Tadej Pogacar does have a weak spot, according to main rival Geraint Thomas: "I think he might overestimate their ability sometimes"
Cycling
Tadej Pogacar, so far, looks unbeatable at the Giro d'Italia when it comes to the fight for the pink jersey. This is not quite true according to his rivals however, and Geraint Thomas sees a trend which can be a weak spot in UAE Team Emirates' armour.
"His Achilles heel is the fact he's so strong and he wants to win, and his team also wants to win. It seems like they get a bit emotional with it," Thomas said in the Watts Occuring podcast. "All the rest of his team are normal bike riders. They'll have a good day, then the next day, they'll be not so good, whereas Pog's good all the time. I think he might overestimate their ability sometimes. I don't mean any disrespect there by saying that. They need to sort of look after those pennies, don't they?"
The leader of INEOS Grenadiers argues that UAE puts in a lot of work in the front of the peloton, not always necessarily. This has already been the case over the past years - most notably at the Tour de France. This year it could be argued that this was the case on stage 1 where Pogacar then lacked teammates to control the finale; stage 6 where the team controlled the breakaway but then decided to not bring them back in the final kilometers; and now in Thomas' words: stage 8 as well to Prati di Tivo (where the Slovenian did win the stage.
"They could have backed off if they wanted to. But because the break was just there – it was only at a minute and a half or something – they just rode and kept it within distance, and went for it. Why do you even need to do that?" Thomas questions.
Whilst Pogacar did win the stage, the experienced leader of INEOS adds in a friendly tone that he would prefer to have his team think long-term in the race. "Save the boys, because there's definitely big, big days to come, and there's going to be a point where they might need all hands on deck," he argues. "Or at least someone other than Majka as well to be there."
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I think Tadej is not going to fall for that, like happened in the Tour. His time gap is so good that he's going use the other teams. Like Bahrain today to save Tiberi position. He's going to have them work and just need to follow wheels.. Even the team will rest a little.
I heared someone on here, said that Pogi's weakness is dark chocolate🍫. Not sure if that was true or not lol
He probably has a different weak spot in every country where he’s racing, now it’s pasta and cappuccino:-)
Ok Geraint, go for it, you’ve got the team, you’ve got you and now you’ve got the strategy. Am counting on some serious results now!
Why spare his team when Ineos is ready to pull Pogi to the end to make it "hard" for him
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- No one cares what Armstrong says. Please stop giving him oxygen.Al17-03-2025
- Is that we including Ratcliffe or not?Mistermaumau16-03-2025
- Interesting idea, probably need some more conditions like age in order to stop certain teams filling the rosters with fake development riders.Mistermaumau16-03-2025
- But it wouldn't be a terrible idea IF you were only allowed to put in a rider from development team for the last stage of the stage race. Extra experience for them, real racing, pro peloton and very unlikely they will make any actual differencevappaxbipmv16-03-2025
- You don't have domestique, Tom. It's a problem. Without Del Toro, for sure Ayuso would not be in front of you.
maria2024202416-03-2025 - yesEvan16-03-2025
- He’s not unlike SK, people just don’t want to accept their decisionsMistermaumau16-03-2025
- Really happy for Matteo, especially despite not having much team support over the last couple of days. He's strong and in great form. He'll be a strong teammate for Jonas in the Tour. Also happy for Magnus—he's had a tough two years, and this is a well-earned reward for his dedication. Ineos have really come out fighting this year and I'm really liking this from them.Pedalmasher16-03-2025
- Is this a joke?Jkolner12316-03-2025
- He has declined leadership though in the past? Lack of confidence? Hedging your bets works sometimes, at other times it is better to commit and go in big.Cyclingsbestfan16-03-2025