Before i put you on ignore, let me say this: There is nobody here claiming Evenepoel would or could have beaten Pogacar in the mountains in a GT. There is nobody claiming Evenepoel was better overall in 2022 or 2023. We are talking about specific cases. First of all, Evenepoel was grossly overweight at the start of 2022, coming off a bad 2021 season, as was evident in Tirreno Adriatico where he couldn't even follow a group of 20 riders i think. He got dropped by the likes of Vlasov in Valencia, lost GC on the last day of Itzulia to Martinez. But he was gradually getting stronger and thinner. Liège was the first time since 2020 where he was both at an acceptable weight and fully injury free. He then went on to show his form on Gaustoppen but failed in Suisse due to what was believed to have been a heatstroke. He then won Classica San Sebastian with another spectacular solo, then Vuelta and Worlds, the latter again with a solo after going in the attack 70k from the finish (his solo was 26km).
At the same time, Pogacar in 2022 had won exactly how many solos? Strade against a 41 year old and the mighty Asgreen who has had 2 good days since his RVV win. I think that's about it. You can deny all you want, but back then Pogacar had not shown any of what he now shows on a weekly basis. Look back at his results from 2020 to 2023 in Liège and Lombardia. His first solo win was in Lombardia '23. A solo win by 52 seconds to Bagioli... He used to wait for the sprint because he was relatively fast in a small bunch. That's how Pog won most of his 1 day races back then. The only long solos i remember of him all came from stages in stage races, which are obviously much shorter than LBL. Less than a week before LBL22, Pog didn't even make top 10 in Fleche. The week before LBL23 he got reeled back by Healy and he was suffering from fatigue. When i say it is disingenuous to state that Evenepoel could not have beaten Pogacar in LBL22/23 i take those conditions into account. Evenepoel was already known for long solos since 2018, he was known to be able to wreck people on the flat even in his wheel. Ask Masnada, ask Campenaerts, ask De Bondt, guys who died in his wheel in 2019 when he was 19. Evenepoel did not crush the opposition those years on La Redoute, he crushed them after La Redoute by setting the pace on the flat so hard that nobody was able to stay with him after already having gone deep on La Redoute. Even if you are unwilling to agree Evenepoel would have beaten Pogacar, which is not something i have ever expected or asked, surely there is the tiniest part in your brain that is capable of being objective and agree that under those conditions, according to the level and skillset both riders showed at that time, you can also not declare that Pogacar would have certainly beaten Evenepoel. This was my only point, towards the poster who claimed that the only reason Evenepoel won LBL those years, that Evenepoel could have won even if Pog was there. Never did i claim he would have won 100% guaranteed.
But clearly it is too much for your ego as a Pog fan to muster, to think that the second best rider in the world, on certain days under those conditions might have beaten your boy, even when we all have eyes and can see and compare how back in 2022/2023 he was not close to being the rider he is today.
That's it. Now on ignore.
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