Is Pogacar the real deal or is it all sus?

[gravelreformist]

No idea and no opinion on whether he and the sport as a whole is clean at the moment.

IMO the racing has been very exciting this year, even with Pogacar's dominance. In all forms of sport it is common to have one person who is dominant for some period of time. One year is impressive, but try watching Formula1 where it tends to run in 3-7 year cycles.

So for me the question is whether he can continue into the future, or if 2025 is more like previous years where he is great, but not overwhelmingly better.

We also tend to forget that at this level, the differences in ability are extremely small - O'Connor was 34 seconds down after nearly 6 1/2 hours of racing. Or 0.1% slower.

[BdaGhisallo]

Originally Posted by jm714

As a racing personality I enjoy watching him race, but I am now bored with him and I suspect Paceliners are too. I mean look at the lack of commentary on this past weeks WC’s, its like it was a forgone conclusion and everyone tuned out. He’s just at another level and the gap is huge. I used to think there was no way he could win Roubaix and now I think it’s his race if that’s what he decides to do next year.

I think we're getting a taste of what it must have been like for cycling fans back when Merckx was running roughshod over the sport.

[robt57]

Originally Posted by adub

I just enjoy the racing.

Funny/odd how JM714 is now bored with him??

I told my wife I was, you'd think I scorned the pope pretty much.

[TomP]

Originally Posted by Nomadmax

Give me all Pogi all the time. I like watching him win, and frankly, don't care how he does it.

I also really like him.

[mhespenheide]

Originally Posted by Nomadmax

Give me all Pogi all the time. I like watching him win, and frankly, don't care how he does it.

I like watching him win. He's definitely got panache.

I do care how he does it. Hopefully he's not doing anything outside the rules. While I acknowledge that most or all of them are probably on something, I just hope it's a relatively level playing field after that.

[ntb1001]

I think it’s great when Pogacar is going for a win. It’s great watching an aggressive racer going for it instead of measuring out everyone else and waiting until final meters to break.
His style is terrific and entertaining.
I also think that races like this without team radios/cars with DS’s in their ear for every move show that most of the current top guys in peloton can’t read a race.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Jaybee]

I wasn't really a fan in the past, but his devil may care racing style has brought me over. If anything, I'm glad he won everything he won this year, and saying it was boring because it was a foregone conclusion ignores all the races within the race and the choices that get him there. My thought when I saw Roglic powering up the base of the Witikon yesterday was "Pogi's not going from 100k is he?" and then "Wow. That's so dumb. But also so dumb not to mark him. What are you doing Belgium?" and then, when Tratnik dropped back and paced him to the break (how did Tratnik know?) "wow, Slovenia masterclass in tactics." That was amazing not just because he had the legs to do it, but because he read the race perfectly.

I'm looking forward to an on-form Jonas with a strong Visma going up against Pogi with a strong UAE next July.

Also, though a lot of people say a sport is boring when Pogacar/the Warriors/the Patriots/Alabama are dominant, TV ratings and other media engagement generally disagree. The presence of greatness inspires interest. You're either watching to appreciate the best being the best or because you want to see them taken down.

[jlwdm]

I love watching Pogacar race. He has a wonderful attacking mentality that does not always work to his advantage, but he makes things happen. It is like yesterday when he said he did not plan to go so early and then thought it was probably a mistake. As mentioned before in this thread if riders worked together better they probably would have caught him. He gives it his all.

Plus he is such a nice guy.

Jonas is a great rider but he does not get me excited.

Jeff

[dmitrik4]

Tadej was certainly riding at an amazing level this year, but he also benefitted from some terrible luck for his main competition.

The previously-mentioned “build him up/tear him down” dynamic is also part of it.

Originally Posted by fourflys

I think if you look back at this past race season, you'll see that conversation hasn't been that robust for any particular race I think.. maybe with all the instant access, etc, we just aren't that interested in discussing on here anymore? But I will admit the WCs seemed a bit underwhelming overall.. not sure why..

There’s also the apparent tendency for any WC discussion to devolve into a doping thread; why bother talking about it if almost every other post is someone crapping on the sport and the racers?

[Philster]

I’m not sure why you’d say the Worlds were boring. Pog had a lead that never went over a minute, and it looked like they would catch him in the last 10k.

Is it odd that one person would win the Olympic TT, road race, and Worlds TT? Maybe your wife doesn’t look at Remco with googoo eyes?

[trener1]

Originally Posted by Permanent socks

Imagine watching what could end up being the greatest cyclist of all time while complaining he wins too much. Hahahaha

THIS!!

I was watching the race yesterday with my 11 year old son who plays baseball and is a huge baseball fan, I told him that what he is seeing now is basically if someone was Ruth, Ohtani and Judge all rolled into one guy, that's how good Pogi is.

[Talrand]

Originally Posted by bthomas515

This might be controversial, but I think we should just allow PED’s in sports and see how fast people can go

Oh goody, the classic stupid take has made its way to Paceline.
The OBVIOUS reason it's bad is that anyone who makes it to the top in cycling starts early, so really you're cheering for minors to start doping after being influenced/coerced by their parents and coaches >.> Typical brilliant and well thought out opinion from the 'last sane freethinker in a sea of sheeple'.

[glepore]

Originally Posted by Talrand

Oh goody, the classic stupid take has made its way to Paceline.
The OBVIOUS reason it's bad is that anyone who makes it to the top in cycling starts early, so really you're cheering for minors to start doping after being influenced/coerced by their parents and coaches >.> Typical brilliant and well thought out opinion from the 'last sane freethinker in a sea of sheeple'.

That's way harsh. The duplicity of the sport for years is so polluted and arrogant that I'm not sure that being above board about it with medical monitoring etc isn't a better path.

Geez, this whole topic has brought out some nasty rhetoric.

And on topic, what Pog is doing is so historically epic that one has to wonder. Which is why the darkness surrounding past doping is in my mind so corrosive.

[redir]

I don't know what sus means without a clear explanation but Eddy basically passed the torch to Pogacar today when he said he's probably the best ever.

He is the best ever and there is a lot more to come. Just like in Merckx's day he still had competitors and that's what made the sport so exciting.

[the bottle ride]

He is awesome to watch and generally I think this is one of the most entertaining periods of racing in my 30 years of watching it.

But I think it is “sus”- every period/regime has had incredible performances of dominance that is linked to cheating (and TP’s performance is on another level) that I can remember going back to the “toxic twins” (Theunise and Rooks destroying climbs). It’s disappointing.

I am jaded- the racing is amazing but no one has been this dominant clean in the sport ever.


Cheering for Pogi - he is amazing to watch. So fun.