Tadej Pogacar and Mauro Giannetti

[BlueRoads]

IRL you generally can't make public accusations against someone without evidence, unlike here.

You can ask questions. Not "He's doping", but "how does he do it?", "is this possible while being clean".

 

[Rackham]

You can ask questions. Not "He's doping", but "how does he do it?", "is this possible while being clean".

The killer question should be "is this humanly possible & if so, how is Pogacar so different from the rest?".

But even then, there's always an army of "experts" & performance scientists with mountains of data about the perfect cadence & marginal gains to back up the Marvel Comics performances. Everyone has just been beaten at their own game, i.e. by allowing a wild west approach to pharmaceutically enhanced supermen (insofar as some teams were winning), the result is the creation of a living breathing extraterrestrial who would crush Lance Armstrong like a fly.

If Pogacar is real & clean, he's probably the greatest athlete & human specimen on the planet (& in living history). It's time to suspend our disbelief like the good old days of the 1990's & early 2000's.

Oh & say hello to Bahrain winning a stage again with a different rider (like a permanent rotation of honors), i.e. a miracle 2021 transformative collective performance versus last year.

 

[No_Balls]

I really like this kid and how he races but I remember a time when Contador and Schleck were supposed to battle it out for 10 years. Ended up being what 2.5? (Tour 11 Contador was hampered by crashes and a giro in his legs and schelck was already somewhat waning in my opinion despite his galibier antics).

you never know what will happen

Was also said about a certain Ullrich who bursted onto the scene at 22 and won at 23. It went dowhill from there.

 

[IndianCyclist]

Padun Pounds Pogacar.
Next TDF headline

 

[Netserk]

Hmm. It could be, but I don't think it was particularly cold today, in that Tirreno Adriatico stage or in that Vuelta stage in 2019. But maybe just the rain is enough to hinder the skinnier riders more.

It was cold (/rainy) enough to adversely affect Valverde and Alaphilippe, reliable indicators of such conditions. I don't recall the specific weather conditions for the 2019 Vuelta, but I think Pogi will go fast under any conditions (maybe except extreme heat).

 

[Oldermanish]

It was cold (/rainy) enough to adversely affect Valverde and Alaphilippe, reliable indicators of such conditions. I don't recall the specific weather conditions for the 2019 Vuelta, but I think Pogi will go fast under any conditions (maybe except extreme heat).

Very similar conditions. If he did all of his damage on the hills that is within the realm of the possible, particularly after the long stretch of yesterday's stage where he didn't waste much energy.
Strategically he did exactly what he needed to do with UAE's help. Now that DQS, MVP and almost everyone else is way behind it'll make a UAE defense a little less demanding. We'll need to see what happens tomorrow but this was what had to happen for Tadej to win.

 

[Red Rick]

It was cold (/rainy) enough to adversely affect Valverde and Alaphilippe, reliable indicators of such conditions. I don't recall the specific weather conditions for the 2019 Vuelta, but I think Pogi will go fast under any conditions (maybe except extreme heat).

It had definitely rained and been a really hard day overall in that Vuelta stage. Perhaps it's enough to really make gaps explode, like happened on Passo Giau as well this year. But then Pogacar also crushed both the Romme and Colombiere records set in seperate years

 

[Krzysztof_O]

IBut then Pogacar also crushed both the Romme and Colombiere records set in seperate years

Source? What were his Romme and Colombiere times? (and previous records)

 

[OldCranky]

Eastern Europe - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

Which map do you want us to look at there, the one that classes Slovenia as Central Europe, or the one that classes it as Southern Europe?

It's almost like you have no idea where it is even with a map.

Edit: Nevermind - I read the post again and I assume you were referring to the other (bizarre) assertion that Ukraine isn't in Eastern Europe.

 

[Netserk]

Which map do you want us to look at there, the one that classes Slovenia as Central Europe, or the one that classes it as Southern Europe?

It's almost like you have no idea where it is even with a map.

Edit: Nevermind - I read the post again and I assume you were referring to the other (bizarre) assertion that Ukraine isn't in Eastern Europe.

The fact that no matter how you slice it (and you can slice Europe in many different ways), Slovenia isn’t Eastern Europe.

 

[GuntherL1]

His main challenge this tour will be to pretend like it takes

Glad Pogačar is crushing everyone. I am tired of the usual Sky/Ineos dominance where every season there’s someone from that team winning a GT. It’s not like Pogačar was middling junior racer or someone that was 150th and then all of a sudden started winning tours with that god awful pedaling technique. Pogačar actually has talent.

He wasn't such a great junior. He won the Giro della Lunigiana (GC + stage win) and a stage in the Course de la Paix. He wasn't a Van der Poel or Pidcock, let alone Evenepoel.

 

[canarydan23]

The fact that no matter how you slice it (and you can slice Europe in many different ways), Slovenia isn’t Eastern Europe.

Not true, there has always been a binary grouping of European countries into Eastern and Western and Slovenia falls in the former.

Yes, there are other categorisations; Slovenia is very much considered Central Europe when you break it down to small subdivisions.

