"Everyone said it wasn’t possible anymore" - Roche and Merckx joined by Tadej Pogacar in historic cycling feat
Cycling
37 years later, the list of riders achieving the 'Triple Crown' (Giro d'Italia, Tour de France and World Championships in the same season) in the men's field has grown from two to three. Stephen Roche, the last rider to achieve this still in the 1980's, was impressed by Tadej Pogacar's performance in Zurich and the new addition to the very exclusive group of riders to have ridden to such an historic feat.
“It feels like I’m sandwiched between Merckx and Pogacar now, which is not bad. It’s very nice. It also makes it all a bit more human," Roche admitted in the microphone of NOS. "It’s been 37 years since I did it and I was thirteen years after Merckx. Everyone said it wasn’t possible anymore, that this was a different generation, but I believe that records are there to be broken," the Irish rider was sure of. "For me it’s very nice that a third person has achieved the triple. I think it’s very nice that I’m there to give him the keys to the house. And what a ride! You can’t describe his superhuman achievement.”
Pogacar was the main favourite to win in Zurich however few would've expected him to win the way he did; with an attack still with over 100 kilometers of the race remaining. Being so far away, several of his main rivals were not ready to respond, but a tactically smart and endurance-testing ride saw him go all the way to the finish holding off the peloton whilst dropping his escapee companions. His list of wins this season alone puts him among one of the very best riders in the modern history of the sport.
“It took 37 years, but I think that in the meantime other riders were also able to do it. Froome, Thomas, Armstrong… They could all have done it. Only if you win the Giro and Tour, you are often a certain type of rider. And if you then get a flat course at the World Championships, you often have a handicap, because as a Grand Tour winner you are often not a top sprinter."
"But this year was different. You can't have such a course at the World Championships every year, because you favor a certain type of rider. This was Pogacar's year to do it," Roche finished.
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His analysis is spot on except for his list of those who could have done it, forget Thomas, useless without a radio, Armstrong? Only if you think doping didn’t improve his performances, Froome? Ok, maybe. Like he implies, it’s a lot to do with trying it at the right moment and that moment comes around once in a while. Sport is line that, not linear, once in a while you get Bolts and Bubkas but given enough time, you get new ones at the new level. We have Duplantis now, one day we’ll get the next Bolt too, though despite the noise some current Americans make, that will take a while still. Before the problem was we had zero riders standing out enough to beat all the others consistently, now the problem is we have many but they sometimes line up against each other so end up sharing the spoils. It’s becoming a bit like in Tennis when there were Federer, Nadal and Djoke.
Do you seriously think Armstrong is the only doper he mentioned?
I don’t know, Froome is already a dodgy candidate depending on how you define performance enhancing. Did you hear his interview? I ask because there are quotation marks around the text yet 3 dots cannot be part of a quotation, it is either implying something on top of the quote or shortening a longer list but we can’t know more than is written, so again, I don’t know, only analysis I can go on is what is written. Do you know who else he mentioned and if so, can you name them because it would be those others that are actually more interesting to analyse for the question at hand, WHO could have achieved this lately doper or not, Contador, Valverde, Nibali?
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- Nathan is one of the best former pros commenting during races - up there with Sean Kelly and Nico Roche imo - McEwen, Blythe, you can keep themCrashjames10-04-2025
- Impressive and surprising, well done. Go for it more often please.Mistermaumau10-04-2025
- Good choice of profile picture by the way :-)Mistermaumau10-04-2025
- Bolt was an outlier, for some people it can’t exist. Funny thing is 3 generations later, a lot of amateurs reach the level the average pro had. Ok, maybe counting from today it might be 5 or 6 generations because we won’t all have access to the equipment and staff and assistance pros now need to perform.Mistermaumau10-04-2025
- Actually, I’ve not noticed that fans have even noticed results are provisional so as far as the sport itself goes, I wouldn’t worry too much. Obviously some riders will miss out on celebrating but then these days, they’re all paid so well that it’s quite a small price to pay. Andy Schleck certainly didn’t get to party like he was used to when he received Alberto’s trophy and titles, nevertheless, he’s in the books and I’m sure he feels like and gets treated like a tdf winner. CATCHING dopers is good for the sport, though at the moment I’d have no idea who to go looking for.Mistermaumau10-04-2025
- Someone like David Walsh, who was the point person in the Sky Team coverup? When there was money and fame in bringing down Armstrong, he went for that. Then he sold that crusader image to Sky. And then renounced them. The guy has made more money from athletes and doping without ever once competing himself, having to take drugs, or even stand for a single principle. He is no different than Novitzsky, who was pivotal in the Armstrong investigations, and helped put Marion Jones in jail. Now he is full-time in the coverup business for the UFC.
Barney10-04-2025 - Do you think that making results provisional for 10 years makes for good sport? Or in any way remotely fairer, or safer?Barney10-04-2025
- Christian Scaroni, Clément Champoussin, Harold Tejada, Simone Velasco ... Peripheral riders who have failed to make much impression so far in their carrier, suddenly starting to win everywhere, climbing with the best in weekly WT races. Aging riders years after their prime, now seen more often than none at the head of the peloton in the classics. Still, no what is talking about the Chinese candies in the roomBM10-04-2025
- It's easy to dismiss doubters. We need someone like David Walsh who dares to ask the hard question. In the mean time, I wouldn't worry too much about Tadej. Whether he dopes or not, at least, he's not a terrible person like LA Doper.
KerisVroom10-04-2025 - Pogi is an outlier. You cannot prove an outlier using the statistical data of average pros. If he releases the data, it will only cause even more suspicion. In 2020 TDF he was dropped by Roglic in the mountains. So how does he do the TT where in the flats he nearly beat Tom Dumoulin and beat everybody else on the climb by a ton. No matter what Pogi is too much of an outlier which can be proven by dataabstractengineer10-04-2025