Interesting conversation about Pogacar's popularity here (or lack thereof) in the main forum:
Teams & Riders - Tadej Pogačar discussion thread | Cyclingnews Forum
I'll post in the clinic though because that's literally my point: a cleanly presented, tightly packaged super performer who explodes onto the scene & smashes everyone with ease no matter the terrain (Strade, the TdF, Lombardia & he almost won Flanders ffs!) is never going to elicit an immediate outpouring of love, support & enthusiasm - not in this sport. How could he? UAE would be tone deaf to imagine their product could become Mr. Popularity when each & everyone of his "super performer" forefathers in the sport had his hand in the Pot belge. Add his boss Gianetti on top & voilà, a hilarious picture which demands suspension of disbelief like a Marvel movie.
Maybe it's unfair on Pogacar but the bottom line is cycling (long before all the revelations about the how & why all its champions performed extraordinary feats was revealed) is a sport which champions overcoming adversity &
suffering. Not Dragon Ball Z characters.
It's a sport where the image of Luis Ocaña's 1971 crash is as iconic (more so, perhaps) than any watts demolition of the Alpine & Pyrenean summits by its super performers (& wonder boys). It's not football where a man who score hattricks after hattricks becomes a legend. It demands something more from its champions, aka the aforementioned suffering & human factor which makes it all so relatable. Just my opinion but Pogacar won't be a popular legend until he becomes
human. This might be next month, next year, or never. It's not getting loldropped on the Ventoux last year which will make a difference either (despite UAE's spin about Pog 'suffering' on that day), no, Pog needs something like Ullrich's Les Deux Alpes 1998 disaster before 'the people' see him as a real champion.
Ullrich who of course was a super doper (aren't they all to various extents?) but that one sh*t day followed by an attack & win the next day cemented his place as a rider people could support (& this followed through with his rivalry against Armstrong). Lance who for what it's worth 'touched upon' a semblance of popularity himself in the 2003 TdF when he had to work harder to win. For his sake, he should have lost (or even just quit after his 5th win).
Until then, Pog's ultra clean & carefully marketed "look, I'm just super happy to ride my bike with a smile on my face & play rock paper scissors for sh*ts & giggles whilst destroying everyone without a sweat" routine won't get him far anywhere other than among really young audiences who're addicted to record breaking superpowers in all sports. First Indurain was supposed to be the rarest most extraordinary talent ever, then Lance Armstrong was the GOAT, then Contador was even better, then Froome proved 'human evolution' (lololol), Bilharzia (GTFO!) & marginal gains could make a rider destroy the Ventoux like it's a vulgar 4th cat col. Now we have Pog.
That's a lot of supermen in merely 30 years of bike riding.
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