"Tadej Pogacar would have won this Vuelta by 15 minutes" - Questions posed of 2024 Vuelta a Espana's level of competition
Cycling
Last weekend in Madrid, Primoz Roglic bounced back from Tour de France disappointment to secure himself a record-equalling 4th Red Jersey win at the Vuelta a Espana. Given the absence of the likes of Jonas Vingegaard, Tadej Pogacar and Remco Evenepoel, how high actually was the level in Spain though?
This was a question posed on the Kop over Kop podcast by Eurosport. Despite the undoubted impressiveness of Roglic's 4th Red Jersey win, the Eurosport experts are quick to question whether the Roglic seen at the 2024 Vuelta a Espana would've been able to live with the likes of his compatriot Pogacar, had the UAE Team Emirates leader been present.
"Who was the best in this Vuelta? Pogacar would have won by fifteen minutes. It is actually a bit absurd to say that Pogacar could have won the Vuelta at 80 percent," begins Eurosport pundit Jan Hermsen. "There must be a reason why he didn't ride here. I actually thought Roglic was quite boring. Karsten Kroon also said that he knew he was going to win. The time trial was coming up and he knew exactly what to do."
Whilst Ben O'Connor's stage 6 breakaway raid did pose some danger to Roglic, Hermsen notes that other than that, there wasn't much to get excited about this Vuelta a Espana. "If that hadn't happened, what have we been watching? Mikel Landa attacks and loses minutes the next day, Enric Mas who is actually not good enough and UAE who occasionally shows nice things," he continues. "If you compare the Giro and the Vuelta side by side and you compare it to the Tour, then the level at the start is worrying. You have to be careful that the Giro does not also become a kind of preparation race. I was quite shocked that no rider could ride a Grand Tour for three weeks in a stable manner except Roglic."
"I find it remarkable that Pogacar can ride very stable and can ride two Grand Tours without having a bad day and that no one else can do it. Are those men that good or are the rest racing so naive? What have we seen in terms of attacks from the challengers?" Hermsen concludes.
I'd have won it by 15 minutes too had I bothered. Source : my bum.
I wonder how many grand tours Jan Hermsen has ridden? Oh, that’s right. ZERO. If everyone was on an even field, no injuries this year, I doubt Pog would have so dominated the giro and tour nor the vuelta
Kop over Kop podcast making a mocking of themselves. Glad i never listened it it. I agree with the comments posted here. Hypothetical to say pogi would have won by 15 mins and certainly irrelevant. For a spectator the Vuelta was most interesting. The open race made for excitement until stage 20. The fact that the time trial wasn't of great importance or exciting can't mean you erase the other 20 stages from memory. Pogi dominance is fun and interesting for a one day race but becomes extremely boring in a 3 week stage race or as we seen this year for 6 weeks.
What a ridiculous take! Roglic wasn't even near 100% as he rode with an injured back from the Tour crash yet you fail to mention this in how his riding was 'boring' ! Get a life !
this a hypoythetical, irrelevant and unfair question, but I really would like to see one hat-trick atempt
Maybe all these guys are just happy with the amount of money they now get as domestiques and can’t be bothered to suffer so many days in a row knowing their chances are very slim anyway. I know it’s attractive to exaggerate in order to get media coverage but let’s keep things in perspective, especially numbers. Firstly 80% is ridiculous, secondly Tadej would certainly not have beaten Primoz by 15 minutes now that he’s almost back in top shape and has taken a break from crashing. Most don’t seem to realise how little difference there is between the top guys on average, beating someone by a minute or two over 80 hours, go do some maths to see what that represents, it’s line winning the 100m sprint by 3 or 4cm. Congrats to all this year and good luck to them in the upcoming championships and let’s try to stop all this crashing. I’ve had to reduce my time here (some will no doubtedly appreciate) and now I look it seems quite a few others have too? Have a house to redo before I restart parenthood, can just about squeeze in some cycling in spare time but no more websurfing. Enjoy the season’s end
I would have to agree with MrM on that first part. I got the impression that a lot of the peleton had just came along for the ride. Maybe I'm doing the peleton a disservice here and they where knackered, but when you have second tier team doing so well overall and winning two stages something did seem off to me. Or is it due to the fact that the Vuelta comes too late in the year?
The same questions would be posed of the Giro's competition and it would be largely irrelevant. Only those who participate can compete and none are of the level of the Big 4
The Vuelta field minus Roglic was actually stronger than the Giro field minus Pogi. And a more interesting race because Roglic is not as dominant as Pogi. And the likelihood that Pogi would have won if he were there? Irrelevant - he wasn't there. He can hang his hypothetical Vuelta trophy right beside the Olympic gold that he didn't compete for.
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