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Damiano Caruso on Tadej Pogacar: "We’re racing with a rider who is going close to being one of the greatest talents of all-time"
CyclingSaturday, 18 May 2024 at 10:47
The Giro d'Italia peloton seems to be finally enjoying some more freedom at the start of the second week as Tadej Pogacar's UAE Team Emirates are satisfied with their lead and three stage wins. However, rivals admit that racing in the same peloton as the Slovenian makes it harder for them to aim for results and definitely cuts the amount of opportunities.
“It doesn’t bother me because Pogačar is a talent who has the ability to enjoy himself while he’s racing his bike,” Italian veteran Damiano Caruso said in an interview with Cyclingnews. “And you have to remember that, like in every team, there’s a big staff behind him, and the best way to thank all of them is to win." Hence in the opening week Pogacar won both summit finishes to Oropa and Prati di Tivo, the time-trial, whilst UAE also worked on stage 1 to exhaustion to provide the Slovenian with the opportunity to take the first pink jersey.
It's Pogacar's world and the rest of the Giro peloton is living in it, some could say. “The rest of us just have to watch it, and we don’t need to make a polemic out of it," Caruso argues. But it is not upsetting to the Bahrain - Victorious, who was on the podium in 2021. "We’re racing with a rider who is going close to being one of the greatest talents of all-time."
"We’re in a special historical moment, and we almost have to accept that we’re fortunate to be able to see this athlete in action up close. A lot of people at home would pay just to be close enough to him for a photo. So no, I’m not frustrated, I think what they’re doing is right.”
Compatriot Alessandro De Marchi is a breakaway specialist and is looking to finally add a Giro d'Italia win to his palmarès - after recently winning at the Tour of the Alps. However he admits that Pogacar's presence in the race makes it more difficult for him. “The presence of Pogačar automatically throws the usual strategies out the window, because now you have a maglia rosa who is present in every phase of the race, not only in the mountains."
The 37-year old is a specialist on the hilly days, but nowadays the world's top climbers are also the world's top puncheurs and it makes things difficult for everyone else. “Things have changed with riders like Pogačar, Evenepoel and Van der Poel. This is cycling in 2024.”
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- yeah, that’s a more fair assessment. “reaching mathieu’s level” doesn’t mean you’re planning to replicate his whole career. the former IS doable, potentially. it’s just the latter that likely is not.OCexile25-12-2024
- That’s not entirely true. Every person follows their own development path and peaks differently. Remco and Primoz had hardly started cycling before elite level. Jonas was pretty much under the radzr until he unexpectedly had to take over responsibility at JV. Some guys only get real good in their thirties others have peaked mid-twenties. You can’t tell in advance how and upto what level they will progress, obviously his career might not have MVDPs length but nothing says he could not end up doing a few seasons at his level.Mistermaumau25-12-2024
- well, del grosso is 21 right now. when mathieu was a year younger than that, he was already winning elite level world championships, not U23. i think del grosso will be a very good pro for years, but if he was really going to be the next van der poel someday, he’d already have to be at that level right NOW. van der poel was showing signs of true greatness when he was 15-16. THAT’S what generational talent looks like.OCexile25-12-2024
- Yeah.... gear 😅.mikolajjj24-12-2024
- It shouldn’t be about expectations in the first place should it? Besides, if you look at everyone’s calculations as a whole they don’t add up in the first place. There’ll be 2-3 riders with a 50% chance, a dozen with 10 or 20% and dozens more with a 5% so we’re expecting at least 2 if not 3 winners. Remind me again who won before her? Says it all about using data to decide on participation.Mistermaumau24-12-2024
- Ok, happy I’m not too interested in this team coz’ the account of what happened is really hard to follow.Mistermaumau24-12-2024
- The UCI is worse than USA CyclingVeganpotter24-12-2024
- It's not like they wanted her to not win😅 She had an outstanding Olympics. But there's a reason why she wasn't expected to win the road race and that's ok. Things like this happen and it's great...better than seeing expected winners win.Veganpotter24-12-2024
- Bruyneel ? The man with a lifetime ban from cycling...why do you keep giving him and his doper mate, Armstrong, a platform?DJ24-12-2024
- yeah, agree. on the subject of being a “complete rider,” i do think that’s getting more interesting. mathieu seems to have decided he wants to get much better at climbing the the high mountain passes. he appears to be looking for new challenges, which should be interesting to watch. in most cases you’d dismiss a goal like that at age 30, but it’s mvdp. he’s never going to climb with the real climbers, but if he can improve enough it could open up stage wins when the parcours isnt just purely toothy and punchy.OCexile24-12-2024