Tadej Pogačar attacks with over 100km. The winning moment? Yes, but this time with hindsight as for some time the result was uncertain. It made for a gripping race especially with the chase behind and the battle for the lower steps of the podium.
The men’s road race is the final event of what is now a week-long event, something that was testing the patience of locals before it had even started. Zurich’s bid to become a “Velostadt”, a cycling city was certainly not a unanimous goal. It then rained for most of the week.
The death of Muriel Furrer during the women’s junior road race was a tragedy, then compounded. She was 18 years old, and on home roads as she lived just minutes from the course. Watching Swiss TV it seemed particularly sore as Furrer was also a mountain biker so it touched the wider Swiss cycling community; the death of Gino Mäder last year seems raw too and at times it overwhelmed the SRF commentators. Furrer’s family made it known they wished for the competitions to continue.
Sunday morning started with a tribute ride to Furrer. The sun came out. For the men’s race Tadej Pogačar started as the favourite, but with competition. Remco Evenepoel was going to have to ride away and having just won the time trial he threatened to demolish the field just like he did in Paris. Mathieu van der Poel could take Pogačar in a sprint but his challenge was gravity, how to cope with such a hilly course? Come in a kilo or more lighter was the approach; plus Lotte Kopecky’s win on Saturday showed a result was possible to. A dense field with plenty of other challengers, including semi-local Marc Hirschi added to the challenge.
The race started faster than expected with a battle to get the breakaway. The early part of course from Winterthur was no parade and included a proportionate share of the day’s climbing. Strong riders went up the road, legwarmers were rolled down. An early crash had Julian Alaphilippe out with a dislocated shoulder and Pello Bilbao out, two contenders gone. Meanwhile Slovenian team were very visible, their lime green jerseys so visible on the front.
Vuelta revelation Pablo Castrillo made a move in the streets of Zürich and if he got countered, the move seemed like a defibrillator on the peloton and a group of riders charged clear of the peloton, among them was Slovenia’s Jan Tratnik and Pavel Sivakov of France, plus outsiders for the win like Jay Vine (Australia) and Stevie Williams (GB)
Up the Zürichberg climb again and a couple of moves by Kasper Asgreen and Quinn Simmons were neutralised. Then a burst of green and none other than Tadej Pogačar attacked. There was still over 100km to go.
A big what-if of the day is if another rider could have gone with Pogačar here? Only Andrea Bagioli and Quinn Simmons tried but didn’t last long. But what if, say, Evenepoel could have shut down the move? Only Pogačar was away and riding in his familiar busy style, perched forward on the saddle, hands on the brake hoods, elbows in, bobbing on the bike as he rode away.
Tratnik’s presence up the road suddenly seemed crucial but apparently this was not planned. He got a roadside tip to sit up and await his leader.
The Belgian team was chasing hard but this looked panicky. Rather than let Pogačar stew slowly like a stoofvlees up ahead they were burning up their own riders all too quickly. Clearly they sensed the danger but their collective effort seemed to deter other teams from joining in. In a regular pro race with team managers and race radios team managers might have phoned around for help. Because nobody else helped the Belgian team were left to themselves but soon out of riders.
Remco Evenepoel surged with Mathieu van der Poel in pursuit. This could have been the most intense moment of the day but the pair were quickly closed down and that was it. It then felt like Evenepoel went because he had no support left and Van der Poel was marking him.
Up ahead and Pogačar quickly shattered the lead group. With Tratnik done, only Pavel Sivakov was able to follow. A colleague at UAE for the rest of the year meant the clear incentive to work for his boss. But sans Alaphilippe he could salvage a silver medal for France so sharing the work made sense. Only on the lower slopes of the Zürichberg with 50km to go any intrigue vanished as Sivakov was just dropped. With 50km to go Pogačar was now solo.
With most teams down to one rider and little more than 15 riders in contention for a medal Toms Skujiņš and Ben Healy formed a tandem, the Irishman instantly recognisable for the way he rides, as if his handlebars need straightening. To chase Pogačar, or to just stay clear of the rest? Probably the latter but Pogačar could hardly let his mind wander into thoughts of whether to pair “his” rainbow jersey with white or black shorts. When he rode away in the Strade Bianche or the Giro earlier this year you could get up and go and do something else, maybe leave the TV on in the background but there was little need to pay close attention. Here he barely had a minute’s lead and there was a sustained chase behind. At one point the gap began to fall and, believe the time gaps it was 35 seconds, he seemed to be stressing about a missed bidon at the pit stops. He was even grimacing at one point, a rare, even a novel sight.
In the final several riders traded attacks, their best bet for a medal being not to sprint against Van der Poel. Ben Healy seemed acutely aware of this and it livened up the end of the race. It was another Ben in O’Connor who got the right blend of timing and force as he rode away for silver and Van der Poel won the sprint for bronze.
The Verdict
Tadej Pogačar’s masterpiece and a great race, a little sunshine after a tough week.
He’s mixed blessings for the publishing business as books on bicycle race tactics look redundant; while a thesaurus is required to garland his exploits with new superlatives. In a city better known for themes like precision, timing and risk-management, Pogačar took a massive gamble with 100km to go. If this hadn’t paid off then he’d be lamenting a Giro-Tour double without the rainbow ending. He’s winning close to 40% of his race days, a ratio nobody else enjoys, and rated accordingly and to miss today would have been a loss. Evenepoel and the Belgian team did not lose the race today but their decision to chase so hard alone does invite questions of what could have been other nations had joined.
In his own words going with over 100km to go was “maybe a stupid move”, it seems he knows he has limits. This was the Pogačar show and soon it won’t be remembered for the sport on the day, even if there was was a good contest. Pogačar didn’t enjoy victory laps of Zürich and the others chased and raced hard. O’Connor finishes a season that he started out with a win and then a series of expectation-topping results. Mathieu van der Poel probably won’t care much for bronze but his presence as the tormentor of Pogačar in Glasgow last year adds more sparkle to this year’s podium.
Earlier this spring he went public with the goal of winning all three and now he goes into autumn having delivered, and each time by a crushing margin. Comparisons with Merckx won’t stop even if it’s difficult to compare eras but when Merckx won his “triple crown” at the 1974 Worlds in Montréal he was only two seconds ahead of Raymond Poulidor.
Indeed rather than look back and recite statistics or anecdotes, what comes next? Lombardia if you look at Pogačar’s race calendar, presumably the Vélo d’Or prize very soon too. But beyond, what goals for 2025 and beyond? And what can his rivals do about it?
Went out for the day knowing that Pogacar had attacked, and watched the race on catch-up when I got home. He doesn’t just impress on the bike, he genuinely seems like a thoroughly likable chap. Never mind any suggestion of performance enhancement, I’d like to know how he manages to stay so damned relaxed and cheerful!
PS – good to see you back.
Easy to stay relaxed and cheerful when your HR never goes over 145bpm. Otherworldly. Mollema with an impressive ride for a 35 yo. And why do any heads up Pogs vs Remco matchups always end up as a washout?
Sorry. Bauke is 37.
They can do nothing. Plastic Pog will and win and beat all ascent records by 3+ minutes.
Yawn.
A 100km attack. Jeez, what *does* it take to entertain you?!
Anything but a freak show.
You have to be a freak of nature to get into the pro peloton, or any elite level sport really. I would suggest watching some local amateur racing instead if you’re offended by people with excellent genetics.
A brilliant, exciting and cliff hanging race from start to finish, with a brave and well deserved winner. Maybe race radios, or lack of played a part in the excitement. BUT Pogacar was the outstanding rider. A more than well deserving World Road Champion.
Chapeau.
I wonder how well those last two sentences will age..
Oh well, another Pogacar win. Tuned in with 70 km to go and saw him at the front. To be fair I can’t be bothered to watch any races he enters anymore. I’d rather go for a bike ride myself than to waste my time on something where the result is a foregone conclusion.
only as long as you stick to that story in 20 years when you’re telling the grandkids about when pogacar was racing 😉
” I’d rather go for a bike ride myself than to waste my time on something where the result is a foregone conclusion.”
Didn’t a lot of Italian cycling fans say something like this about Alfredo Binda’s wins in 1930’s? 🙂 Is Pogi going to follow his footsteps becoming the most hated cyclist in the world, just for being able to outclass the competition almost whenever he wants?
I don’t think many Italians had the option of sitting down in front of the telly to watch Binda race.
Rather, they had to get on their bike and go for a ride, to be able to see him race. Otherwise, wait for the papers the next day – maybe some people had wireless and could get some news from that.
Tuned in around the same time and pretty quickly turned it off.
Here’s a question: Has Pogacar ever attacked, gotten a 30 second gap and then ended up not winning? Only one I can think of is when JV beat on the Tour stage this year.
Well Pogi. Whatever you are drinking, keep it up. It works. Sort of..
Odds for Foglie Morte? I won’t even watch this year. Pro cycling is dying.
No its not. Cycling will go on and TP isn’t going to ride forever.
2025?
Giro-Tour-Vuelta. He could easily have done it this year and only a brewing mutiny at UAE kept him out.
Next year Gianetti will have weeded out the malcontents, and TP will take all 3.
Don’t watch it for the competition. There will be none. See it as an analogue to breaking the hour.
I don’t mean to start an argument, but this is ridiculous. Do we really have such short memories? We are only a year removed from Pogacar losing the Tour by seven and a half minutes. That same year, Jumbo Visma dominated, winning three GTs with three different riders (although, truth be told, Vingegaard would probably have won the Vuelta absent team orders.) How could the others possibly respond to this dominance? Cycling is going to be boring with one super team. Oops!
