New season, new thread, new kits.
Really looked like Boards wouldn't even make it to a 2026 thread for a while there.
WT
Think Pog is literally trying to win every (conceivable) major UCI one day and stage race, once thats done he will probably retire. Its why i think hes doing all these random races this year, Romandie, Suisse etc.
Roubaix & Vuelta are the 2 big, big ones left
Pog is exactly the type of rider most of us love. He attacks, he tries every day, he gives it a go on days that don’t seem to suit him. But it’s not fun watching a race be over 50km from the finish and that happens more often than not
Not his fault, but such is sport
Any doubts I had about whether he was entertaining enough to be able to ignore the dominance disappeared in Paris last year. He was the only one with anything to lose on a miserable, wet and went for the win purely because of the glory and prestige on offer.
Roubaix is the big one for him obviously, and maybe picking up a sixth Tour to make history. At the minute, he can win the Vuelta any time he likes.
I just can't understand how the other teams don't work together more to bring him back in. They'll put 1 domestique on the front to pull. But no single rider is pulling Pog back. They need to be rolling turns and all working together, but they never do. It's not like the stage was particularly difficult.
Pull him back for what ?
To lose on GC anyway another day.
So why even race?
For 2nd and minor jerseys which is what they are resigned to.
On a seperate topic… Is Sam completely done? Halfway into the year and besides a 3rd a Region Pays de la Loire he has basically DNF'd everything.
Surely it can't take this long to build fitness back?
He's actually at the baloise belgiun tour and is ostensibly the leader based on the bibs, but has been nowhere on the first 2 sprints.
His recent results on PCS are grim
And still valuable in terms of individual and team points.
fwiw I am hopeful of JV at least making a fight of the tour this year. I mean a big deal is made of Pogi breaking his wrist in Liege in 2023, Jonas' crash in Itzulia 24 was career (and life) threatening, and then he topped it up with the concussion in Paris Nice last year. This year is the first since his last win he has had a clear run at it.
Wout being out is a huge loss though. But yeah, hoping at least for an incident-free fair fight.
They're hardly even trying for that. Take Pog out of the equation and Carapaz / Bagioli have a very healthy advantage over the others.
He could be in for a tough time with his other half Urska Zigart after having an awful crash yesterday - broke her jaw I think.
She's a funny rider anyway, doesn't like riding in a bunch, rides way at the back the whole time, which can make cycling life more difficult and more dangerous.
On the man himself, I'd echo previous sentiments. Domination is boring. Pete Sampras, Michael Schmumacher. Fair play to them and everything but they turned me away from their respective sports. I wouldn't be rushing home to watch a race Pog is in anymore.
I'd like to see some of the teams work together on attacking Pog it'll never happen but if they could repeat what Jumbo did with Ving & Roglic a few years back that'd be exciting. But maybe he's too strong now and that won't work anymore.
An issue with that is that Vingegaard is, realistically, his only rival. Maybe Seixas will be, but the only one he has any reason to keep an eye on is Jonas. He simply has no reason to be worried about Remco or any of the others when it comes to the mountains.
Adam Rafferty 10th on the queen stage in the baby giro. He’s up to 8th in GC
Irish participation down to just himself after the death of Shane O’Brien meant Liam pulled out. I think it’s why David Gaffney dropped out too. All understandable of course
Jamie Meehan 7th on the final stage of the Route d’Occitanie. He was 4th on GC. Great result and he must be in contention for a spot in the Vuelta for Cofidis now
He maintains an unwavering, explosive peak from the cold gravel of Strade Bianche in March to the high-lbaltitude passes of the Tour de France in July, all the way to autumn Classics in October. In the history of sports science, a cyclist going at 100% capacity for eight straight months without a single day of weakness is a neon red flag
Pogacars year round, unyielding dominance naturally forces a cynical conclusion.if a performance looks too good to be true in cycling, history tells us it usually is.
I actually feel the opposite. I am a lot more suspicious of cyclists who are bang average for a lot of the year and then great for 3 weeks.
And Pogacars peaks this year have a decent gap between them. The classics and July. I don't think you can say that he's going at 100% all year. He looks a lot better this week than he did at Romandy.
I agree, I think JV will put up a stronger challenge this year( WvA being out is a massive blow though), don't think it's a certainty that Pog wins this year, obviously the favourite, but, one bad day could change things. He was obviously suffering from a bit of fatigue in the last week last year, but, was so far ahead it didn't matter. If JV is close or even ahead going into the last week, it would make it very interesting this year. Then of course there's always the possibility of illness, injury or a mechanical at a bad time that could tip the balance one way or the other.
Traditional training logic says a rider can hold a true peak for perhaps 4 to 6 weeks. To win a 215km gravel classic in March, drop historic climbing VAM numbers on 2,000-meter peaks in July, and solo away to win a grueling 250km Monument in October requires an unprecedented physiological ceiling.
The statement isn't hyperbole; it is a literal description of Tadej Pogačar's palmarès.
You're also describing the perfect gaps between peaks - 12 weeks. I'm far from an expert, but to my understanding peaking at those 3 times are eminently achievable. In fact i imagine a lot of the riders you see in the Ardennes try and peak 3 times.
Adam Rafferty 2nd in the ITT ay the giro next gen, 2nd to the eventual gc winner, Lorenzo Finn. Moves up and finishes 7th on Gc
French environment minister reporting that with the exception of a lull next week the extreme weather is expected to last till July 14th.
2/3rds of French departments are under red weather warnings.
Pog apparently skipping the final pre-Tour altitude camp to stay home with his partner who had a bad crash last week.
I think its a slightly lazy theory to rest a position on - "I'm not going to analyse his performances or data in any detail - I may not even be anything more than a couple-of-weeks-a-year cycling fan - but I'm going to posit that he's dodgy because he's standout superb". I'm not aiming that at you, btw, more at the comment section experts you find online everywhere.
Pog has failed plenty of times every season over the past few years. He strikes me as not just having an unbelievable engine and physiology, but a killer instinct, thirst for wins and a very, very smart tactical brain. He races hard when he has to, picks his moments in the right stages at the right points, avoids crashes and peaks for races he knows he needs to be at his peak to win. Other races he can win at a canter. He ties everything together in a way I don't think we've seen anyone do in a long long time.
History will tell, but given the state of every other professional sport we're force fed, I won't be judging Pog based on what cyclists did 20/ 30/ 40 years ago. It's kind of a similar argument to the one about how you want Pog to win - go early when he feels like it or hold back til the last 15/ 20k? - are people suggesting that if he just didn't have the temerity to be so good they wouldn't cast a cloud over him? If he retired tomorrow and there were ding-dong battles for the podium between the rest of the peloton, would that be evidence that they're all clean?
Personally I'm tired of the circular arguments on this topic. Not saying never ask questions, but there comes a point where you (the royal 'you') also need to ask why you bother following the sport at all.
Is it just me or has he largely escaped any bad luck in the Tour since he burst onto the stage? Every year seems to see one of his rivals have some sort of disaster pre/ during the race.
He was "only" second in the Tour in 23 as he'd broken his wrist at LBL.
He was a long, long way second in that Tour after the single greatest time trial performance of all time.
National time trial titles for Ryan Mullen and Lara Gillespie
Adam Rafferty won the u23 ITT.
