Tadej Pogacar becomes the first rider since Annemiek van Vleuten to win the Tour, Giro, a Monument & Worlds RR in a single season 👏🌈 #Zurich2024
ANALYSIS: Why Tadej Pogacar's 2024 season is the best in cycling history
CyclingMonday, 30 September 2024 at 10:10
What we have just witnessed this Sunday, September 29, 2024, has entered the most memorable pages of cycling history. Tadej Pogacar was proclaimed world champion for the first time in his career after winning the World Championships road race in Zurich with an attack 100 kilometres from the finish line. Yes, you read that right.
The Slovenian is not racing against his rivals, he is racing against history. Every time he gets on his bike, something is going to happen. And in Zurich, what has happened is that the UAE Team Emirates superstar has completed the best season by a cyclist of all time. And he still has Il Lombardia to race.
Why is it the best season ever? With this victory, Pogacar joins a select club of 3 riders (counting him) who have managed to win in the same year, the Giro d'Italia, the Tour de France and the World Championships, along with Eddy Merckx and Stephen Roche. But there is one thing in which Pogacar stands out from the other two. For that, you have to go back a few months, specifically to April 21, 2024.
On that day, Tadej Pogacar won Liège-Bastogne-Liège in a race where the UAE Team Emirates leader won with absurd ease. That day's victory is what differentiates the Slovenian's 2024 from those completed by Mercx and Roche, neither of whom were able to win any monument. In fact, only Annemiek Van Vleuten has matched it in all cycling.
So yes, Tadej Pogacar's 2024 season is the best ever completed by a cyclist in the entire history of this precious sport. What will he do at the Il Lombardia? If he wins that race as well, he would enter a totally different dimension to what he has seen so far. And best of all, it's very possible.
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- Hopefully, the iconic Pogi tuft is still there when he puts on his helmet!Pogboom16-11-2024
- Not really.awp15-11-2024
- He had the VID man. Yes, he was well on his way to winning the Giro.awp15-11-2024
- So he's got an attitude of egocentric proportions, typical Yorkshire guy then...
leedorney15-11-2024 - Might be bit isn't. The reason is actually that no one wants to work for free. But that's my point. Incur the costs for a year, make clear that ads are coming and see if it works. No one else has tried this in cycling.Renz15-11-2024
- Plus MVDP now having basically done 4 seasons in 2 years might warrant a slightly longer rest than usual, although even then his will STILL be shorter than 98% of all other pro cyclists in any field.Mistermaumau15-11-2024
- Yes, I’d say they’ve done their job in CX.Mistermaumau15-11-2024
- C’mon, they need this kind of gooey content in winter to stop readers switching off. Medias sowing seeds to provoke discussion and rumours that lead to a self-defined legitimacy to introduce undesired questions during rider interviews in order to boast delivery of “original” contentMistermaumau15-11-2024
- By definition an analogy is always GERMANE, tganjs for pointing out the obvious and revealing you don’t understand its purpose.Mistermaumau15-11-2024
- The reason you don’t see these type of websites often and certainly not in cycling might be that they die before you find them. But tell us about it when you’re done I’ll visit to check it out.Mistermaumau15-11-2024