"I'm afraid it will get boring in the long run" - Wout Poels argues that Tadej Pogacar's popularity may fade with dominance

Cycling has had very dominant figures but whilst some have been incredibly popular, others have undergone a lot of criticism and called boring. Wout Poels was part of the famous Sky train during it's prime which was far from a fan favourite at the time being, and he fears that the domination of Tadej Pogacar may see some fans get tired.

"Now it draws attention, it's great and it seems from another planet, I saw it up close in the Ardennes,” Poels said in an interview with Geraint Thomas for the Watts Ocurring podcast. "It was a shame to lose him [at Liège-Bastogne-Liège], it would have been a great duel with Evenepoel. I'm afraid it will get boring in the long run. I hope that people do not turn their backs on him."

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Whilst the Slovenian has proved a very popular figure due to his aggressiveness and outgoing character, he's been dominant on the bike, winning all race he took part in early in the year with comfortable wins, and then taking dominant victories as well at the Tour of Flanders, Amstel Gold Race and Flèche Wallone. In a year where breakaways rarely succeed and the Slovenian is one of the riders who virtually wins every race he takes part in, a new small group of riders emerged as completely dominant in the cycling scene.

“Name a sport where that does not happen. People don't like athletes who dominate," Geraint Thomas argued. "Lewis Hamilton is not the most popular in Formula 1. When we dominated the Tour with Sky it was the same."

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Together with Pogacar are Remco Evenepoel, Primoz Roglic, Jonas Vingegaard, Mathieu van der Poel and Wout van Aert who have virtually won most high-level races this year despite the unpredictable nature of road cycling. This comes following a similar pattern emerged in cyclocross, where in the presence of van der Poel, van Aert and Tom Pidcock most races are won by one of them who often show a whole other level above the competition.

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Mathieu van der Poel and Remco Evenepoel take a break from training to share a drink together