“He could stop now and already be the best we’ve ever seen” – Finn Fisher-Black offers rare inside view of cycling’s Big Three

Finn Fisher-Black has never been the headline act, yet at just 23 he has already watched modern cycling’s defining figures from closer than almost anyone else.

From early WorldTour races alongside Jonas Vingegaard, to three seasons inside UAE Team Emirates with Tadej Pogacar, and now a future that will place him in the same team as Remco Evenepoel, Fisher-Black has quietly become a witness to the sport’s modern power shift.

Speaking on the Domestique Hotseat, the New Zealander did not hesitate when asked whether Pogacar might already be the greatest rider the sport has seen. “Yeah, I definitely think so,” he said. “He could stop now and already be the best we’ve ever seen, in my opinion. But I think he’s still got probably quite a lot more left in the tank.”

It is a striking statement, not from a pundit or former champion, but from a rider who has lived inside Pogacar’s daily working environment.

Fisher-Black’s most revealing insight is not about Pogacar’s results, but about what life looks like around him. At UAE, hierarchy is rarely ambiguous. “When Tadej is at the race, there’s only one cook and everyone knows it,” he explained.

Yet that clarity does not remove tension. Instead, it reshapes it. “It’s this next level in that team, it’s just completely stacked,” Fisher-Black said. “There’s only three Grand Tours and everyone wants a chance. They’ve got a handful of guys that can win a Grand Tour on that team. So naturally, there are always going to be some heated moments.”

It is a blunt description of modern superteams, where depth creates opportunity and friction in equal measure. Fisher-Black does not present it as a problem, simply as reality.

Beyond hierarchy, what impressed Fisher-Black most was Pogacar’s ability to cope with chaos. “In cycling, you almost need to have a relaxed mindset because so much goes wrong that you need to be able to adapt,” he said. “And he’s just brilliant at that.”

That adaptability, in Fisher-Black’s view, explains why Pogacar appears so resistant to the off-days that haunt even elite riders. “The guy doesn’t really have many bad days and it’s kind of because he can adapt so quickly to any attack or crash or anything that’s thrown at him.”

It is a technical explanation disguised as simplicity, and one that reframes dominance as problem-solving rather than invincibility.

Fisher-Black also touched on a side of Pogacar that rarely features in race analysis. As his profile has grown, so too has the attention. “People who don’t watch cycling know who he is now,” he said, recalling moments where teammates tried to form a protective bubble just to reach a café counter.

That visibility carries a cost. “Maybe he is getting a bit fatigued from that side of things, from being really at the top for a number of years now,” Fisher-Black admitted. Yet he was careful to separate fame from motivation. “As soon as the flag drops, he loves racing. That’s never going to go out.”

Pogacar was not the first superstar Fisher-Black encountered. Before his UAE years, he raced alongside Vingegaard at what was then Jumbo-Visma, before the Dane’s rise to Tour de France dominance. “They’re just normal guys,” Fisher-Black said. “That’s the thing you realise when you have dinner with them.”

For a rider arriving from New Zealand, the adjustment was significant. “I’d only seen these guys on TV,” he said. “So it was a big shock at first to be like, okay, now I’m riding for them.”

The final chapter of Fisher-Black’s unique vantage point begins in 2026, when Evenepoel joins Red Bull - BORA - hansgrohe. He admits he does not yet know the Belgian personally, but his interest is clear. “From racing with him in the bunch, he presents himself pretty well,” Fisher-Black said.

With Evenepoel and Florian Lipowitz both in the mix, Fisher-Black expects internal competition to intensify. “The GC team, the climbers, that department’s getting very busy.”

For a rider who has quietly observed the sport’s biggest figures from the inside, it is simply the next seat at the table. And if his assessment of Pogacar is any guide, history may already be unfolding around him.