This year, Pogacar dominated. The Giro, however, had a pretty poor field, with only Pogacar from the top tier, while Vingegaard was obviously undercooked for the Tour (let’s not forget, it was touch and go whether he would start at all). This World Championship road race would surely have been different had Wout van Aert been on the Belgian side: it could well have transformed race tactics. In fact, the entire season this year was affected by some hideous crashes, which Pogacar avoided, but which affected many of his rivals, including four, WVA, JV, Remco and Roglic, of the remaining five Big Six riders.
So, after the year of Jumbo-Visma, and the year of Pogacar and crashes, who knows what 2026 has in store for us? The final half hour of Milan-San Remo will still be the most thrilling 30 minutes of the cycling year. Will Pogacar try to attack on the Cipresa this year? Or will the most elusive of races remain beyond his grasp? Will he try for the Tour of Flanders again? Will he even throw his hat into the ring for Paris-Roubaix? How would that affect his preparation for the GTs, given the difference in body shape required? Will we finally get Tadej vs Remco at the Liege-Bastogne-Liege? Will Pogacar try for the Vuelta next year? Will crashes derail his season as they did in 2023? Who knows? It’s certainly not set in stone.
What is set in stone is that nine weeks and three days of hard GT racing out of 20 or 21 weeks, or whatever it is from the beginning of the Giro to the end of the Vuelta, would be an extreme ask for anybody — Pogacar, Merckx, Hinault, Coppi, whomever. In fact, didn’t Pogacar’s team say that they didn’t do it this year, as they feared trying could do permanent damage to him?
Ummm, yeah somebody had crashed before the TDF last year, too. But whatever, I get your point and quite much agree!
PS Re: crashes – when they’re so so so many, both in the case of a single rider or a team or the whole peloton, things need to be looked into with more detail. Investigated even, I’d say.
Yes. Exactly right. Pogacar crashed at L-B-L last year, came in undercooked, and Vingegaard smashed him in the last week. This year, Vingegaard crashed, came in undercooked, and Pogacar smashed him in the last week.
Regarding crashes, I’d agree. Maybe the subject of an INRNG post for some more serious expertise.
Yep, but that’s not the whole story of the season, as Pogacar among other Classics or short stage races won a couple of Monuments, among which the Ronde, despite the “year of Jumbo Visma”.
(And, to be fair, with no team orders at all, the Vuelta would have been Roglic’s).
My point is (as several others here has done) that TP last year had several races where the ups and downs of pro bike racing were visible. A few days in the Tour and some of the late rides before Lombardy.
Now he adds a Grand Tour to his season but yet seems to be running effortless on overdrive from early March to now. Without any sign of problems. Not a single one. Only the UAE politics kept him from taking the Vuelta as well.
So as Gianetti can enhance the performance of already best rider in the World this much from 22/23 to now, what should stop TP next year?
Yes, I know what your point was, but as I mentioned in the previous post, there were mitigating factors, mainly related to the competition. Also, outside the GTs, he hasn’t exactly competed in many races.
Finally, you are wrong to say that taking on the Vuelta would have been a simple, cost free matter, again for the reasons I explained above.
If you look at the Vuelta field, do you seriously think that TP would have had any problems winning? Even at 90%
@RyanFelt — I don’t think he would have been at 90%. I certainly don’t think he would have won the World Championships had he competed in the Vuelta.
@collingwood – we’ll never know. But I think UAE’s “mutiny” was very much based on the assumption from his teammates that he could…
Even Tadej would have struggled at the World’s if he won the Vuelta. You can see he was worried as it was. If WVA or someone of that calibre paced himself and gave chase – with the occasional break on the front – I’m absolutely confident that Tadej’s move would not hav worked.
Now, if Tadej had raced and won the Vuelta, then he for sure would have lost the worlds. Or he never could have won from 100km out.
If Belgium had played their tactics much smarter too, Tadej would have had trouble. Why oh why was Belgium EVER on the front??? Tadej was by far the favourite so if a break goes up the road (even with Slovenians in it) every non Slovenian team needs to SIT tight. Tadej’s compatriots in the break wouldn’t have won.
They should have let the break get 15-25 minutes and then force Slovenia to pull. Roglic could have chased… but he is cooked from winning the vuelta.
@CA
I disagree. Pog could have done the Vuelta as training, won it easily, and just carried the form into the worlds. He would have won anyway. Look at his season.
Ryanfelt – I don’t know your background well enough, but I suspect you didn’t race.
You say Tadej “easily” could have won the Vuelta and then easily could have won the worlds…. Why didn’t he also add the Olympics and Worlds TT, and also Paris Roubaix, and also every other classic.
You don’t seem to understand how these races work vs training. We have all seen TdF where Tadej was beat handily by someone else. He is only human.
@CA
Normally I would agree with you, but looking at Pog’s Giro and Tour, I don’t think he would need to ride harder than in normal training to have won the Vuelta. In the middle of the Tour – i.e. *after* a “draining” Giro, he beat Pantani’s all-time-best PDB ascend with 3 minutes and 44 seconds. This margin defies every reasonable explanation. We are not talking seconds of a record, in a single-day race.
So I’ll stick to my view
Ryan – Tadej beat Pantani, with a quarter century of better tech, training methods, preparation, etc. The riders are much faster today than 5, 10, 15, etc. years ago. You can’t compare eras, or day to day easily.
Tadej came into this race on super form, fully fit and fresh. Zero chance if he came in after the Vuelta would he be able to win with 100km breakaway.
“running effortless on overdrive from early March to now”
But a very selective early March to now. In previous years he had a full spring with UAE, TA/PN, Slovenia, the Fleche as regulars, and mixing in races like Andalucia, Amstel, E3, Flanders … this year he’s been very careful about conserving energy and when he enters a race it’s at a very high level. Also, at 26, it wouldn’t be a surprise if he’s just entering his peak years.
Valid points – yes a “softer” start in March, but he did make (almost) most of it. He should probably go alone next time on Cipressa.
Collingwood – finally, some common sense. The complaining about Pogacar is ridiculous.
This was a great season. I can’t wait to see how this goes next year.
WVA would have chased 100% to catch him.
If Pog can do the GT-triple, he comes the one and only. The one above everyone else in history.
I’m surprised he did not go for it this year. He was in the form and luck of his life. It’s not guaranteed he gets the chance ever again.
It was down to internal UAE priorities and team management.
Bit unfair to history – there is a reason the Tripple Crown omits Vuelta, isn’t there?
Vuelta was never considered on par with Giro and the Tour. Also, nowadays the three GTs are probably much more similar to each than ever before – while advancements in sporting nutrition and reconvalescence surely make big difference.
You can’t compare Pogacar to Coppi, or even claim Pogacar is above him.
Triple crown is an informal modernish term (rugby derived). I think it refers to 2xGT + WC at moment simply cause that’s the only triple crown that’s been achieved.
Getting all 3 GTs in one year would be an outstanding physiological feat. I’d rank it above 2 GT + WC. Just the fact 2GT-WC triple has been done a few times before, while 3GT has never been done points to what is the more difficult methinks.
The term actualy predates rugby football itself – and originates in the merry world of horse racing, so it’s definitely not rugby-derived . But my point was clear – Vuelta didn’t use to be as prestigious as Giro and Tour, big classics (or Monunents – which is again perhaps a modern-ish term) or the Worlds, therefore it’s ahistorical to compare Pogacar’s generation with older greats in these terms.
Hmmmmmm
“He was even grimacing at one point”
It was fairly obvious he was faking it. Pog knows as well as anybody that the race matters, and a too obvious Strade-style dominance would be bad for pro cycling.
So chapeau Pog! but please give the race its due.
‘It was fairly obvious he was faking it’
This is comedy. Imagine how stupid you’d have to be to write that?
Pog may be boring, he may be dominating, you may well have suspicions of his success (whether founded or not), or you may be a fan and love what he does… but there’s absolutely no way unless you Urska Zigart that you’d know if he was faking grimaces during a 274km race, let alone for it to be obvious!
There’s a thousand reasons why someone might grimace and faking it is probably that last of those options… it’s a very dull conspiracy mindset that picks the most hysterical of those and treats it as fact.
But – I guess when someone does what Pog does there’s always gonna be a fair amount of brainless commentary in any comment section! Tbh it is all quite funny so I’m glad people are taking the time to post.
As Collingwood and Gabriele point out above it’s only 12months since a Jumbo-Visma Grand Tour clean sweep, and a few years since others here bemoaned Sky’s boring dominance, so I’m happy to take cycling each day as it comes and look at Sunday in isolation.
My hunch is Pog’s own success this year is hiding quite how impressive yesterday actually was: to go 100km out on a course like that (pushing 300km), against this generation of riders, in a race of this magnitude, with seemingly no real luck (as Gilbert had in mega-break win at Flanders when Sagan/Avermart crashed), is utterly outrageous. It’s more impressive than his own Flanders win (my fave race of recent years along with MVDP’s Amstel), as well as his and others recent long range wins – plus most of his Grand Tour victories! I think maybe only his 2020 Stage 21 TT turn around and this years record climbing numbers up Plateau De Beille truly compare.
I have no idea whether we need to be suspicious or not so I’m just commenting on what I see on the TV and yesterday was up there with the most impressive feats I’ve ever seen on a bike – Remco and MVDP’s reactions after say it all – it was not normal and we should maybe be celebrating it more.
Well I completely agree with Thomas. A tired TP looks very different from what we saw Yesterday – look at the TP in his bad days in the Tour 22-23. It was pure acting.
LOL. Look at the videos. Plastic Pog was really “tired”. 🙂
Well happy to agree to disagree.
