2024 Pro thread

[tymon_tm]

Pog lost two races this season - MSR and Quebec

I love watching him race but i just wonder - when will this absurd dominance of his wear off. "ceteris paribus" next season we should expect EVERY and ANY race he enters already won...

[maquisard]

I think there is a mental aspect to his attacks now, very few think they can challenge him so effectively race for 2nd place.

That is the reality of such a dominance.

[Lelandjt]

Classy move by the Belgian champ Eli Iserbyt in Exactcross today. IMO the DQ was not enough.

https://x.com/sporza_koers/status/18451 ... 8BOTsM4xDw

I wish the video had shown the lead up to the crash.

[BdaGhisallo]

Classy move by the Belgian champ Eli Iserbyt in Exactcross today. IMO the DQ was not enough.

https://x.com/sporza_koers/status/18451 ... 8BOTsM4xDw

I wish the video had shown the lead up to the crash.

Here's a video of the whole race - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8ZixE1Qg2k0

[Karvalo]

Pog lost two races this season - MSR and Quebec

I love watching him race but i just wonder - when will this absurd dominance of his wear off. "ceteris paribus" next season we should expect EVERY and ANY race he enters already won...

There was a (possibly quite optimistic) post on Rouleur's IG saying the strong and surprisingly effective (until UAE demolished it on the Ghisallo) breakway could be the template of teams cooperating and taking the fight to Pogacar before he does his unmatchable thing. OK Lombardy is too much a climber's course for it to work, but could a break like that stay away in Liege? Ok probably not, but at least it's a chance.

Aside from that MSR is still going to be a dogfight every year. What I wonder is does he go for the Giro-Tour double double, or maybe Tour-Vuelta now? And if the latter, is Flanders back on the calendar? I think both he and crucially Van der Poel are stronger than when they last met there, but perhaps Pog also lighter and less cobble optimised while VdP is better on the specific terrain than ever. Even if Pog did dominate again there would at least be genuine suspense until it happened.

[BdaGhisallo]

Pog lost two races this season - MSR and Quebec

I love watching him race but i just wonder - when will this absurd dominance of his wear off. "ceteris paribus" next season we should expect EVERY and ANY race he enters already won...

There was a (possibly quite optimistic) post on Rouleur's IG saying the strong and surprisingly effective (until UAE demolished it on the Ghisallo) breakway could be the template of teams cooperating and taking the fight to Pogacar before he does his unmatchable thing. OK Lombardy is too much a climber's course for it to work, but could a break like that stay away in Liege? Ok probably not, but at least it's a chance.

Aside from that MSR is still going to be a dogfight every year. What I wonder is does he go for the Giro-Tour double double, or maybe Tour-Vuelta now? And if the latter, is Flanders back on the calendar? I think both he and crucially Van der Poel are stronger than when they last met there, but perhaps Pog also lighter and less cobble optimised while VdP is better on the specific terrain than ever. Even if Pog did dominate again there would at least be genuine suspense until it happened.

I'm most interested to see if MVDP can win another Ronde and become the outright record holder with 4 wins in De Ronde. There are seven riders who've won the race three times, but no one has yet managed a fourth. At this point, you'd have to think that MVDP has a pretty good chance of doing it.

[Tifosiphil]

Classy move by the Belgian champ Eli Iserbyt in Exactcross today. IMO the DQ was not enough.

https://x.com/sporza_koers/status/18451 ... 8BOTsM4xDw

I wish the video had shown the lead up to the crash.

Here's a video of the whole race - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8ZixE1Qg2k0

Completely over the top reaction from Iserbyt. He left the inside line open and riders had been using both lines all race as well.

There's an expectation in racing, especially in mtb and cx, that sometimes you will get leaned on into the corners and he simply wasn't strong enough or aware that Kamp was coming

[MiSzA (PL)]

Pog lost two races this season - MSR and Quebec

I love watching him race but i just wonder - when will this absurd dominance of his wear off. "ceteris paribus" next season we should expect EVERY and ANY race he enters already won...

As they say - you train your weaknesses to race your strenghts; POG seems to have huge ability to recover after 3-5 min all-out efforts and whilst he recovers he still is able to keep the power al such level that he is keeping the gap - I suspect that is why he is such an animal on descends; contrary to what he says on podcasts (at least the one that "blew the internet" with his cheeky Zone 2 and no powermeter but HR snippets) it is all nicely calculated, reliant on power and intelligently planned. So, either thay will be able to contain him with numbers (didn't work out in few last races...) or match his skills and be prepared to blow him up. I hope thay will pick up the gauntlet - that would make an intresting 2025!

[Requiem84]

Pog lost two races this season - MSR and Quebec

I love watching him race but i just wonder - when will this absurd dominance of his wear off. "ceteris paribus" next season we should expect EVERY and ANY race he enters already won...

As they say - you train your weaknesses to race your strenghts; POG seems to have huge ability to recover after 3-5 min all-out efforts and whilst he recovers he still is able to keep the power al such level that he is keeping the gap - I suspect that is why he is such an animal on descends; contrary to what he says on podcasts (at least the one that "blew the internet" with his cheeky Zone 2 and no powermeter but HR snippets) it is all nicely calculated, reliant on power and intelligently planned. So, either thay will be able to contain him with numbers (didn't work out in few last races...) or match his skills and be prepared to blow him up. I hope thay will pick up the gauntlet - that would make an intresting 2025!

I think the step he made this year is even simpler: he increased his absolute FTP ánd he lost 1.5kg's. If you look at his best performance this year in the TdF his FTP estimation is about 450watt. That is insane for someone weighing 64 kg. For reference: afaik Ganna's highest FTP tested ever was 463 at 83kg's.

Pogacar is simply riding a power zone below the entire peloton. If everyone is at threshold, he is still riding in his tempo zone. It's literally as if we are watching the highest amateur level vs the pro's, with the caveat that there is only one pro.

[basilic]

Pog lost two races this season - MSR and Quebec

I would be fair to add stage 11 of the TdF he lost to Vingegaard, and a couple 2nds in ITTs in the Giro and TdF
Still unbelievable.

[Karvalo]

Pog lost two races this season - MSR and Quebec

I would be fair to add stage 11 of the TdF he lost to Vingegaard, and a couple 2nds in ITTs in the Giro and TdF
Still unbelievable.

Stage 1 of the Giro as well.

[howaboutme]

Pog lost two races this season - MSR and Quebec

I would be fair to add stage 11 of the TdF he lost to Vingegaard, and a couple 2nds in ITTs in the Giro and TdF
Still unbelievable.

Stage 1 of the Giro as well.

Wow, forgot about that one! Seems like ages ago. Any one think that was a gift?

[Karvalo]

Wow, forgot about that one! Seems like ages ago. Any one think that was a gift?

No, absolutely not. There's a whole bunch of reasons why not, but the main one is go back and watch the last few km of that stage again and it's very obvious! Pogacar really wanted to carry the jersey through the whole race.

[tymon_tm]

...ok, so it's two races and few stages* Pog lost this year. his stats look like he was racing on cheat codes whole season long.

*counting only those he wanted to or should have won

[OnTheRivet]

The alleged TdF for next year. It seems very traditional.

It's funny, The tour (and other 3 week stage races) were getting tired of GCridera getting crashed out in the first week by crazy sprint teams trying to get yellow so the last two years they took the sprinters out of the GC on the first couple days days. Looks like they are trying to shake things up for UAE hoping they lose some dominance from issues in the first week with the stacked sprint stages. Anybody know what the potential for crosswinds looks like in that first week?