is something going wrong here. How is it that there is no competition? Wait, don't lambaste me. But what is he on?

They should dismantle his body, too. Maybe they'd finally find Froome's missing watts.

The other greats suffered on the climbs, he does not. It's strange or queer or however it is said.

 

[Slavique Nuke]

It may sound exaggerated, but ask yourselves how can a rider have a 6+ plus gap to his nearest competitor at the end of the 2nd Week,

His rivals started the Giro by instantly racing for second place

 

[Extinction]

He does not even sweat in the face of Pantani who won the double, he surfs to the win, no Tonkov, no rivalry, it is not normal. He must be extra terrestrial.

 

[Colombiano Cadence]

I think the timings were all wrong today, I’m not convinced they were 3 mins down when he attacked, he was very quickly on the storer group and was about 40 secs down on nairo going over 2nd last climb. I reckon the gap was less than 2 mins when he attacked. It looked out of the ordinary but this is a terrible field. And this nairo us a shadow of previous nairo

 

[SorelyBoy]

There is something going wrong here. How is it that there is no competition? Wait, don't lambaste me. But what is he on?
The other greats suffered on the climbs, he does not. It's strange or queer or however it is said.

This 👆. Some of the other comments here are missing the point entirely. Forget about the competition, some are overstating its weakness in any case. Look at Pogacar. He does not appear to suffer on the climbs. He just rides like he’s on the flat, accelerating and then sustaining the gained velocity. Who else can do that? It’s just weird. Indeed he often crosses the line looking like he’s just rode down to the shops for the paper. In fact he did just that after yesterday’s time trial when everyone else looked like their heart was going to explode. No one else does that. Even Vingegaard usually looks a bit sweaty and breathless on the big stages.

 

[Froome]

his numbers for today dont really look that good to be fair. they're pretty close to what Bernal was doing on the high altitude stages in 2021. this field is just a joke, there's one other real 3 week rider in the race and he's 38.

I checked Pogacar numbers on Tourmalet last year comparing with foscagno, and he was better than today.

 

[SHAD0W93]

His rivals started the Giro by instantly racing for second place

Thomas was talking a lot of crap and stating he’s here to win.

 

[Froome]

This 👆. Some of the other comments here are missing the point entirely. Forget about the competition, some are overstating its weakness in any case. Look at Pogacar. He does not appear to suffer on the climbs. He just rides like he’s on the flat, accelerating and then sustaining the gained velocity. Who else can do that? It’s just weird. Indeed he often crosses the line looking like he’s just rode down to the shops for the paper. In fact he did just that after yesterday’s time trial when everyone else looked like their heart was going to explode. No one else does that. Even Vingegaard usually looks a bit sweaty and breathless on the big stages.

The "looks" in cycling are overrated. When i look to Roglic, it appears he is always good.

 

[SHAD0W93]

This also isn’t Pogacar’s goal to be 100% yet. Theoretically he can be even stronger at the Tour since that’s the main goal. Otherwise he has looked better compared to last year with the way he rides and looks.

 

[Krzysztof_O]

This also isn’t Pogacar’s goal to be 100% yet. Theoretically he can be even stronger at the Tour since that’s the main goal. Otherwise he has looked better compared to last year with the way he rides and looks.

I don't know how they are planning his form peaks. He's been flying since the start of March winning everything easily except the 3rd place in MSR. And this year there's no usual post-Liege pre-Tour break. I have no idea what to expect at the Tour TBH (likely a strong start but what's gonna happen in the last week?)

 

[GuntherL1]

I think the timings were all wrong today, I’m not convinced they were 3 mins down when he attacked, he was very quickly on the storer group and was about 40 secs down on nairo going over 2nd last climb. I reckon the gap was less than 2 mins when he attacked. It looked out of the ordinary but this is a terrible field. And this nairo us a shadow of previous nairo

Pogacar was 2m23s behind Quintana at the 15km mark and this was shortly after his attack.

 

[Nick2413]

The bigger question is why are just 2 guys consistently so far ahead of the rest? If Vingegaard was here they’d both probably be 10 min up on the others right now, trying to break each other. The outliers in a bell curve aren’t that big of outliers are they?