But I’m firmly with both Gabriele and Collingwood in all the disagreements above and think it’s exceptionally naive to say any rider would fake grimacing.
There’s playing for the camera like Alaphillippe does regularly and there’s managing your effort and being understandably tired after 250+ kms. To compare Pog looking tired yesterday to him bonking/blowing up in the TDF previously isn’t a like for like comparison and not good argument that Sunday wasn’t true fatigue. I honestly believe it’s absurd to think Pog has in his head ‘I don’t want to win by too much otherwise it’ll bore cycling fans’, it’s just a complete misunderstanding of elite sportsmen&women’s mentality and basically plain dumb.
And as for winning the Vuelta to boot… Pog is exceptional and maybe he could have then maybe also won the World Championships… but we have zero evidence to make this leap nor any true understanding of his tiredness after the TDF again to get to those kind of assumptions, so we have to take him and his team’s word that his was knackered after the Tour and calm our hot takes until we see any evidence to the contrary – especially as no rider in this current calendar has ever won all three. It’s just sounds highly speculative at best and daft/ill informed at worst to state he could’ve definitely won all three – not to say disrespectful to the riders who competed for the actual race itself.
I’d love him to try and succeed in every Grand Tour one day but is a much bigger endeavour than the conversations above assume it to be. In saying that Pog is the best cyclist I have ever seen and may well be the best any of us will see in our lifetimes so if anyone can it’s him.
Pog himself wanted to do the Vuelta – at least if Slovenian media can be trusted. But was talked out of it, as it would be a too tight fit between the Olympics and the Worlds. And because UAE had some brewing unrest.
Could he have done it? Well we will never know, but IMHO yes. Even with a reasonable margin. Will he regret the “no”? He will have a few years more to try, but this might have been the best shot he will ever get.
I’m from Slovenia, follow cycling almost religiously, and have not read a single thing about Pogačar wanting to do the Vuelta.
Only exception maybe is Ekipa web site, which is primarily football oriented and does click bait articles on other mainstream sports. Really the lowest of the low. So maybe you picked it up there.
@ZigaK
I’m Austrian and it was mentioned on Austrian TV with reference to Slovenia. I wouldn’t be surprised if it came from Ekipa, and if no other media has the story I’ll certainly withdraw the point.
In all fairness I read a similar story (Pog->Vuelta) here in Ireland but with some very dodgy references. Mainly as a part of the ongoing UAE-mutiny-speculation…
As an aside, as the cycling hits the spotlight in Slovenia, all kind of media personalities and outlets do their takes, after investing a couple of hours in to researching the topic. It’s tiresome!
I would say it’s similar to the influx of new commenters on this blog during TdF – but worse.
I love that you spent time researching ZigaK.
Good course, good weather, good race … and a clever ride by O’Connor.
Yes, O’Conner capping off nothing less than a stellar season!
He is Mr. Strategy with the right moves all season.
If the pub quiz was who, in 2024, came 4th at the Giro, 2nd at the Vuelta, and 2nd at the worlds (between Pogi and MVdP), Ben O’Connor would not normally come to mind.
An outstanding season.
It´s all about the bike, though.
(Sorry, couldn´t resist…)
Good race that. It looked a bit like L-B-L condensed into a short lap. And I suppose the result reflects that.
Can’t fault Remco for the season he’s had but I can’t believe he wasn’t glued to Pog’s wheel. Their route to victory would have been similar, so each needed to be alive to the other’s big early move. Easy for me to write with a coffee in hand the day after the race…
Attacking from 100km out and soloing was stupid and more gut feeling than thinking, but there was a sliver of method in the madness. If he’d attacked from 20-30 km out, it’s nailed on that Remco and MVdP would have stuck like glue. From a crazy distance out it would be dismissed as suicidal (the slightest uncertainty about a setup for Roglic or at least towing him to the line might have helped), until it was too late. Though I suspect that the attack started mostly because it was easier to take control rather than constantly respond in a nervous part of the race, and when he went he figured he’d just keep going and let others catch him if they could.
For sure this wasn’t on anybody’s bingo card and we haven’t seen anything like this in recent memory. It certainly shows a refreshing aversion to playing it safe and sticking to the tactical rulebook. The decreasing time gap showed that even Pog might have taken too big a bite and made for rather a thrilling race.
Next year he will attack with 200km to go, just for the laugh!
There is some strange malcontent in the comments section. Pogacar is a most amazing athlete, once in a lifetime, and I love watching him do what he does. And… he is absolutely fun, charming, polite, and so badass. Merckx did amazing things, was undeniably doped, faced considerably less competition, and was quite simply just an ass.
Thank you for your comment 🙂 I know it is only sports and I too want to have those nailbiters of races to watch every time. As a matter of fact we are witnessing one of the best athletes there ever was and why not accept this and just watch in awe? Maybe it is some sort entitlement attitude towards the sport and competition we have developed that I feel does not do justice to the people who are competing it.
Different people want different things, some want to watch the very best; others want a contest with surprises.
I found yesterday interesting for the way Pogačar risked a collapse like we saw with Christen in the U23 race, he did not seem certain to win until he’d cleared the Witikon climb on the last lap and by then there was so much attacking among the others this provided entertainment.
I have a feeling like we are living an episode of twilight zone, where a cycling fan who was frustrated with the constant tactical stand-offs and waiting for the finish line sprints, gets a wish for a long range attacking superstar. And the fan is once again, frustrated.
🙂
Great one ^___^
There’s probably a script for the best way to win a race to get maximum popularity and satisfaction:
– the winner has to look like the best rider on the day
– a contest among other riders to settle this
– some tactical skills to add finesse, ie not just a time trial
– the winner overcoming an issue, a reversal of fortunes/peripeteia
– suspense that lasts to the end
– as it’s pro cycling, no “come from nowhere” surprise or eyebrow-raising entourage
It’s a lot to ask for in a one day race but 6-7 hours can supply this; a grand tour can have it in bulk, but not always. It’s common to many in drama, from literature to film etc (with added themes like revenge, less common in cycling) and readers probably have extra bullet points to add
Contador on the Mortirolo ticked the boxes… oh, wait, the entourage! ^___^
That “entourage” thing doesn’t leave us with much candidates at all left, I’m afraid…
I love this comment from INRNG.
Made me laugh out loud.
I only regularly dislike two or three races – Milan San Remo, La Fleche and Liege – but I’m astounded how after almost every race even when they’re great there’ll be comments here saying XYZ was trash for whatever reason! Either someone wins too easily, or they sneak away too tactically, or they weren’t enough breakaway wins, or we knew the winner by week two etc etc.
I’ve loved the vast majority of racing I’ve ever seen which is why I’m still watching!
Well I *do* like a “long range attacking superstar”, but when he turns out to be able to to the same trick across an entire season *and* at same time win some GTs with complete ease, then the “magic” tends to peel off…
Of course, the question is about the guy being the new Coppi/Merckx/Hinault (one was bound to be born sooner or later) or “just” a Lemond/Fignon/Kelly but with a boost.
Then there’s the motor option. But if he did what he did yesterday with a motor, technology has become very good, and he must also be quite good at using it properly.
I don’t believe the “motor option”. Its just too risky. I think that his ability to win across so many different races, profiles and over a 7 month time span come from an other source.
And UAE being UAE we will likely see this the next 2-3-4-… years as well.
We’ll see, but I think we’re living more of a “turnover” era.
UAE was clearly one or two steps down *as a team* just… in the last few seasons!
The wheels turn, it’s to be seen just how fast. Lappartient bid for CIO presidency might have a huuuge impact on cycling, just dunno what sort of (different events may come from that, depending on how it evolves, too).
For now, the big difference is that Pogi can pull an impressive season even when his team and his own physical shape don’t go the same lengths they’ve gone this year. For now, the same can’t exactly be said for many rivals… although Vingo had a beautiful TDF, relative to his team’s general performance. What a shame there wasn’t much more.
This is exactly how I feel about it – I love a long range attack (PhilGil was always worth a watch, see also a rampaging Sagan) but the maintenance of such dominant form across a season, from Monuments/Classics via smashing everyone for 6 wins apiece in 2 Grand Tours and now the Worlds makes it hard to maintain enthusiasm as a spectator.
Pog lines up to start and he’s most likely in “that sort of form”.
Remco loves a long ranger as well, for instance, but he’s not doing it week-in-week-out all season long.
Perhaps we are indeed witnessing a genetic miracle, who’s pushing the boundaries of what’s been thought possible; but also, perhaps we aren’t. I’ve been watching for decades and been burnt before. I don’t wanna think these things or be defeatist either but who really knows anymore?
^this^
Its impressive how the Plastic Pog genetic “miracle” has been able to develop over the years. When did we see a tired Pog this year? 🙂
If it goes on much longer people might start to actually miss Valverde..!
At least Valverde didn’t have to pretend he was tired….
‘Cause he never was, just look how fast he went for the line once it was close!
Well I for one miss Valverde now. Pog’s oops-I-have-to-pretend-i’m-tired-antics are getting more and more annoying…
“And… he is absolutely fun, charming, polite, and so badass. Merckx did amazing things, was undeniably doped, faced considerably less competition, and was quite simply just an ass.”
You forgot to add “on TV” since I’m betting you don’t actually know either of these men and perhaps don’t know much about who Merckx faced in his day either. You know, guys like Felice Gimondi for example?
OTOH I have no issues with Pogacar, as on TV he does seem to be a nice fellow, IMHO maybe more like Fausto Coppi than Eddy Merckx?
Yeah, or Roger De Vlaeminck in the Classics, plus the likes of Maertens, Fuentes or Ocaña, recently cited on these pages.
