Tadej Pogacar made Wout Poels consider his cycling future: “Should I stop?”

After the 2024 Tour of Lombardy, veteran Dutch cyclist Wout Poels found himself questioning his future in professional cycling. In a discussion on the podcast In Koers by AD, Poels revealed that Tadej Pogacar's incredible performance in the autumn classic made him briefly consider retirement.

The sheer dominance of the Slovenian superstar during the race, and 2024 as a whole, left Poels in awe, though he was able to laugh about the thought of quitting. Reflecting on the race, Poels shared his experience with fellow rider and friend Dylan van Baarle, saying, "In Lombardy, he didn’t start that quickly, he only left after 200 kilometers or so."

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Despite a leading group featuring strong riders like Thymen Arensman, Tiesj Benoot, and Mauri Vansevenant, Poels still found himself amazed by Pogacar’s eventual surge. "It really is a tough race and UAE had another star team at the start. They rode really well," he said, admiring the team's strength.

Poels himself suffered throughout the race, particularly after the iconic Ghisallo climb. "I suffered. After the Ghisallo I was still doing well, but I was already a bit down and then I couldn’t move up for the descent. That’s where it broke and on that climb after that I didn’t know where I was anymore," he recalled.

In typical Poels fashion, he found some humour in the situation despite the pain. "Then you have to go to the finish, because there is no shortcut. Then you can better just keep riding on the course. I thought it was a very good job that I had finished in a large group," he joked, reflecting on his finish in the bunch.

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After crossing the finish line, Poels watched the footage of Pogacar’s victory, which prompted a moment of self-reflection. "Then you see how Pogacar wins and then you also think, should I give that bike back and stop?" Poels jokingly pondered. "Or are we going to try again for another year? That I call Vino and said, yeah, it's not going to work out next year. I'm going to stop with this misery," he added, referring to his new team boss at Astana Qazaqstan, Alexander Vinokourov.

Despite his light-hearted musings about retirement, Poels remains a key figure in the peloton. The Dutch rider, who turned 37 this year, has had a remarkable career, which includes a stage win in the 2023 Tour de France and his famous victory at Liège-Bastogne-Liège in 2016. Having spent four years with Team Sky between 2015 and 2019, Poels has been a consistent performer in the world’s biggest races, even as he approaches the latter stages of his career.