Pre- #ILombardia 🇮🇹 press conference. #UAETeamEmirates #WeAreUAE
Tadej Pogacar talks Lombardia ambitions and Evenepoel expectations: "Remco is mentally more ready for the big race, than for the smaller ones"
CyclingSaturday, 12 October 2024 at 09:20
Tadej Pogacar has extensively talked about doping in this afternoon's press conference but among other topics were expectations for tomorrow's Il Lombardia and Remco Evenepoel. But almost unanimously, everyone considers him the man to beat and there will be a lot of eyes on him.
"I certainly want to set myself different goals. But at this point in the season, the Lombardia is the Lombardia and there are not many other races like it to do. It is a nice race to do every year and if I can win as many as possible, I am fine with it," Pogacar told Bici.Pro. "I have been here three times and I have won three times. We will see tomorrow. If I can do it, I will be happy. If I don't, I will have had fun anyway."
Despite the route changes and the lack of a tough climb in the final kilometers, the Colma di Sormano around 40 kilometers from the finish and the 4800 meters of climbing over the 255 kilometers will make it a more difficult challenge and he should be able to drop the competition taking to consideration the incredible team; including Rafal Majka, Adam Yates and Jay Vine who should thrive in the long climbs and will be able to set a constant and strong pace. But even if he can't drop the competition, in the final small ascent or sprint he should also be the strongest out of all favourites.
"I think that in cycling it's never easy to win, so I wouldn't be surprised if I didn't win. But I'm ready to give it my all one last time," he added. "In Switzerland (at the World Championships, ed.), there were certainly riders who could follow me, for example Evenepoel. At Emilia we were closer to the finish line, it was raining, so it was quite a tough day. I showed great power, there I could imagine that no one would follow me. But I wouldn't say, as I read, that I'm in the same shape as the Tour".
Jonas Vingegaard is at home after ending his season in August, Primoz Roglic accused signs of fatigue and is not present in the race, whilst Tom Pidcock has been removed from the race by INEOS Grenadiers. Remco Evenepoel is the most obvious rival for the World Champion but in reality, the Soudal - Quick-Step has been far from his best since making his way to Italy.
"This week has not been the best for him. It has been really tough. If you are not mentally prepared at the end of the season, even for a race in the rain or with that terrible weather, you cannot hold on. If there is not a great motivation to win races, it is difficult to get to the point of competing. But I think for the Lombardia it is different. I think Remco is mentally more ready for the big race, than for the smaller ones. So I think he will try tomorrow".
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- No, it didn't. It has been debunked by the team that there was anything wrong with his feeding. Pogacar went too early and paid the price.maaiikeen31-12-2024
- Strong team around Jonas and pray each day that Tadej forgets to eat in the decisive stages (col du Granon). It also happened this year, stage 11 when Jonas won the sprint (incredible! Tadej was empty).
maria2024202430-12-2024 - Not quite yet I’d say but she could reach and surpass. You probably forgot Vos’ 2 track WC titles that outweigh the total and it has to be said more of PFPs MTB titles are a bit far fetched than Vos but yes they are comparable. It’s strange that with her consistent participation in xc she’s never ever managed to win even one race, Marie Schreiber can at least retire with that achievement ;-)Mistermaumau30-12-2024
- He may be known as “The goat” but I can’t realistically consider him a top ten candidate taking together all forms of cycling. Vos had 28 UCI WC wins, Absalon 33, Schurter 34, MVDP 41 and counting. As far as world championships they are all ahead too Longo, MVDP, PFP, Merckx, de Vlaeminck, TP and at least a half dozen others from long ago are surely higher up, or what criteria are you privileging other than a nickname?Mistermaumau30-12-2024
- and yeah, i’m a ridiculous blowhard for writing THAT MUCH. seriously, f me…OCexile30-12-2024
- this has diverged from being a per se cycling discussion, but that’s cool with me. so i live in the united states. for background, i grew up in southern california, educated at UC Irvine and UC Berkeley, and except for chunks of a 22 year Navy career i’ve lived here most of my life. there are things about this country, the way its social, political, and economic institutions function that IN MY OPINION fail considerably in comparison to other developed democracies. BUT, one thing that i think the US does excel in is that we have an extraordinarily high level of freedom of speech. now, that certainly opens the door for the alex joneses of the world to weaponize/monetize speech in utterly disgusting ways that do actual damage. it also gives freedom to politicians to say that the press is corrupt and should be jailed, like in russia, iran, or venezuela. these are DANGEROUS uses of freedom of speech. but as much as that freedom may imperil the well being of individuals and ideas — like the idea of liberty itself — it’s that freedom that has, over time, marked the SLOW movement toward greater equality and well being. this extreme level of free speech is certainly the primary fundamental right in the united states that has functioned, over time, to actively drive social progress. i mean, quack quack quack, right? the kind of speech that MOST needs protection is UNPOPULAR SPEECH. we KNOW this. but if you can only engage in unpopular speech IN PRIVATE, as you suggested, and be BARRED from a public platform to share those unpopular ideas, then your freedom to speak means very little and the whole project of social change and social progress grinds to a halt. “YES, you can talk about all races being equal to your friends, but you can’t publish any articles making that argument.” “YES, you can say that homosexuality isn’t a dangerous perversion that must be legislated against so long as you ONLY say it to your friends, but you can’t say it on a radio show.” so the problem is, if there’s going to be prior restraint of speech, the only person I’M gonna trust to decide who can say what before they say it is ME. if somebody wants to let me and my friends make all those decisions, then i’m IN. i’d expect a little pushback on that idea though. alex jones would probably like that job, too. lance would love that kind of power i bet. sooooo…. maybe it’s better to just leave things like they are. it’s ugly and messy and people get hurt, but once you SURRENDER that nearly unlimited freedom you’ll never get it back. and yes, society has drawn lines: still can’t threaten to blow up a mosque or share child pornography, etc. — that’s a pretty good idea. but erring on the side of freedom rather than censorship has been critical in preserving valuable free speech rather than seeing it slowly winnowed and legislated away. so yeah, there WILL be another alex jones, neonazis get to deny the holocaust, and lance gets to talk about cycling all he wants. and if you don’t like the source or the content then YOU are free to rail against it, or just not listen. as always, totally appreciate and respect YOUR perspective, brother. and i do get where you’re coming from. there are individuals in the US who have (or are about to have) the biggest platform there is who say things that drive me mad because i find them so dangerous and misleading, but the american version of democracy, with all its notable failings, has survived by preserving freedom of speech in the face of these types, not by limiting it.OCexile30-12-2024
- There is a cyclist, recently retired who raced as a Junior in 1997, and is known as 'The Goat'. Downhill legend, Greg Minnaar......wipperman9530-12-2024
- The road bias of this site shows up as PFP isn't mentioned - who is as successful as Vos, and from memory has more World titles.wipperman9530-12-2024
- his wife was surprisingly accurateabstractengineer30-12-2024
- Its the wrong thing to do the Vuelta after getting exhausted in the TDF. This is going to reduce his career potentialabstractengineer30-12-2024