“Pogacar, Van der Poel, Evenepoel, Van Aert – they go beyond being specialists”: Premier League manager Andoni Iraola hails cycling’s ‘best era ever’

The demands of elite football leave little room for distraction. Training sessions, tactical meetings, match preparation and the relentless Premier League calendar define the week. Yet between it all, Andoni Iraola is muting WhatsApp groups to avoid spoilers from the cobbles.

The AFC Bournemouth manager has long followed professional cycling closely. Speaking on TNT Sports’ The Gruppetto, he offered a detailed defence of the modern peloton and argued that the current generation has reshaped what it means to be a champion.

“I think we’re in the best era to watch cycling ever,” Iraola said in conversation with TNT Sports commentator Rob Hatch. “Pogacar, Van der Poel, Evenepoel, Van Aert… there are a lot of amazing cyclists that have gone a little bit outside of what cycling was before."

“Before, I’m a specialist and I focus on my goal, and then I rest for three months and focus on the next one," continues the seven-time Spanish international. "Now we have riders who are very ambitious. They want to be competitive almost all the season. I think we are enjoying it.”

Born in 1982 and raised in the Basque Country, Iraola’s attachment to cycling predates his own professional football career. “When the Tour de France started in 1992 in San Sebastián, I was 10,” he recalled. “For us, the Tour was everything. And suddenly we had it there in front of our eyes."

“I followed every stage," continues Iraola. "Especially the Tour, and also the Clasica San Sebastian. But the Tour was the main thing.”

That immersion in cycling culture has never left him. Even now, navigating his first season in England, he still finds ways to follow the sport. “It’s difficult,” he admitted. “But especially during pre-season, we always follow the Tour. I love the Classics. Sometimes you are about to play a Premier League game, and you are checking your phone. I try not to see the stage so I can enjoy it later. I have to turn off all notifications and mute my WhatsApp groups just to get one hour to watch the Classics.”

For a man operating at the top of English football, Iraola has no hesitation in saying cycling’s physical demands exceed those of the sport he coaches.

“In the moment, what cyclists do is harder,” he said. “They make an incredible effort for five or six hours, and then they have to do it again the next day, and the next day, almost without recovery. For a football player, that would be impossible. You could maybe do it for two days, but by the third day, everyone would get injured.”

He is careful not to diminish football’s intensity, pointing to its contact and explosive demands, but the cumulative load of stage racing leaves a particular impression.

“Football is very demanding physically because there is contact, jumps and different muscular demands,” he explained. “The suffering might not be as high as in cycling, but the body doesn’t recover as well after you play football.”

Beyond the physical comparison, Iraola also sees clear tactical parallels between the two sports.

“Cycling is much more tactical than it looks,” he said. “People think the fastest rider wins, or the best climber wins, but there is a lot of strategy. How you protect your leader, how you create other options in the team, how everyone sacrifices for the best rider, in that mentality, we can take things from cycling.”

That appreciation extends to the terrain that defines spring. “The Koppenberg for me was incredible,” he said. “Those smaller hills are mythical.”

When asked about the likely winner of the Tour of Flanders, he pointed to the riders who dominate today’s narrative. “With Pogacar, you never know,” he said. “If he goes for it, he is probably the main favourite. Everyone expects the duel with Mathieu van der Poel.”

While he celebrates the sport’s current giants, Iraola’s loyalties remain rooted closer to home. “In recent years, I’ve been a big Mikel Landa fan,” he admitted. “But everyone is getting older, and maybe we are in his final moments at the top. I hope he still has a big stage in him. I like many riders at the moment. When I was younger, I had idols. Now I just enjoy a lot of cyclists.”

It is a perspective shaped by decades of watching the sport evolve, from the Basque roadside in 1992 to the dugout of a Premier League club.

In a football environment where every marginal gain is analysed, Iraola still finds inspiration in the peloton’s blend of sacrifice, ambition and all-season daring. In his view, the current generation has moved beyond specialisation and made the sport more compelling than ever.