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- There’s a premise here that must be challenged - that JV is riding his max on these giro climbs — why ride 7w/kg when 6 is plenty to put time into rivals?
- the naMe changes but the nOnsense remains Unbroken.
- Vingegaard is good, there's no doubt about that. Arguably the third best GC rider today, but no one can convince me that if Seixas was at the Giro, that he would be in the lead in GC over Vingegaard after 16 stages. OK, Pogi is another dimension!
Don't let yourselves be influenced by the media about the best Vingegaard ever. Numbers don't lie. He is currently below his Tour 2025 level and two levels below his 2024 Tour where he was destroyed by Pogacar. If anything unpredictable doesn't happen to Pogi, Vinnie will never win the 2026 Tour. He will even have fight with Seixas for 2nd place.
TDF 2024 - Plateau de Beille - Pogi: W/k-6.88 ... Vinnie: W/k-6.71
TDF 2024 - Isola 2000 - Pogi: W/k-6.78 ... Vinnie: 6.35
TDF 2025 - Hautacam - Pogacar: W/k-6.75 ... Vingegaard: W/k-6.30
TDF 2025 - Peyragudes - Pogacar: W/k-7.35 ... Vingegaard: W/k-7.08
- The GC contest is only one part of the overall race though. I think it's been a great and unpredictable GT in terms of almost everything else. The first couple of days wiped out so many high prospects for stages, points contest, sprints - who knew what was going to happen next. It really threw the cat amongst the pigeons, and now look at the other jersey contests - the "sprint" jersey is a fascinating face-off between the Narvaez and Magnier - then you've got the KOM jersey with Ciccone throwing himself at the impossible task with verve and pluck, and the youth jersey showdown between the slowly-sinking-down-the-board Eulálio and Piganzole who on a blinder, but having to tread a very fine line between being a fantastic last man for Jonas and trying to rip the white jersey away. Sure, the GC winner might be all-but wrapped up, but the battle for 2nd to about 7th is completely open.
- There was never any doubt who would win the Giro this year. The only unknown was who is going to be on the podium on second and third place. Results in cycling these days are so predictable because there is a clear hierarchy between the cyclists. Seldom does anyone beat conventional wisdom. Is it good for cycling? I guess not.
- Exactly. There is Pogi - chief alien
Vingo, MvdP, and now Seixas - lesser aliens
And then a bunch of merely talented human beings on the next tier Remco, WVA, Mads, IdT, etc.
- thats a whatever ok.
- UAE always just reloads with very good riders to put with Pogi. I mean Del Torro could in reality win a GT, he came close last year. And Yates has won 1. By next season we will likely see a few riders leave UAE and others arrive. I saw a rumor 2yrs ago that Bernal would sign with UAE
- The real problem is just how big the gap is between the top riders and the next tier, regardless of race type. Pogi is in his own class, best at both one-day races and GT GC. MVDP is a very close second in one-day races. Maybe you can squint and consider Remco a threat in the one-days, but really he's just chasing these two. Then...there's everyone else, chasing for scraps. Jonas is easily the second best GT GC rider, but he's a tier below Pogi. And the next best GC riders are similarly a tier below Jonas. Seixas is demonstrating that he MAY become something like Pogi, certainly his trajectory is crazy right now. But then after that, both for the classics and GTs, everyone else is just way below these guys.
So I think the only reason the one-days appear more competitive is because Pogi and MVDP race each other in all of the Monuments...but look at who has won pretty much every Monument since 2024, and apart from Jasper in MSR and Wout in PR (both easily the most unpredictable parcours), it's one of those two. Is that actually competitive?
- Campenaerts became a mountain goat in the 2025 tdf
lol
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