If anything, the champion among the greatest who can be clearly seen as having faced a lesser opposition of sort is Hinault, although he surely confirmed his class in a few titan clashes where he actually had to defeat other very top athletes.
Yet, it’s quite clear that more often than not his rivals were declining stars of the previous generation, well into their 30s; or also cyclists of a someway lesser overall “quality” who were taking advantage of a transition era when cycling talent wasn’t precisely abundant, which can be noticed as they struggled to overcome the mere contenders of the previous generation, now older and athletically declining, and as they generally couldn’t build up a solid palmarés.
Of course, it’s neither Hinault’s “fault”, nor his rivals’, everybody did their best under the conditions of the time, and rightly so. Plus, as I said above, of course Hinault proved his qualities when the bar was raised. Yet, the mere quantity of his victories probably depends much on that general lack of proper rivals.
Gabriele, thanks for writing that – saved me saying it! Anyone who thinks Mreckx “faced considerably less competition” is the ass.
I think it’s a question of trust. Pogi starts his season with 81+ km break alone ahead of a world-class field and ends (?) it with a similar 100+ km break.
Inbetween he wins two GTs and break every imaginable strava with 1-2-3 minutes.
I have no evidence of any kind of cheating and he does smile a lot and play his part, but I’m not going to watch any of his future rides.
The trust is not there. Believe what ever you will and by all means support the guy if you like the one-man show more than the race.
Yeah, Coppi, Binda, Merckx, Hinault etc. just ruined cycling. I guess you boycotted those races too? Maybe mixed martial arts is more your thing? Bicycle polo? Unicycle jousting?
I’m too young to have seen Coppi, Binda, Merckx and Hinault. I started watching pro-cycling in the last year of Indurain’s reign and stopped again after 2-3 years of Armstrong.
When cycling turns into a one-man freak show it gets boring.
Armstrong only ever turned 3 weeks of the year into a one man freak show though.
OK, bye-bye then! Wonder why you started during BigMig’s reign? Dull, dull, dull that guy was.
@Richard S
“Armstrong only ever turned 3 weeks of the year into a one man freak show though.”
Exactly. Pog is doing it for 7 months.
@Anonymous
“Wonder why you started during BigMig’s reign?”
I wasn’t into cycling before I started riding myself. In the last year of Migs reign.
But agree. Just as immensely boring as Pog
Last year he was exhausted at the Tour and Worlds. This year he adds the Giro to his program, which by all historical precedents tires someone out, and he fresh as a daisy from April through September. Would have won the Vuelta too without his team’s potential mutiny. And then gives us the BS cheeks puffing near the end of Worlds, like he just remembered to act tired. I just don’t see how a new training program does away with needing rest or getting tired.
Exactly.
It’s so funny to read that the Giro “by all historical precedents tires someone out” (well, yes, in the sense that racing a bike will tire you out anyway, I guess ^___^) in the same comment section where, on a different subject, it had already been pointed out that it’s not new at all to face the Giro as a “training competition” of sort, to win it all the same, and then come out stronger for the Tour; may I add now… without being prevented, by the way, from racing some good Worlds and/or a more than decent finale of season. And we’re speaking of athletes whose seasons were more heavily loaded in the first half of the year, even.
It’s of course no coincidence that they hired Gianetti this year and suddenly one of the world’s best riders is 10% better. How is this guy even allowed anywhere near professional cycling?
Only, they didn’t hire Gianetti this year, he’s there from the very beginning, better said “before the very beginning”. Actually, he was key to bring the UAE money into what reamained of the Lampre team making of it a “new” one.
“No coincidence” ROTFL
JFC, if you’re gonna smear people at least get your facts right, OK?
Is your day job with the Trump campaign?
Jat an ass!
I don’t think Merckx took anything his rivals didn’t and, even if he did, the available products were only marginally effective compared to the stuff which became ubiquitous from 1990ish on.
Ducky – You can add me to the list of “malcontents”.
Yes, Pogacar is an amazing athlete and by all accounts (except for his prima donna pre-Olympics screaming) a nice guy.
But it does raise some questions on how exactly you can have a season like this. He has been an outstanding rider for several years, but somehow Gianetti just found a way to lift him a few percent more. Yes, for a 21-year old you will see sudden shifts in form and seasonal planning, but Pogacar has somehow added a Giro to his list of tasks, and yet have none of the issues that every other rider – including himself – has in a normal year.
Maybe pure luck and planning. Maybe.
(except for his prima donna pre-Olympics screaming)
Can you point us to a video showing this since you described it as screaming? I READ some things about him being tired and kinda/sorta miffed that his galpal didn’t get selected for Slovenia’s team, but I must have missed what you describe…so…?
I don’t think TP actually “screamed”, but- at least according to Slovenian journalists – his behaviour was not quite as you would expect….
Yep, Gianetti shouldn’t be allowed anywhere near professional cycling. The UCI is a joke.
I guess that Rabobank team doping is too modern to be an issue for you (Niermann to name one who spoke)? Or that you’re fine with Yvan Van Mol? Or Sky / Ineos not having to account for what was proven about their team doctor?
I might agree that the UCI is a joke, or it’s joking, or whatever, and I don’t like Gianetti at all but it sure makes little sense to single out his situation in a sport which shows little sign of going anywhere else… from the rest of big pro sports.
For sure, it’s a poor explication of UAE’s performance, as he was there when the team, especially as a team, was less rampant.
Tadej makes the rest look like club riders. The chasing group could have worked together and brought him back but they couldn’t work together so crumbs were the only option! along with ifs, buts and maybe’s
This is a really good point, the abject refusal to work together to chase, even from far out.
I for one have never understood this. It’s simply idiotic. Sure, get to the finale and it’s everyone for themselves, but sheesh, why throw away your chances because you think you’re outsmarting the other riders (by tagging along) when you’re not? As many comments suggest, it’s easy to race to lose.
For a time Pog had less than 30 seconds. You’d have thought the chase would have been be all hungry hounds. But no, let’s all look at each other!
“This is a really good point, the abject refusal to work together to chase, even from far out.
I for one have never understood this. It’s simply idiotic. ”
Guess you’ve never raced a bike against someone you knew would beat you in a sprint at the end?
On a historic note, lots of discussion of the “triple” (Giro – Tour – WC) but unlike Merckx and Roche, Pogačar also won a monument this year. Somewhat surprisingly, Merckx didn’t win a big classic in 1974, his best result being 2nd at Lombardy. Roche had a 2nd place at Liege in 1887.
Wow, I knew Liege was the oldest classic but I didn’t know it had been going on that long.
D’oh! (Though it did start in 1892!)
Frustrating that the blog system doesn’t have a mechanism to edit comments.
Merckx did have pneumonia in the spring of 1974 so he didn’t flop in the spring.
People do like the comparisons, Pogačar is so far ahead of his peers we reach for comparisons to others from a different era. This morning’s L’Equipe has Merckx in a generous mood saying he things Pogačar is superior to him.
Meaning “if we have a race today, at our respective current real age”, I guess 😛
Ha! I can’t imagine racing-age Merckx acknowledging another rider’s superiority
Totally agree WillC – Merckx acknowledging Pog’s greatness is more telling than anything!
The triple crown thing is so daft.
So many factors make it a useless stat – as in if the year you happen to win both G/TDF is a sprint Worlds then you’re screwed! Or that the Worlds used to come after the TDF so you didn’t have to hold your form an extra few months making it much harder now, or the era of hyper specialisation mean few riders even tried in recent years etc
It’s impressive but kinda meaningless.
Although I’m not gonna lie – seeing if Pog can win TDF in Rainbow Jersey is exciting me!!! Just as meaningless but the list of those who have is truly the best of the best:
Lemond – 89>90
Hinault – 80>81
Merckx – 71>72
Bobet – 54>54
Very few record lists with a hit list like that.
Will we add:
Pogacar – 24>25?
I understand the frustration of some fans. Between Pogacar and Van der Poel any element of surprise, jeopardy, tactical nuance and suspense has been completely removed from major races this year. There have obviously been good riders before, recently even – Boonen, Cancellara, Gilbert, Sagan, briefly Van Avarmaet – but with those you tended to only know they’d won when they had crossed the line, in most cases. And as good and as revered as Sagan was, he tended to not win more than he won. With MvdP and Pogacar the last two hours are often (not necessarily in the case of this world championship) a right off. If Pogacar enters Lombardy next week he will win. MvdP is the same in any cyclocross race and even to an extent Flanders and Roubaix (if Pogacar doesn’t enter!). You can say you are watching greatness, just enjoy it. But just watching someone physically exert themselves alone is not always entertaining.
Anyway, it was a nice course and there were some glimmers of excitement when it looked briefly like Pogacar was wobbling and his gap was coming down. But after 270k if he’s on his knees then everyone else will be too and it would have took a sustained effort to bring him back.
MvdP had a great 2-3 weeks in March-April.
Pog had been riding unbeatable for 7 months now. 7 months including a pro-forma “rest” period, only dictated by internal UAE policies.
Not the same ballgame. Not even the same f… sport.
Legit or not, it is not natural.
Actually, it’s more “natural” (legit or not) then being unbeatable and one or two steps above the rest when you are in top form but then being just mediocre and so far from that peak when you’re racing outside one of those marked objectives (yes, of course you have better or worse form and yes, of course, you can race only to train not caring about the result, I mean competing but just showing a very different level depending on some peaks, which can jump up in some weeks time and the other way around – standard practice for many in the years 2000s and 10s).
