"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.
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.
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- There is good in everyone. Hitler was kind to his dog wasn't he?Cyclingsbestfan13-03-2025
- We all hope it, like parents, but those type of children only learn from their own mistakes ;-) Yeah, feel lucky I heal pretty fast, even at advanced age but we don’t really get to see how things look under their clothes. For sure they have better pain killers but I don’t ever remember feeling much pain when in a state to ride on, the adrenaline seems to just focus on that one objective. Later is another thing, I once (only time ever) fainted in the shower an hour post accident when trying to clean a wound, luckily another rider who’d witnessed it had sacrificed himself not to leave my side.Mistermaumau13-03-2025
- Yep. But if you hit something stationary at 40 mph, your life is changed. And even just sliding ... the fastest I ever crashed was 35 mph in a race, and it was almost 2 months before the last scabs disappeared. These guys heal much faster, but the pain is the same. I am hoping P is more careful so that he has a long career that ends when he decides. But he doesn't seem built that way.
Barney13-03-2025 - He’s lucky Mohoriç warned him not to follow (and that for once he listened to wiser) because the way M only just avoided disaster that day, T would have done a Senna. Regarding the 40mph, it’s not usually hitting the deck that’s crucial, it’s acrobatics and stationary objects that refuse to move much that do the damage.Mistermaumau13-03-2025
- If you consider ALL the details, things were not as bad as we’ve come to expect from organisers, especially lately, however much can still be improved, especially communication wise. I guess saying the race is neutralised is maybe not enough to be clear in the “heat” of the action, perhaps adding a warning to stay tuned and not remove earpieces, to know if and when the race might resume would help. Weather is completely random so it can go both ways when things reach a limit and BOTH sides should always be prepared for that. As for harshness of conditions, 10cm of snow is less dangerous and difficult than sleet or iced roads, riding on without stopping is easier than restarting after cooling off, everyone is different, Hinault was kind of a European average built man with his 173/68 at the time, Jonas could play an extra in a concentration camp scene, all respect for him and all the others for finishing, some people’s moaning (from their comfy sofa) made it sound like he abandoned before complaining.Mistermaumau13-03-2025
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- Another brain dead take from the org. While they stayed cozy in their warm carsabstractengineer13-03-2025
- Ahhh, and there was me watching and thinking we might finally get an uncommented article. Now you leave Frieders no choice but to participate ;-)Mistermaumau13-03-2025
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- After destroying many careers due to his cheating and pettiness, he suddenly became a saint due to helping out Wiggins /sabstractengineer13-03-2025