But it's not at all uncommon for European nations to be bucketed into East and West. And no matter what way you slice it, Slovenia is Eastern Europe.

 

[Netserk]

Not true, there has always been a binary grouping of European countries into Eastern and Western and Slovenia falls in the former.

Yes, there are other categorisations; Slovenia is very much considered Central Europe when you break it down to small subdivisions.

But it's not at all uncommon for European nations to be bucketed into East and West. And no matter what way you slice it, Slovenia is Eastern Europe.

And Greece and Turkey are West?

 

[canarydan23]

And Greece and Turkey are West?

Nope, because the grouping originated from the Cold War; countries behind the Iron Curtain were Eastern Europe, those that weren't, Western Europe. It's not in the least bit uncommon for any former Soviet state to be called Eastern European.

 

[Netserk]

Nope, because the grouping originated from the Cold War; countries behind the Iron Curtain were Eastern Europe, those that weren't, Western Europe. It's not in the least bit uncommon for any former Soviet state to be called Eastern European.

So why the nope? Neither Greece nor Turkey were behind the Iron Curtain.

 

[bNator]

For all parties involved: Slovenia during cold war was a part of Yugoslavia which was NOT behind the iron curtain…

 

[canarydan23]

So why the nope? Neither Greece nor Turkey were behind the Iron Curtain.

I read it as East for some reason, my bad. Turkey is a bit of an anachronism because it's barely Europe. Greece culturally and in terms of the Cold War were certainly Western European.

I don't make the rules, just telling you that in the UK, France and Spain (and given the nationality of the person who started this discussion, the Netherlands too), when they refer to Eastern European, particularly in the context of immigration (and given the wave of right-wing populism doing the rounds, it's a regular topic of conversation), it includes Slovenia, Hungary, even Czechia.

 

[Mayomaniac]

For all parties involved: Slovenia during cold war was a part of Yugoslavia which was NOT behind the iron curtain…

This, only Albania was behind the Iron Curtain, not Yugoslavia.

 

[Ripper]

Comedy gold

https://www.cyclingnews.com/news/pogacar-i-could-be-my-own-biggest-rival-at-the-tour-de-france/

 

[bNator]

I read it as East for some reason, my bad. Turkey is a bit of an anachronism because it's barely Europe. Greece culturally and in terms of the Cold War were certainly Western European.

I don't make the rules, just telling you that in the UK, France and Spain (and given the nationality of the person who started this discussion, the Netherlands too), when they refer to Eastern European, particularly in the context of immigration (and given the wave of right-wing populism doing the rounds, it's a regular topic of conversation), it includes Slovenia, Hungary, even Czechia.

Only the ignorant ones…

 

[canarydan23]

For all parties involved: Slovenia during cold war was a part of Yugoslavia which was NOT behind the iron curtain…

Technically that's correct, although Yugoslavia was briefly a Soviet state until it detached in 1948. However its persistence with communism, albeit not Soviet communism, maintained its perception as an Eastern European region.

 

[Red Rick]

Source? What were his Romme and Colombiere times? (and previous records)

Ah,not quite

https://twitter.com/x/status/1411374146353827845

View: https://twitter.com/ammattipyoraily/status/1411374146353827845

https://twitter.com/x/status/1019329627867762690

View: https://twitter.com/ammattipyoraily/status/1019329627867762690

https://twitter.com/x/status/1411378466445053952

View: https://twitter.com/ammattipyoraily/status/1411378466445053952


But over a minute faster than Contador and Schlecks together while the Schlecks were taking turns in 2009.

 

[Ripper]

Ah,not quite

https://twitter.com/x/status/1411374146353827845

View: https://twitter.com/ammattipyoraily/status/1411374146353827845

https://twitter.com/x/status/1019329627867762690

View: https://twitter.com/ammattipyoraily/status/1019329627867762690

https://twitter.com/x/status/1411378466445053952

View: https://twitter.com/ammattipyoraily/status/1411378466445053952


But over a minute faster than Contador and Schlecks together while the Schlecks were taking turns in 2009.

He sets a record on the first climb, then on the second climb still would have obliterated Rasmussen, who in 2007 was riding a super clean. All good

 

[BlueRoads]

For me Slovenia is South-Eastern Europe.
I don't know why this is important for the clinic, but that's the way it is for me. Same as Albania. Greece is southern Europe.
I don't think there is a clear definition for that.

Okay, I looked it up at German wiki and there seem to be several ideas about that, but you can see the map here, which is a proposition by the "Ständiger Ausschuss für geographische Namen"
(Standing Committee on Geographical Names):

Osteuropa – Wikipedia

de.wikipedia.org

It says Slovenia is Middle Europe but they also say Poland and Hungary are, and in my opinion those are clearly Eastern Europe.

Thinking about it, there is only one country for me that's Western Europe, and that's France.

 

[Blanco]

Technically that's correct, although Yugoslavia was briefly a Soviet state until it detached in 1948. However its persistence with communism, albeit not Soviet communism, maintained its perception as an Eastern European region.

???