By the way, the level of form and the rivals at the Giro, when the man was reportedly having a “training competition” were not comparable to the Tour’s. The Liège or even more so Strade Bianche weren’t as competitive as yesterday, not even by far. MvdP gets 3rd on both courses behind a finisseur move for silver, but this time he had prepared specifically while then he was on the aftermath of the demanding cobble season… at Liège he won a sprint of a 25 men group, not quite selective (45 men came home in LBL within 6 minutes of Pogi, just 20 yesterday).
The result is similar (?) but the performance is different. You might also want to check Lombardia 2021. Being able to race and win even if you are not in top shape is a skill on its own. Not the case of this season, of course, where he was simply the strongest always, which doesn’t mean anyway that his level was always the same, just relative fluctuations which still placed him on the top, quite natural if he’s a generational absolute champion. Of course maybe he isn’t, just a great rider who got an extra kick, as others in previous recent years…
I’m not sure what your point is. That Pog was just “training” as he smashed the Giro?
That’s not my point, that’s the official version. Consistent with what we saw on the road, by the way. And may I add that I’m no surprised at all that a training Pogi smashed Dani Felipe, Granpa Thomas, Lucky Strike O’Connor and Unlucky Strike Tiberi?
Just as Indurain, Fignon, Roche, Hinault etc. could do against more qualified rivals and deeper fields (at different levels and with different training techniques, each in his own historical moment, of course).
MvdP also had a CX season in December/ January….that needs to be prepared for, with specific training, and skills practice.
Indeed, and with that his season looks as what you would expect from a stellar rider in his prime. But it is still a world away from Pog’s season.
De Vlaeminck and Merckx.
“Boonen, Cancellara”
I think this is what many fans want, at least in the Classics. When those two lined up in the spring, you knew one of them was likely going to win, and you knew it was going to be a good fight. There was a brief flicker of hope that MvdP/WvA would be the same sort of rivalry, but between bad luck and the emergence of Pogacar, it just hasn’t materialized.
Ah memory… those are the final results, either Boonen or Cancellara winning, but just check back race by race how many times an über-clash actually materialised, or: one of the two wasn’t there, or wasn’t in form, or a gregario won due to a Mexican standoff behind, or a fuga bidone got it, as it’s easier when the favourites are too superior (if the rest of teams and DSs do their homework).
The main difference is that they had several great rivals, too, which often kept alive a high-level competition… although they generally ended up losing to one of those two! Yet, with the P-sens Pedersen and Philipsen already raising their game, plus (perhaps, with optimism) the likes of Küng, Ganna, Madouas and some new face, cobbles are still promising. This year was unluckily dull but the 20s have been great great years for now on the pavé, much better than the previous “transition” ones (which offered some excellent races all the same).
“He was even grimacing at one point, a rare, even a novel sight.“
I thought that it was a missed opportunity to not ask him about it in the winner‘s interview. Genuinely interested whether and if so how much he was suffering or being at the brink of bonking.
“He got a roadside tip to sit up and await his leader.“
From the team at the feed station, a soigneur on the road or how did this work?
Ah, the man on the moto with time gaps told Tratnik according to an interview of him in Slovenian according to a comment on r/peloton 🙂
He commented that during the penultimate lap and the first half of the last one he felt he hadn’t much energy to push on, then he started to feel better again on the last plateau when less than 20 km were left.
Not uncommon for him, just remember Le Lioran. Had the rest raced better, this was a race which Pogi could as well lose as that day to Vingo, especially as in this case there aren’t further “stages” you must save yourself for.
However, the course was a bit too hard for MvdP, chapeau to him for his result, asking him a daring strategy on an unfavourable terrain would be a stretch too much. He could make it à la Kopecky but he’d have had to find a top athlete with kamikaze self-sacrificing attitude as Lotte found in Vollering. Say Remco pulling on and on no matter who was on his wheel instead of stopping and yelling.
Remco was clearly on a modest day (compared to his top) from a physical POV, which could also be foreseen, but unlike Pogi in past years he really really struggles to get the most from his qualities when he isn’t at his very best. Nerves catch up with him and undo his options.
All in all, a compelling race, as inrng explained above, and as anybody could see unless blinded by fandom or hostility. Not something more subtle to appreciate as Strade Bianche or Roubaix, just a very good race, and better enjoyed as it was provided, surprisingly so to say, with a decent tv production after some very disappointing results in other races of the week.
Suffice it to say that Remco and Mathieu actually thought after Pogi attacked that the race was then theirs to lose, and thought so until the last 30 minutes or so. Racing accordingly, they actually lose it…
Well, I certainly thought it was an exciting race: could somebody really attack from the bunch of favourites with 100k to go and hang on, even though the advantage was never more than a minute? And the battle for second and third was also very good to watch: any one of that bunch would have deserved a medal, with O’Connor probably as the least likely of all of them.
(Thankfully few of those tedious ‘X rode really fast therefore he must be doping’ comments so far.)
Re: “X rode really fast etc.”, well, among other things they didn’t ride really fast, as it’s obvious given the race it became (or it was turned into by Pogi).
Different course, more laps, more altitude gain… whatever, but not only the U23 rode way way faster (+1,5 km/h ! – and it was still 174 km and 5 laps vs. 7, not a stroll around the parking lot), not just that, even the juniores also had a significantly higher average than the pros (+0,7 km/h) with heavy rain and a long solo move, too… those guys are 17-18 yo. In Glasgow, same relative distances, MJ 41, MU 41.3, ME 44.3…
This says a huuuuuge lot about the chasing group self-destructing in more than one way rather than Pogi being supernatural (yes, he was simply… supreme). This wasn’t won mainly on the physical level.
all this ‘he’s unbeatable’ chat… I think a fit and non-crashed Vingegaard might have something to say about that in any GT they ride together
He’s very much a stage racer for now, perhaps similar to Froome in this sense who won many a stage race but not a single one day race; although Vingegaard has the 1.1 Drôme Classic. We’ll see if Vingegaard does want to go after the Ardennes or Lombardia but his problem is precisely Pogačar who is often more explosive on shorter climbs.
JV will not beat Pog in the future if the current Pog-magic holds. Despite the crash, JV’s wattage in the Tour was his best ever, and given that Pog seem to be able to run an entire season now without any downs, and to beat any stava-record on demand, I would be surprised to see Pog lose.
Agree with all points.
The problem is that Vingegaard will need to be at his very top, and at the same time Pogacar will have to have the 1-2 offdays a normal rider, including Pogacar himself before this year, will have in a Grand Tour.
But so far Pogacar has been racing since early March without a single day in the ropes. And going into 2025, its difficult to see this happening to an extent that will permit Vingegaard (or Remco) to find an opening.
Le Lioran? He was pushed quite much on the ropes.
I guess you should define offdays. Vingegaard had very light “offdays” in 2022 or 2023 TDFs, comparable to Le Lioran, even if Pogacar made the most (which still was too little) out of those.
Hope so, his training staff are nay-sayers for now. Pretattica probably. He sure has to raise his bar or find a new Roglic plus a Van Aert of old. However, Le Lioran was a masterpiece with much to teach for the rest of competitors…
(Although followed by PDB when Visma made the same incredible mistake as Remco and Mathieu yesterday – a mistake which I actually *approve*, in the TDF context, not in yesterday’s – that is, thinking they have Pogačar in the bag.
It’s quite shocking that while the general public think they see clearly Pogi having no competition at all, at the same time rivals believe he will just implode. It’s like the rest of teams are racing too much and too long as if he’s beatable without trying much different or special – Jumbo Visma TDF 2022 the most notable exception – only to then completely surrender and just fight for placements once the guy starts to take off).
I don’t think Pog’s rivals believe he will “just implode”. JV stated – quite accurately – early in the Tour that Pog-24 looked very different from the Pog-22 and Pog-23 that had 1-2 bad days in the Tour.
Remco said in essence the same thing after his (Remco’s) win on stage 7. Pog-24 is not going to implode this year.
That’s what they publicly said about this Worlds, actually.
And, take it as hearsay, some of the numerous athletes still in the group at the moment of the attack have reported they heard part of the Remco-MvdP conversation just after that along the lines of “where the #### does he think is he going”, “he’s attacking because he’s afraid”, “he just threw the rainbow jersey away, it’s among us now” etc.
😉
Plus, have at look at what Visma declared to the press during last TDF after Le Lioran: “now with the longer climbs it’s advantage Vingegaard”, “our moment is about to come” etc.
In all fairness the Team thinking is, and should always be, that any competitor can be beaten. So I tend to listen more to the riders than the DS and other staff…
People overlook that elite level sport is a freakshow filter, you don’t get to be near the top if you are close to normal. You ever have some mental health issue that drives you relentlessly or are a physiological outlier, some of the greatest combine a bit of both. Which gives us many column inches on people who had the ability but lacked the aptitude. For me he has a couple more years of good will left which is plently of time for new challengers to come on the scene. Pro cycling is much more open than many other sports (Madrid – champions league, formula one – most eras) and has much more to enjoy than the results page. If you’re interest is in seeing two closely matched pros pushing each other then the contest for 10th – 3rd is normally much tighter. I enjoy the spectacal of what an elite athlete can push themselves too, for me the limit is normally one giant effort and could barely scrape the surface of the depths they are willing to dig in to
The difference is that cycling has a 7-8-9 month season and that even the best (most freakish) top riders have days or weeks where their form is below par. This is the way the body works – especially in a sport as demanding as cycling at this level. Plastic Pog for some reason didn’t show anything like this in 2024.
Frankly, being beaten by Narváez doesn’t look being on par with avg. 2024 Pogi. Generally speaking, he didn’t look as brilliant as his top moments we’d later see during the first week of the Giro, not even on Oropa or Prati di Tivo. Same for the Tour. Just read again the newspaper and specialised comments before PDB. OTOH his main time loss at the 2022 TDF happened clearly on a *good form* day. Racing isn’t only about form.
