Former pros bored with Tadej Pogacar's dominance: "I'm sick of always having the same guy win"
CyclingSaturday, 03 May 2025 at 09:44
Speaking to EFE before the Titant Desert in Morocco, the riders Luis Angel Maté (Cofidis, Euskaltel) and Andrey Amador (Movistar, INEOS, EF) have criticized the extreme professionalisation of cycling today, that, according to them, makes everything more predictable and boring.
Maté, who hung up his bike after the Vuelta a España in 2024, directly mentioned the name of Tadej Pogacar to make clear his opinion on the lack of excitement in the races because the watts riders produce in training make it clear who is going to win a given race:
"I'm sick of running with Pogacar and having the same guy win every time. You see the watts they move and you know the result. Seeing the watts each one moves, you know who's going to win."
He then goes further by talking about cycling as a 'mechanized activity that moves it away from its romantic origins of the Coppi and Bartali era:
"A mechanized activity, where everything is technical, which allows exhibitions like those of Pogacar and Van der Poel. These demonstrations take cycling away from its origins. It used to be the romantic sport of Coppi and Bartali, close to the people.
"Cycling is the sport of the people and we cannot move away from it. With so much tech and control, we have lost contact with the people."
He says that now that he is racing other types of events, he is falling in love with cycling again because he doesn't have to keep an eye on the watts, "Now I get together with different people, with another cycling, cycling is not just watts, and I want to recover the origins of cycling with people who have the same concerns. I always say that cycling will change the world."
Andrey Amador, for his part, also makes it clear that he does not like the current state of cycling, from which he retired a few months ago for reasons that he explains clearly below.
"Cycling is becoming too professionalized and the cyclist is distancing himself from the public. Before I felt like a machine, I always did the same thing, I didn't enjoy cycling, the fact of being able to stop for a coffee..."
Do you agree with the two former pros? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below, and the poll:
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Surely people had more fun watching you and your old "coworkers" saving energy for 4-5 hours and attacking the last 500 meters. Uff.. very funny. Typical resentful "old" cyclists against an incredibly talented (and disruptive) young man.
I just saw the Romandie stage 3 win. Do i want to see a last km mountain sprint between a dozen climbers or a long ranger by Pogi? i will take the 2nd one any time
When I play football (soccer) with friends, I know I'm not able to do what Messi does, even in his older age. When I play basketball with friends, I'm not Jason Tatum or that new college kid, Cooper Flagg. When one person wins nearly all the F1 races in a season, as happens so often, does that mean we've lost the magical closeness of Fangio to what driving on real roads used to be like? I expect to watch stellar athletes when I watch professional sports, and I know how hard they work to arrive at those skills and efforts. (My daughter was a semi-professional athlete, and now coaches. The training involved is unreal.) When I go for a ride through the local hills, I know I'm slow (I'm also past 50 by a chunk). My bike is slow, my legs are slow, I'm so much slower than I once was, and I love every moment of being out on 2 wheels. My enjoyment of the sport has nothing to do with how good the pros are. Any athlete treating this remotely like an amateur sport (in terms of weight training, nutrition, lack of altitude camps, and so on) will not succeed. Sky, then Jumbo Visma, then UAE, made the sport more precise, more focused, and harder to win. That's what the pro in professional means, doesn't it?
There are so many counterpoints, Bolt and Bubka were never boring, nobody complained about it either. Normal people also like to watch for reasons other than being surprised or pleased by results. Pro also stands for progress, none of these guys are aliens, they’re just ahead of their time but others catch up when they learn what made the difference. Besides, he doesn’t win as often or regularly as some in other sports, even team sports. And, he’s “easily” beaten when the course doesn’t suit him.
Only when the titans collide will it be interesting. MSR, PR,Flanders. LBL there was no competition. TDF Jonas will be there
MSR no competition? From the Cipressa onward, that was the most amazing MSR finish I've ever watched! Same with Paris-Roubaix, which together with Flanders had the racing start much, much earlier than before. Perhaps by the finale things are decided, in some cases, but the racing has been incredible.
I think you're reading it wrong. He is stating when titans collide - MSR, Flanders, PR - it is interesting. LBL less so.
Oh hey, thats a period and not a comma! You’re right. I did misread that. My apologies to the original post! Sorry ‘bout that, abstractengineer, thanks for pointing this out, mij.