World Championships 2024 Zürich ***SPOILERS***

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Comments

  • focuszing723
    focuszing723 Posts: 8,151

    I still think the GT triple was his.

    Greatness

  • Dorset_Boy
    Dorset_Boy Posts: 7,574

    Incredible ride again, triple crown in the pocket, but as above, the GT treble could have been his this year.

  • gsk82
    gsk82 Posts: 3,601

    He has said repeatedly he was wrecked after the tour. He should go for all 3 grand tours next year and do the minimum he needs in the first 2.

    "Unfortunately these days a lot of people don’t understand the real quality of a bike" Ernesto Colnago
  • pblakeney
    pblakeney Posts: 27,344
    The above may be fact, or fiction, I may be serious, I may be jesting.
    I am not sure. You have no chance.
    Veronese68 wrote:
    PB is the most sensible person on here.
  • mrb123
    mrb123 Posts: 4,819

    It turned out to be a very human superhuman performance and that made it all the more compelling. The Pog domination has been a bit dull at times this season but glad he hung on today.

  • focuszing723
    focuszing723 Posts: 8,151

    If humanity was faced with the threat of The Pog or The Borg. I jolly well know which intergalactic cybernetic trouble makers I'd be most fearful of.

  • No_Ta_Doctor
    No_Ta_Doctor Posts: 14,656

    Yeah, though to be fair, The Borg are about the only threat likely to attack from further out than Pog


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  • focuszing723
    focuszing723 Posts: 8,151
    edited September 29


    I get your relative point Dr. The Borg though were conceptually born from Björn and I just don't see how they would be more fearful than a cybernetic collective based on The Pog.

    I mean, I admire Björn's racket skills and his ability to cover the court, but you know.

  • andyp
    andyp Posts: 10,553

    Can we please put this ridiculous idea that a rider can win all three GTs in a year to bed, once and for all? The physiological demands are too great, even for someone as talented as Pogacar.

  • pblakeney
    pblakeney Posts: 27,344

    Nope. He finished the Tour with ease, recovery would be straightforward and he would have won the 2024 Vuelta even easier. You will have a point in a normal year but there will never be a better chance than 2024.

    The above may be fact, or fiction, I may be serious, I may be jesting.
    I am not sure. You have no chance.
    Veronese68 wrote:
    PB is the most sensible person on here.
  • andyp
    andyp Posts: 10,553

    Absolute tosh. Did you see Evenepoel's comments post race today? He was amazed that Pogacar could peak in May, July and September. He knows.

  • It's all that Zone 2 he does....

  • pblakeney
    pblakeney Posts: 27,344

    It's only an opinion. I put Pogacar a league above Evenepoel so I'm not surprised that he is surprised.

    We will never know so there is no point in arguing.

    The above may be fact, or fiction, I may be serious, I may be jesting.
    I am not sure. You have no chance.
    Veronese68 wrote:
    PB is the most sensible person on here.
  • No_Ta_Doctor
    No_Ta_Doctor Posts: 14,656

    Well we do know that Pogacar said he was completely destroyed after the Tour, so I guess that's probably worth taking into account.

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  • He definitely could have done it this year. So no.

    Probably won't get a chance again, there'll be stronger challenges in all three.

    I agree with the way he approached the giro making it a big risk for him long term to go for it this year, so right decision even if his replacements in the vuelta were massive flops.

  • mididoctors
    mididoctors Posts: 18,908

    There's been multiple riders who have ridden all 3 and consistently finish in the top 10 in all ... I don't think.its impossible

    "If I was a 38 year old man, I definitely wouldn't be riding a bright yellow bike with Hello Kitty disc wheels, put it that way. What we're witnessing here is the world's most high profile mid-life crisis" Afx237vi Mon Jul 20, 2009 2:43 pm
  • mididoctors
    mididoctors Posts: 18,908
    "If I was a 38 year old man, I definitely wouldn't be riding a bright yellow bike with Hello Kitty disc wheels, put it that way. What we're witnessing here is the world's most high profile mid-life crisis" Afx237vi Mon Jul 20, 2009 2:43 pm
  • m.r.m.
    m.r.m. Posts: 3,475

    He wouldn't have needed to be at 100% for the Vuelta. That is why some of us or going on about it. He may have even won it at 85%.