And, to be more specific, winning a one-day race, and even more specific, yesterday’s Worlds is as much about how you race as it’s about your “form”.
The 3rd week of the 2024 TDF was much more related to pure fitness.
Going paranoid about Sunday’s race just means you’ll go paranoid about whichever great sporting show.
“Generally speaking, during the first week of the Giro, even on Oropa or Prati di Tivo, he didn’t look as brilliant as his top moments we’d later see “.
Better written.
Not sure if the “paranoid” was directed at me, but yes I do wonder why and how it is possible for a single rider to do what Pog did.
The best way to isolate your rivals is to isolate yourself. Would van Aert have fully sacrificed himself to shut it down? This isn’t team cycling so probably not.
In the pre-race interview (at least with VRT / Sporza) Pog was asked how he thought the race would go, and he smiled and said it would be very controlled, until the final 100 km, and then chaotic.
So, whatever he says now about it being a stupid move and unplanned, pre-race he *absolutely did* have the 100 km to-go mark down as the start of the racing proper.
Far from me to determine how anyone should feel about sports, but it truly amazes me the amount of people that dismiss the last year of racing. I mean I’ve been reading this since Strade but every week I keep being sort of surprised. Some people seem to think that having such an extraordinary rider will bring the downfall of cycling. To me the excessive cynicism and nihilism from fans is much more dangerous to the survival of the sport than a superstar rider. If anything superstar riders will always lead the way to the whole peloton raising their level making for better racing over the years. I don’t know how to say this without sounding paternalizing, but in a way I find it sad that some people fail to find excitement in such a breathtaking generation of cyclists. I don’t lose sleep over this of course, but really, I wonder how overstimulated, overentertained, we must’ve been over the years to now get to a point where we dismiss these groundbreaking athletes with a shrug.
As for the race… most has been said. I’m not the biggest Ben O’Connor fan, far from it, but this year I have to hand it to him, the guy has better results than he should, and I mean this as a fantastic compliment. It’s already hard to meet expectations at world tour high octane level, but to surpass them so much… chapeau. Also, the race is what it is, not what could have been, but can’t help but wonder what would’ve happened if WvA was there to shut down “stupid moves”.
Strawman. Nobody (I think?) claims that TP will bring down cycling. Cycling survived Merckx, Indurain, Armstrong, Froome.. and will survive TP.
The question is rather if such a dominating performance helps cycling and – by pro cyclings nature – if it is legit.
I will give TP the benefit of doubt, but I’m not watching his races, for the same reason i don’t watch Formula 1 racing.
Boredom.
If it’s just boredom, the 2024 TDF provided more excitement than the 2016, 2017 and 2019 TDF together… even if it had its boring stages, of course.
The 2024 Giro was entertaining only here and then, but, man, after Giro 2022 and 2023 it was pure gold (worse than any recent TDF anyway).
And we had just come from the 2023 Vuelta horror!
Although I understand one can find 2024 Strade Bianche or Liège (… or Roubaix FWIW) not much entertaining, even if I don’t agree of course, well, putting into the same category this Worlds simply means failing to grasp the race content itself. Even funnier that it happens under a post when the difference between the two categories has been explained in detail.
Will agree somewhat. The 2016-17 tours were just as horrible as the 2024. Giro 2022-23-24? Waste of time.
If you are not into a single rider dominating, then the good GT’s have been few.
This years Vuelta – even speakning as one who doesn’t really like Roglic – was a breath of fresh air compared.
Giro 2024 was hugely better, less so just with hindsight. There were several good stages, at least, and some proper athletical show, albeit sparsely so.
But, yes, I liked most this Vuelta, and really all the ones Roglič won, even if I’m not the top fan, either (neither I really dislike him as harshly as others apparently do).
In the 20s the Giro has entered a poor dynamic, albeit with exceptions, while the Vuelta has grown into a more mature race as it left behind its more extreme route choices and picked instead some of the new, more interesting trends.
And it’s easy to dismiss recent TDFs as “one rider dominating”, but they weren’t like that at all for the most part of the three weeks, barring 2021 (which I didn’t love, preferred the Giro that year). 2022-2023-2024 were all good TDFs, 2022 being even *great*, even if one rider ended up showing himself as the clear dominator.
Yes, 2023 felt like a bad year for GTs, terrible Giro, half of a good Tour, a farce at the Vuelta, and 2022 “only” offered a top Tour and a fine but lacking Vuelta. But this season was generally better, as had been 2021. During the 10s the Giro nearly always offered a good to brutal level of show, but the Tour was so often very poor, while the Vuelta alternated great editions with terrible ones. Can’t say if all in all it was better or worse, probably better for the passionate fans, worse for the sport as a global system working on generalist public too.
I firmly believe that now the race in need to be rescued for the sake of cycling as a whole is the Giro, but it’s a subject for another debate…
Interesting points, gabriele. Shows that there are so many different ways to look at a race.
I’m completely in with the TDF 2016 2017 being sooo boring, but the 2019 was IMHO one of the best ones I’ve seen. Bernal only really surged in the last stages, and even after Valloire he was only 5 seconds ahead of Geraint T. Compared with that 2024 was like watching paint dry. By far the most boring Tour since 2017.
And I certainly found SB and Roubaix boring, but Liége somehow had a much more interesting and dynamic feel.
I also found the 2023 Vuelta interesting. The inner-Visma complex, and the team orders to let Kuss win where Vingegaard was obviously the strongest by far, while all other faded away.
This years worlds were “ok”, but certainly not up to 2023.
Ops, just a slip of the keyboard, 2019 above was meant to be 2018 ^___^
2019 was good even if it suffered from some serious blows when the best Pinot ever seen there was forced out by muscular issues and then the course was brutally cut for the decisive stages. Plus, I never believed Alaph would take it which meant I wasn’t so excited by the first part, which was entertaining all the same.
2018 was really terrible, the competition had self-destroyed itself beforehand at the Giro or was destroyed… by roadside spectators during the TDF itself. No relevant action barring that last attack by Rogla.
The tension between attacks and defence we had at the strade bianche TDF stage, the fight to Valloire, Le Lioran or Pla d’Adet were far better than what was seen in all 2019. Even PDB was a nail-biter as everybody, starting with Visma, thought Pogi cpuld be cracked for good. Plus, the last week was interesting in terms of podium fight.
Re: the rest, to me Roglič was obviously the strongest at 2023 Vuelta, which actually brings us back to your first point on different POVs 😉
Last year’s Worlds were excellent and probably better than 2024, but we’re speaking of “very top” quality. 2024 (ME) was even better than 2022 which was also good, as 2021. Nice streak, considering that 2020 and 2019 weren’t bad, either. 2018 and 2017 probably the last ones a bit boring till the very finale.
@gabriele
Ah, make much more sense. Never saw the 2018, as we had our 3rd kid and had to paint the house. But I understand I didn’t miss much. And I even like Geraint. 🙂 Having watched all other TDFs since 2011, this is the only one missing. And only two times – 2017 and 2024 – i’ve stopped following while it was running. I still wonder what a Pinot at his best – and a Pinot win – would have done.
But curious about Roglic in vuelta 23. I never really saw a Roglic that could have beaten Vingegaard. But I may have missed a stage or two…
Don’t watch those races, that’s perfectly fine and understandable.
But don’t pass time discussing them with tacit, implicit claims of moral superiority. It’s laughable.
Filipe – valid points, but given the history of pro-cycling its difficult *not* to be a cynic. And it is increasingly difficult *not* to question the performances of a guy who seemingly can run a 7-month season beating every conceivable Strava record, smashing two GTs and in both ends of the season beat world-class fields with insane 80-100 km breaks.
No, I have no evidence against Pog, but tell me it is not the *slightest* suspicious?
MMO I understand. I won’t vouch for anyone. Not for Poga, not for Remco, Ving or MvdP. Not for any sport either. I won’t vouch for Djokovic or Alcaraz, Messi or Ronaldo. I won’t do it for Phelps or Bolt. I absolutely would not be surprised if at some point some evidence surfaces that says they are/were on some sort of illegal performance enhancing substances. But it’s exactly like that. IF… EVIDENCE. Until then I make a good effort to muster what innocence I have left and try to enjoy sports.
The insistence on “Strava records” ROTFL makes for one of the funniest lines à la Cyclingnews forum I’ve ever read here 😀
And given that we are collectively in “conspiranoia mode ON”, since different commenters have referred to this “Strava records” peculiar farce (Vergallito having been a specialist at taking away strava records from high-level pros ah ah ah ah), I wonder if they’re reading elsewhere the same chatter from the same sources, or if it’s just the same IP address on different nicks…
Puzzled by the Strava-stuff myself, especially given than many of these seem to be created out of thin air… 😉
That said TP’s wattage and his record-breaking ascends do seem spurious…
Little remarked but an outstanding ride from Oscar Onley which might have had an even better result with a little more restraint and less aggression.
No doubt about it the most incredible win at the worlds ever. To take the race by the scruff of the neck 100k out and win, topped off by +50k solo. No surprise he wilted slightly but responded and won well in the end. As Quinn Simmons said if you didnt think this was possible have you not been watching all season – level of dominace in GTs is unparalleled 6 stages and overall twice. (Name riders who did that once!) Add in the level of the GT performances, with some of greatest climbing efforts ever (See lantern rouge site), biggest winning margin in Liege in almost 40years, 80k solo attack in a 215k race to win by 2min 44sec. 4 stages and all jerseys in Catalunya. Based on the facts above the greatest cyclist EVER ! Now whether you believe in him or not is another matter. I dont trust the governance system enough to trust the athlete.
