"He takes the piss!" - Geraint Thomas & Luke Rowe in awe of 'better than Merckx' Tadej Pogacar
CyclingWednesday, 25 September 2024 at 10:57
Geraint Thomas has had a few battles against Tadej Pogacar over the years, finishing on the final podium of both the 2022 Tour de France and the 2024 Giro d'Italia alongside the Slovenian. As such, the INEOS Grenadiers leader is well placed to judge just how good Pogacar really is.
Reflecting on Pogacar's 2024 on the latest episode of his Watts Occurring podcast alongside compatriot and teammate Luke Rowe, Thomas was in complete awe of his rival. "He's just won Montreal and the way he won it (23km solo ed.), I don't think anyone has ever won it like that before," begins the 38-year-old. "Strade Bianche he attacked at 80km to go, dominated that. Went to Catalunya, won four stages and the overall. Won six stages in the Tour de France and the Giro d'Italia, plus the overall. Then has a break, comes back and carries on where he left off... It's just sick!"
As have most been in all fairness, Rowe too has been left incredibly impressed by Pogacar's performances this campaign. "People keep saying 'he's good, he's good,' but there has not been a rider like him. He's a generational talent," says the soon retiring INEOS Grenadiers road captain.
"I've said before, he's better than Eddy Merckx! And I'm standing by that," Thomas adds. "Okay, he has got to repeat it for a few more years, but there is no reason why he can't."
Pogacar took his 3rd Maillot Jaune in dominant fashion earlier this summer
"I disagreed with you six months ago," Rowe responds, in reference to Thomas' claim that Pogacar is better than Merckx. "But, if he keeps it up and keeps winning in this fashion, then yeah, why not? Because he wins January till October. He wins the biggest races and he wins them in style. He takes the piss! He can climb, he can time-trial, he can win a cobbled classic..."
"It's like, for a sprinter, if Mark Cavendish won a stage in Qatar and then was winning throughout the year and won the worlds, that's obviously good. But in a sprint, you don't have to be physically the best. But for 'Pog', he just wins by riding away from everyone!" Thomas concludes. "He's by far the best in every race he does."
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- He forgets Landa, Merlier who have won or come close. if Remco leaves you simply become a sprint oriented team with talent already present. Sponsors have Remco on this team they are not going to get that chance with the big teams anyway when Remco moves. Also Remco's value isnt as high as before due to Pogi and Jonasabstractengineer03-05-2025
- The root cause of most crashes are the riders and do you know who will oppose the introduction of a new safety device-The riders.abstractengineer03-05-2025
- I would be very happy to have in my team the best sprinter now (Tim Merlier). And young talents like Magnier and Lecerf. I can't understand why he despises his own riders so much, as if he had nothing to do with it. He was the one who directed and decided the destiny of the Soudal, he decided to invest almost all the money in Remco and build a team to support him... now, what does he want in major classics? Absurd.
maria2024202403-05-2025 - you’re everything wrong about our worldmij03-05-2025
- "Mathieu has also cleaned up everything on the road in the past two years" This year he was given a fight by Pogi in MSR and PR. and he was defeated in Flanders. In other races he is not even close to winning. There was no cleanup.abstractengineer03-05-2025
- 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.maria2024202403-05-2025
- What's more pressure than trying to beat MVDP in a one-day sprinter's classic? It's like trying to win a grand tour stage in a bunch sprint.. They both put each other in the pressure cooker, but JV needs to win, in my opinion, more than TP. Throw in Primoz and Remco in the climber's mix, and its going to be an exciting TDF.FredMan03-05-2025
- You're saying you'd rather believe LA than TP? Both great competitors but 2 different personalities altogether..FredMan03-05-2025
- 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.RidesHills03-05-2025
- Why would you expect cycling to be different than any other sport? World Tour riders pass tests in and out of competition, so the playing field is as level as can be found in any high level competition.
Barney02-05-2025
Mr.G, leave Tadej alone! too much pressure. Eddy is Eddy and Tadej, who already went far, we'll see how far he can go, but no pressure, please.
Pogi absolutely doesn't give that pressure any attention. He pressures himself
A sprinter like Cav had to also be smart, not just strong. Climbers like Pog also need to play smart, but their wins rely more on raw power than just being a sprinter positioned properly during a final 300 meters.
It's an academic debate. Much like that that surrounded Muhammad Ali versus Joe Lewis back in the day.
Sure Joe Lewis had a more sterling record than Ali. But anyone who ever watched footage of them in action would quickly reach the conclusion that Ali would have whooped Lewis' behind in a fight.
Same goes with Pog vs Eddy.
Yes, he's probably better than Eddy. Merckx was the standout of his generation but he was also a big fish in a much smaller pool than nowadays. Tadej is arguably an equal standout, but from a much bigger global pool of talent.
Still has to keep up this level of performance for another 4-5 years to leave a truly Merckx-sized legacy though.
If he keeps it up he's going to have 15 grand tours to his name.
If he does that then Cav’s record is gone by 2030 latest, thankfully there are jonases, remcos and a bunch of new kids on the block that will likely make it VERY hard for him to even get 5, let alone 6
Pogi is going to win a lot more than 6 grand tours. Sit back and enjoy the historic show.
Of course he is, question is, will he win 5 or even 6 French ones?
Even Rogliç might still win 6 GTs and has won plenty more (likely would already have 6 if not for team orders to gift one to Kuss).
There's a lot more to cycling than the TDF.
Yes, I just said that didn’t I, unfortunately popular belief, viewing and spectator figures and a whole lot more don’t agree, or are you saying Rogliç will be in the 5 TdF winners league if he gets his 5th Vuelta?
We don't know who's coming up around the corner. No way he's getting 15. Age hits everyone eventually.
Nobody is worried about him winning 6 grand tours. But will he win 6 TdF? That's the real question
Plenty more than the TdF. But IF Pogi became a TdF only rider now, he'd still be cemented as an all around star due to having so many other big wins.
And then in a couple of years Remco and a few other kids take over the headlines and bye bye Merckx talk.
The only way you will truly be able to compare the two is if in 2050, 2060 and beyond people will be talking about him like they have of Merckx since 2 generations. Same as with music, whoever seemed destined for true greatness, no matter how talented or cool, they’ll never live up to the Beatles or the Stones and that has nothing to do with taste or preferences, I’m only a moderate fan of one and not very keen on the other.
Meh, some of that changes solely due to old fans keeling over. Eventually, everyone who enjoyed the Beatles while they played will be long dead. They'll still be a thing, but it won't be the same. The same is true for Eddy
Yes, because they made a profound impact for a long time, Tadej is only on his way for doing that but people speak of him as if he’s already done it. If he has a serious accident 2moro grows fed up or some new star comes along, he’ll be remembered as a Senna or Nirvana (or pick your own), couldhavebeens.
G is going heavy on the booze
If only he had the perspective of someone watching cycling from their couch.
Sounds fair enough to me.
Who's smoking weed now..................