"As if Pogacar were riding for Cofidis" - Jonathan Vaughters wants to see huge cycling change to counter Slovenian's dominance
Cycling
Jonathan Vaughters doesn't think seeing an all-conquering Tadej Pogacar is good for the sport of cycling, but thinks he knows exactly what could be done to even the odds for smaller teams. The EF Education-EasyPost team manager has advocated for a salary cap-style financial system to be implemented going forward.
With Pogacar alonside Mathieu Van Der Poel, Remco Evenepoel and Jonas Vingegaard among those dominating grand tours and monument races, Vaughters knows more than many what it's like to be a small fish competing in the big pond.
His vision is to create a salary cap system that will limit the amount cycling teams are allowed to spend on salaries. In practice, he thinks a rider of Pogacar's wage demands would of course still earn that amount, but would mean that the team would not have the resources to add many other high-earning teammates around a star rider - likening it to be like seeing the Slovenian rider with a lower budget team such as Cofidis.
“I don’t know if Pogacar’s dominance is necessarily good for the sport, but it is interesting to see how it might be,” Vaughters said on Team EF Coaching's The Cycling Performance Podcast.
Vaughters advocates for salary cap
He added: “Pogacar can still earn his 10 million euros a year, but the rest of the team will have to make do with the minimum. As if Pogacar were riding for Cofidis .”
However, Vaughters sees the positive effects for fans being increased unpredictability. Meaning teams with the top stars would theoretically have weaker teammates around their stars, making it more difficult for them to control races for them - thus producing more unpredictable and exciting situations.
Vaughters said: “Then we have an interesting race and I become curious again about who wins. Now you have the strongest rider riding for the strongest team. That becomes too predictable. You want a sport that isn't like that, where you don't know who is going to win until the very last moment. That is what the fans want.”
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“In the Strade Bianche, you know every year where Pogacar is going to attack,” Vaughters says. “Now suppose his team can’t control anything and, after his attack, he first has to bring back a breakaway of forty riders; that is when it really gets interesting again.”
Gavin QuinnCycling Journalist
Gavin Quinn is a cycling journalist and ultra-distance cyclist with a BA in Journalism from Dublin City University. Formerly the Press & Communications Officer for Cycling Ireland, Gavin has worked inside the national team at the World Championships and has reported for the Irish Mirror, Mirror UK, and The42.
His expertise is backed by elite-level access, having interviewed stars like Sam Bennett and Ben Healy, as well as immense personal endurance. In 2025, he completed a 12,000km solo cycle from Ireland to Vietnam, following a 4,600km tour across Europe. From the cobbles of Paris-Roubaix to the gradients of the Tourmalet, Gavin’s writing focuses on the "romance and brutality" of the sport. Having visited 50+ countries, he brings a global, cultural perspective to his coverage of the pro peloton for CyclingUpToDate.
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