Unprecedented… Check the last rainbow won by AVV.
Oh, women field isn’t deep enough… maybe men isn’t as much anymore.
Check current number of junior cyclists on general population through several leading countries, or total number of junior federated cyclists overall, and look at trends.
Errata corrige, obviously first rainbow not last. Impressive deep field by the way, great top 30 at least.
I’m really not a Pog fan (which, to be fair, has more to do with him riding for a state-owned petrodollar team than Pog himself), but he clearly wanted this race more than anyone else. Slovenia was better tactically, and when Pog moved, the Netherlands and Belgium didn’t react. So, maybe this could have played out differently, or maybe Pogacar would have won regardless. The fact is, he took a huge risk and it paid off.
What riders do you like? Ones that ride for petrochemical firms, war-mongering nations, gambling interests, energy drinks, dope for your hair, mining interests, banks?
Reminds me kind-of the old tobacco days when motor racing was a (relatively) cheap way for cancer-stick purveyors to promote their wares. They didn’t give-a-hoot about the sport.
Is pro cycling become the same with all the sportwashing going on these days?
Agree with everything – none of the team ownership/sponsor stuff inspires any confidence.
My main issue with Pog is the presence and role of Mauro Gianetti in the team. I trust him as much as I trust the nice Nigerians sending emails with business proposals on a daily basis
“My main issue with Pog is the presence and role of Mauro Gianetti in the team.”
IMHO that guy should be banned like BigTex, but you’re OK with what went on with SKYNEOS, Vino running Astana and whatever’s left of the Rabobank regime at Visma?
Pogacar has made cycling boring. He simply rides like a man among boys.
I used to be wary of UAE’s sportswashing scheme and Gianettis past with PED’s.
But I rest my suspicions, and believe Pogacar is simply a genetic freak with some kind of defect in his tolerance to lactic acid or the like.
I look forward to when he is past 30, when cycling might get interesting again.
Being a “lactic acid genetic freak” would explain the ability to ride out extreme stages. Not to do it over 7 months.
Mayby, maybe not. If it affects Pog’s ability to recover (not only to accelerate) then it will have an impact, also potentially over a long season. However this is also one of the areas where science is moving fast…
I had to think about that, but I don’t agree. There are so many other things that need to be factored in – restituation is more than handling lactid acids etc. It may help for shorter periods (< 1-2 weeks), but over a 7 month time span other things kick in.
Probably the only one with the keys is Gianetti….
Three thoughts of mine regarding this amazing race:
For the first time, I watched much of the WE, MU24, and MJr races (all of which were great races). Knowing the course (which was easy because of the repetitive nature of the many climbs in the bulk of the race) really added to my enjoyment of seeing how the elite men handled the race. All of these races were far, far from boring from my comfy chair.
Toms Skujiņš was the second most impressive rider of the day for me. I really wanted to see him make the podium, and I thought of all the riders who didn’t win he was most deserving of a spot on one of the steps.
Pogačar is 26 years old. In the most recent cycling era, this has been the age when the most riders hit their peak, especially those who start winning at what has been traditionally an early age. This is not to say that from here on it’ll be downhill for him, but instead to emphasize that he has shown himself to be a generational talent since age 20, and it shouldn’t be a surprise that now, at this moment, he’s stepped up his game another notch.
Bonus thought – thanks again, Inring, for a wonderful year of insights and writeups. Long my you continue.
Good points. I also could watch ME and WE ITTs which were extremely good, too.
Agreed heartily re:Toms, too.
I think (random opinion alert) that Pogačar’s decline, barring the normal ups and downs due to contingent circumstances of any kind (politics or police included), might come if he can’t manage the necessary transition from his current mental fuel, which looks like to be a constant push towards further and more complicated tasks, to the “simple” consolidation of his status.
For now, he’s still got some boxes to tick, yet…
I’m not 100% sure I understand exactly what you’re trying to say in your last paragraph, but I think I agree that at this point Pogačar can be a little more selective in his goals. His legacy will be most remembered for TdF wins, monuments, and WCs above all else.
He can likely notch a couple of Vueltas and additional Giros when he’s slightly past his prime, but during the next couple of years his focus should probably be on getting a couple more Tours, first and foremost, and a few more monuments/WCs secondarily, and everything else behind that. If he ages as expected his next two seasons should see his capabilities largely undiminished, and now is the time to take more of those most difficult prizes. He’s very unlikely to put of the numbers that Merckx did (specifically the GT and monument/WC win totals), but he might get closer than anyone else has.
I think he should go for Roubaix (and Sanremo) rather than 5 TDFs. Not necessarily right now. But I’d bet his next step will be try and go for the TDF-Vuelta double, which paradoxically might be so hard next year as he’s got a promising Worlds course, too. I don’t think the guy follows the perspective you line out above, which of course (as I try to hint at above) is going to be enough of an issue to manage. To start with, because he simply won’t be as motivated…
Yeah, I see what you’re saying, but I think he could stand to gain a few pounds for PR, which would be fine when he’s not making the TdF his number one priority, and I think he’ll maintain his power for one-day races longer than he’ll maintain his ability to do three continuous weeks of amazing riding. Hence, focus on TdF for another two years, nab more monuments (aside from PR) and another WC where he can, and take a clue from Roglic on what ages are suitable for winning the Vuelta compared to the Tour. If he stays remotely motivated he can win the Vuelta five years from now, barring serious injury (though I don’t think he should wait that long). MSR is also a great proximate goal.
30+ comments from just one commenter. Maybe our host could offer an ignore button?
Entries for the jape of the year contest will be accepted until 5 December. You have ample time to come up with a better effort.
^^
Or you could learn to skip comments that bothers you.
I cannot believe the amount of insinuation written here. You will understand I am someone who supposes cycling to be a sport of heroes and magnificence. Obviously I am wrong. Nothing within cycling can be heroic without the spector of a machine, something illegal or something else that we have no idea or actual information of what substance or activity it might be.
Why all the speculation?
Is everyone just jealous of Pogačar? Why does everyone want to denegrate a great victory by Tadej Pogačar? Is it because you are all in denial, as is the increasingly bored and miserable Mr. Armstrong over there in Aspen?
Why is no one talking of the tragic death of an 18 year old? Nothing is said when junior pro-cycling needs slowing down.
Sometimes we just have to understand that someone is better than all the others. From their interviews, both Remco and MVdP seem to think Pogačar deserved his victory.
I side with Remco and MVdP. As a change the note, there is a great comment about Pogačar in the comments of a Chris Horner video,
“Attack 100km from the finish was a move that made great Mark Soler all teary with pride. He was like: ‘That’s my boy right there!'”
Congradulations to Pogačar. Well done!
As a small request, I’d prefer people remember Muriel Furrer rather than get into a debate, however well-meaning, about the nature of her death in the comments section of a blog, especially before any investigation is complete.
Well, you can either believe that the pro peloton, which has NEVER been clean (no one denies that any previous era of the peloton was largely clean, whether it was amphetamines, epo, blood bags, painkillers, etc), employs doctors, coaches, and managers who are convicted dopers or closely associated with convicted dopers, is a BUSINESS with huge incentives to win at all costs, and goes faster than ever is still dirty, or you can believe that it’s all down to…. ummm…. nutrition…. and faster tires.
I can get this point, only it’s clearly enough not about one team only… If forced to wild guess, I’d say they’re taking some turns to share the cake. Of course, doping will shift just a bit the general relative proportions in performances… i.e., not everybody will become Pogačar.
And, even more important, it makes very little sense to focus on this point after a race which wasn’t won out of sheer physical power, not even mainly so. As I already said, check those avgs.
gabriele,
What is the ‘cake’ that you mention?
Again lots of insuniation. No facts.
All teams in all sports work within a set of rules. If they do so they are legal, if the sportsperson follows those rules they are also within the rules. If they are found out hell for them!
And so, tell us all why those ‘avgs’ ( i assume you mean averages) need checking?
And where are those averages to be found, or are you just writing BS?
What I saw was Pogačar riding his tempo, while everyone else found themselves excellerating to attack, excellerating to follow a wheel, or thinking of how to conserve energy and so on…
As such, Remco and MVdP were never able to find a constant tempo, rhythm or cadence.
It was then Ben O’Conner found his moment or as you suggest ‘cake’.
You mixed up two “opposite” points. The first re: cycling in general being “clean” or not, but the 2nd was about Pogi winning the World which did *not* happen out of a display of pure strength as the *low* avg. speed compared to MJ & MU show… precisely for the reasons you explain so well and I agree with of course.
If it’s still dirty… why bother commenting bellow the line? What’s the point of it? (Actualy, I don’t mean it just as a rhetorical question.)
Andrew, your points are valid but step back for a second.
Last year there was quite some questions – even here, and even from mr @Inrng himself – about Jonas Vingegaard’s Domancy TT, and the fact that he roundly trashed Pog. Despite Pog being clearly not his best and that JV had prepared for this specific stage for some 6 months.
Now Pog – who has been the best rider in the world for some years now – find another level, rides for 7 months straight with close to zero signs of exhaustion. And those non-zero signs will then include being beaten with fractions of a second by JV in a single Tour stage and some for-tv-grimacing on a winning 100+ km break at the worlds. And yet quite a few of those who started to insinuate about JV and other riders, seem to be completely unable question anything about the golden boy from Slovenia.
No, I’m not saying that he is a cheat, but I do think that it is legit to ask questions.
For me, the necessary premise is that (barring perhaps single-event überperforming with little continuity) relevant doping which shifts – a bit – results for a season or more is normally *not* about independent decisions and actions of a given athlete, it’s rather a team context, even when, in some cases, the material practices are outsourced to external pharmamedical criminal structures.