    Amazing season nonetheless. He wanted the rainbow jersey more than all 3 GT's. I don't agree, because I don't think the opportunity for all 3 will ever come up for him again. I do not believe he is a category above Vingegaard in a 3 week race to be able to do the Giro consistently before the Tour and still beat Vingegaard.

    PTP Champion 2019, 2022 & 2023
  • gsk82
    gsk82 Posts: 3,601

    Is he gonna get his second monument of the season to finish it off?

    "Unfortunately these days a lot of people don’t understand the real quality of a bike" Ernesto Colnago
  • andyp
    andyp Posts: 10,553

    As my ex-boss used to say when people asserted things that he didn't think were true, name three examples.

    Because I don't think you can. In recent times we've had riders like Adam Hansen and Thomas de Gendt who've ridden all three, but they've not come close to finishing in the top ten in any of them. Marino Lejarreta is the often cited example, but he never finished in the top ten in all three in one season.

  • It's open to conjecture because he dodged the Olympics citing fatigue when some cynics thought he did that so he could go on holiday with his spurned Mrs.

    The next 2 WCs are both Pognacious so I doubt the debate is going to get put to bed any time soon. He also has unfinished monumental business at the start of the season and in Spain that I think he'll attend to before going for all 3 GTs.

    ================================
    Cake is just weakness entering the body
  • pblakeney
    pblakeney Posts: 27,344

    I don't think he (or anyone else) will go for 3 GTs. 2024 was a special set of circumstances that are unlikely to be repeated. Those circumstances being one special rider without meaningful competition. As you get older you realise that if you have regrets in life it is the things you didn't do. He may regret not doing the triple but I understand why he didn't.

    The above may be fact, or fiction, I may be serious, I may be jesting.
    I am not sure. You have no chance.
    Veronese68 wrote:
    PB is the most sensible person on here.
  • DeadCalm
    DeadCalm Posts: 4,249

    Sep Kuss last year riding the Giro and Tour hard, as the last man in the mountains for Roglic and Vingegaard respectively and finishing just outside the top 10 in both and then subsequently winning the Vuelta suggests that it's possible. I'm not saying it's likely or that it'll ever be done, but it is possibly just about doable given a perfect set of circumstances. This year was as close to those perfect circumstances we're ever likely to see.

  • Also, the world's are waaaay bigger than the vuelta. Here, he beat everyone.

    Unless anyone thinks he could have won the vuelta and also then done yesterday... he shouldn't regret anything.

  • pinno
    pinno Posts: 52,348

    Ooo the irony: hyperbole Hatch chucking in superlatives at the outcome already decided nearly 100kms out.

    Boring, boring, boring.

    Here's a stat: Pogacar 2024: 56 racing days.

    Merckx one year rode 195 racing days.

    seanoconn - gruagach craic!
  • gsk82
    gsk82 Posts: 3,601
    "Unfortunately these days a lot of people don’t understand the real quality of a bike" Ernesto Colnago
  • carbonclem
    carbonclem Posts: 1,784

    D+ comms went from it being a monumental victory to ‘Pogs gone, he’s dead’ when he lost just a few seconds …. It must be tough to constantly make a story but it was funny to listen to. He wasn’t losing at any point.

    2020/2021/2022 Metric Century Challenge Winner
  • DeVlaeminck
    DeVlaeminck Posts: 9,106


    I'd have had Pog favourite for the Vuelta too. None of us know for sure how he'd have done of course but riders have ridden all 3 and done ok in the third - Sastre is another - it's possible.

    The reason the likes of Merckx never did it was the position of the races in the calendar back then.

    [Castle Donington Ladies FC - going up in '22]