So if we want to try and approximately infer or conjecture how much pharmamedical technology is factoring in, you need a broader look on the team.
Surely there’s more than that in a collective positive performance: good management, safe environment, valid prep, technical staff, the bikes… Pharma support is just “a part of that”.
I need to point out the above because in this specific post you focus on the athletes, and *not* in order to say that you don’t have anything of that kind going on at UAE this year
What’s sure, yet, is that Pogačar was throwing in great or even astonishing performances also when his team didn’t look at all to be punching above its weight. Sometimes it was quite the other way around. I could highlight some further differences between the actual profile of UAE 2024 and, say, Jumbo 2022, but no need to get that subtle, as my point surely isn’t at all that UAE as a team is “underperforming” in 2024 ^___^
Besides, his growth was steady and constant but rarely abrupt and starting from an impressive base level from his very first years. At 20 yo he grabbed his first GT podium with a 75′ solo attack on the last mountain stage of the Vuelta. So you can kind of expect that he may build a further growth on that (and way more examples, just one dor brevity), which he actually did.
Not every baby genius has a linear growth, but getting athletically and mentally better between 20 and 26 is what you can expect in a pro cyclist, especially if it clearly comes step by step (some of those steps were surely bigger than others).
Finally, most of Pogi’s überperformaces (not all of them) were such but still in a “reasonable” context. PDB both victory and record were served on a silver plate by Visma and Vingo’s tactics (which can be hugely appreciated as good risk-taking, but when you take risks, it also leverages greatly your rivals’ options). Yesterday wasn’t the sort of race decided by any physical arm wrestling of sort. Ronde was shocking but you just never win Ronde on brute force alone if you lack the necessary huge technical qualities. Etc.
The suspects on Vingo (whose qualities, by the way, were greatly endorsed by 2024 TDF much more than what 2022 or 2023 did for him) can be understood comparatively by checking him on the above. That ITT, specifically, was probably the most selective performance in the whole ITT history in cycling, or among the top 3. It was not about how a single rival (Pogi) performed. And the athlete, though good in the exercise, never showed many other signs of belonging to the all-time absolute elite of ITT cyclists.
All the above is not intended to convince you of anything, of course, just to explain what’s behind the different attitudes you can observe even among “fans of cycling” not simply “fans of Pogi”.
Appreciate the comments, and will agree with most but:
JV may not be the typical TT’er, but his performances on the flat Tour TTs (including two #3 in his first tour in 21), should certainly indicate he is a top-performer also here. And on – arguably – the single TT in his whole Tour-life that suited him best by far, how should it be a surprise that he nailed that? I really don’t get it.
Now this is not intended as a JV-vs-TP thread and I have no intention to go into a “he is certainly cheating and he is certainly not” – mode. I have no way of knowing for sure. But for Pog’s “uberperformances”, yes you can rationalise some (most) of them but my main point is still, how do you get to do this over an *entire* season? Every single “freak”, if defined as being a top-20 or top-30 rider, has had ups and downs over the season. Every one.
Except Pog.
The question with Vingegaard is that those excellent ITTs mainly come at the TDF whereas in other races, while being surely good or decent, he’s still behind more normal rider, not the top ones only, and even on suiting courses, too. It’s like PDB had suddenly been done by, say, G. Thomas, i.e., a frankly good climber with some excellent single performance but not a man with a record of getting the most from climbing.
As for the ups and downs, partly it’s about the “new” (approach) of using less and less prep races to tune form, and partly it’s due to the downs being still good enough to crack a modest field. I’ve highlighted several very evident downs, but if you mean “totally cracking”, then Pogi isn’t surely the only rider in the category, because Vingo also rarely if ever cracks badly. MvdP this year was never out of the top 30 of any race barring two stage races, including the TDF, he entered explicitly as a prep. 30 and 22 were his worst result apart from that, and the whole rest were all top 12 or better.
Plus, as I said elsewhere, I found more suspicious those athletes who had huge ups and downs… only they didn’t really crack in the race they marked. It was just “volatile watts”, an otherwise mediocre athlete could become a rocket in the right races. But this are shades of gray, really. Nothing really relevant, the key factors are other.
PS I suppose that according to these criteria of you Pog pre-2024 was a clean athlete of sort, as he had several bad days in every single season, he just “joined the club” this year, or what? The bad days of WVA in 2022 or 2023? Gran Piemonte? ROTFL.
Given that Pogi seem to be the only rider to avoid the “ups-and-downs”, whereas every else in top-30-40-50 seems to have them, can we then conclude that you think Pogi is the only clean guy?
..and BTW. If we are talking teams here, at least on other UAE-rider had a really “miraculous” couple of months. I think Hirschi’s summer is remarkable..
Ryan,
Hirschi’s 4 weeks in August/September were indeed impressive, but outside that it was a more classic Hirschi. Maybe the UAE special sauce or tires were in limited supply…;)
Sure, I think UAE this season is relatively “on the up” compared with previous years.
That said… seriously? Hirschi? He’s not that bad a rider, I’m not shocked by him winning a series of races in a row if they’re mostly .1 or .Pro, sometimes even not worthy of the cat as the Czech Tour…
San Sebástian was his big show, and not really out of his capabilities, even; but the rest? Even Plouay was so modest this year.
Frankly, I expected much more from him on so many occasions, this year, both after that winning streak (home Worlds but also in Luxembourg) *and* before the winning weeks, at TDS for instance.
Yeah, yeah I think you guys have lost any sense of proportion. Get back and have a look at old results by Jumbo’s guys, plus the career profile of the latter.
May I insist that this is not, as many seem to think, a black or white binary matter. I just think that the impact of the UAE favourable conditions this year, albeit existing, isn’t a comparable share of what belonging to other teams meant for other athletes in the recent or farther past.
But I believe that currently this works as a wheel of sort, so we’ll soon be able to have a better perspective. As I always said, athlete must be evaluated on the broader perspective of their whole career. The more things go on, the more one can actually say.
gabriele;
You may be able to explain some of Pog’s PDB record with Visma “helping”, but hardly more than minor margins of it. The ascend itself is very much a mano-a-mano effort. That Pog somehow managed to do in a way and in so little time it really defies any logic.
If Vingo’s TT in 23 was suspicious, then Pog’s 24 PDB was 10x that.
Not at all.
Vingegaard and Visma played perfect gregario for a superfast team uphill ITT. I haven’t seen a single moment of real mano-a-mano, i.e., avoiding towing the rival, stopping, attacking, forcing, it was more of a Pantani-Tonkov Montecampione thing. At those speeds, it doesn’t mean mere seconds, if you’ve got time you can even do the maths. Pantani was alone most of the time, Pogi was enjoying a good deal of slipstream for much of the ascent.
However, then you have the question about other athletes beating (by a different margin) that same “record” that day, and in their case the conditions weren’t as favourable as in Pogi’s because, for example, those guys indeed had been on the front a lot of time… ops…
Plus, I analysed back then the history of the “Pantani record” and it’s laughable.
Frankly, your last sentence just mean that you have little idea about the proportions of everything, so why just bother?
To start with, Pog’s performance comes from an athlete who’s got a consistent profile of such performances in different contexts, whereas Vingo has had many ITTs on the level of, say, Hindley. I guess the TDF ambient is so stimulating. But, uff, I’m already bored.
@gabriele
C’mon – the “help” was negligible and Pog was on his own the last 5+ km. And even with hypothetical help to the top, the 3+ minute-better-than-pantani is still not explainable.
But never mind. As the boss states below the discussions are stalled. You think JV’s 23 performance was suspicious and I think TP’s 24 performance even more.
And none of us will change our minds, so let it be.
The difference is that my opinion is based on a series of real factors, yours on “impressions”.
@gabriele
Yes your “real factors” such as trying to explain an insane 3+ minute record with irrelevant and non-existing “help”…. 😀
FFS gabriele…. You spent a string of comments last year trying to hint that Jonas’ Dormancy TT was suspicious, but now Tadaj’s PDB – the worlds most astonishing climb by a rider in pro cycling history – is “explainable”.
You Tadaj fanboys are really something….
I’ve been thinking exactly this
@Ryan – gabriele is a Pog-fan and not a Vingo-fan. This will explain the whole discussion.
Probably best to give the doping inuendo a rest until/if something is proven.
For the keen observers of the sport LA and many of his generation were always suspicious, but time and testing has moved on, and although riders are still caught using illegal substances, they are few and far between.
Give riders credit where it is due. Innocent until proven guilty is always the sound approach.
Time to close the comments as nobody is discussing the race, tactics etc.
Before though one question and grateful for replies: the post uses inserted Getty Images. Can everyone see them ok? Hopefully you all get the photos and not ads as well / instead?
From my laptop running Windows 11 in downtown Vienna, the images look ok. Haven’t checked my iphone…
photos fine on Microsoft Edge
Thanks all. Comments closing now
The objective was getting to an astonishing 200 which will have future “commentators about comment sections” asking legitimate questions about the drugs we’re taking. Target reached, so I’ll leave it here 🙂
Personal opinion, barring some tired late comments of mine, even the doping debate was relatively interesting and educated (not that much better can be done on that subject…).
Images fine on Firefox.
Thanks!
Images fine on chrome/Android
Images fine on Chrome/Macbook Air, with no ads. Cheers!
Very sad to see the recent comments on this excellent blog descending into doping wars when the authors have plenty of options elsewhere to do the same.
The unique nature of this blog is the breadth of related interest that it covers, led by Mr Inrng. Can we get back to that?
Had an issue with Opera however – the rendering was not correct. Not sure if it was my system or your site. Will try to reproduce