"The 90s was the era of super fuel. That has been replaced by altitude training" - Tadej Pogacar's record breaking Tour de France numbers not concerning insists Serge Pauwels
CyclingMonday, 15 July 2024 at 10:30
It is no exaggeration to say that on stage 15 of the 2024 Tour de France, Tadej Pogacar put in one of the greatest climbing performances of all time, destroying Jonas Vingegaard and building up a massive general classification advantage en route to another stage win.
Obliterating the previous climbing record of the Plateau de Beille, set by Marco Pantani, Pogacar ascended the brutally steep slopes at the quite incredible time of just 39:44, nearly four minutes quicker than Pantani's record. Given Pantani's questionable past in regards to his use of performance enhancing drugs, this has led some to question how Pogacar can be so much better whilst clean. In response, ex pro turned Sporza analyst Serge Pauwels has come up with an explanation.
"He pedaled 6.8 or 6.9 watts per kilogram. Without a doubt, it is one of the toughest climbs ever in a race. It is a world-class performance," begins Pauwels on the Sporza Tour podcast post-stage before he looks to explain the circumstances surrounding Pogacar's climb, in comparison to Pantani's.
"Back then, Pantani mainly rode alone, which meant he had little shelter. Today, Pogacar gets the lead-out of his life. First Matteo Jorgenson rides full on from the foot. Then Vingegaard, the second best rider in the world, keeps riding at a high pace. Then Pogacar adds his best fifteen minutes. All conditions were good to ride a fast time," Pauwels explains. "The 90s, that was the era of super fuel. That has been replaced by altitude training."
Another notable factor is the difference in equipment over the last quarter of a century. "Back then a bike weighed 8 kilograms, now it's all of 6.8 kilograms. That's the minimum weight," says Pauwels. "And they're now digesting 120 carbs an hour. Back then they weren't even thinking about it, maybe only 50 or 60 carbs an hour."
Pogacar put in a climb for the ages to boost his hopes of reclaiming the Maillot Jaune
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- and his "worst" result - 7th in TTmobk14-05-2025
- Mads Pedersen is an absolute beast. He really didn't look like he'd make it up that last climb, but he dug very deep, and was there when it mattered in the end. Three stage wins in the first five stages is very impressive indeed.
santiagobenites14-05-2025 - On one side, he was unhappy due to the TDF no, but i suppose money and other aspects made the differenceabstractengineer14-05-2025
- True, but, Mads has a few more years of collection and his season’s tally will start levelling off whereas Jonas’ should be just starting so even if Mads overtakes him, it’s probably briefly. That now all being clear, obviously the greatest is Tony Rominger, at least that’s their most popular male cyclist, which is another way of saying he must have been great :-) Hey, sorry but if someone’s going to ask rabbit-hole questions, you can only expect rabbit-hole answers.Mistermaumau14-05-2025
- Yeah, “little guy” who already beat Groenewegen and Merlier ;-) Also love how the media overhype anything in cycling, TNT saying this was a HUGE win for the team, let’s go back to using superlatives corresponding to reality. An important win maybe but c’mon, 50 points more than second when we’re at 20000? Had the team gotten 4th 5th and 6th and missed the podium completely they’d have collected more points but NO-ONE except themselves would have written one single word about their performance. Still well done to them for proving that the stage 3 pundit criticism about the little guys was unnecessary.Mistermaumau14-05-2025
- The ranking points between Jakob Fuglsang and Jonas Vingegaard is huge, BTW.. about 6700 ranking points. Mads trails Jonas by 14 points.FredMan14-05-2025
- Greatest ever? Based on CyclingRanking.com, Rolf Sorensen is #1, Jakob Fuglsang is #2, Jonas Vingegaard is #3, and Mads Pedersen is a very close #4. If you'd rather rely on personal opinion, or favorites, or what not, it's anybody's guess.FredMan14-05-2025
- I love it when the "little guy" wins!acem8214-05-2025
- Yeah, TdF is completely overrated, only amateurs and has-beens participate. And little ole skimpy Jonas has only won it as often as Switzerland or The Netherlands or Germany and Australia combined. Prestigewise there is NO comparison until he wins either the WC again or something big coz sorry G-W is basically a 2nd rate race at their level and he’s not won much else except a decent collection of stages, which Jonas and plenty of sprinters win too. Until now, MP is about pulling level with Asgreen who also won stages and classics, was a WC and HE got himself a monument and almost as many almosts as Mads but in a career only half as long.Mistermaumau13-05-2025
- Jonas is a great rider but only rides stage races so i would have to say he & Mads are about equal now. Stage racing in general is overvalued i think... (vs the power required to win one day races)Xrider5113-05-2025
Guys, I came across this strange mou guy that twitter sphere is talking right now. This mou guy seems to have insider information on Pogacar's recent change in training, power profile and etc. If you have a twitter account, you may want to look for @Tratnikstan account and dig further. Take it with a grain of salt though.
It seems like the mole mou has twitter account @mou55981652
Bobby - did you not read the article? I watched Pantani ride his record I also watched when Rasmussen, Contador abd Armstrong rode theirs and same thing for all climbs they were to various degrees tactical battles, stop and go, and first and foremost one rider to the top taking much of the pace in the end. Stage 15 was more like an attempt to break records with the two best leadouts in the game forst Keldermann then for a long streak Matteo and then by god Jonas for 5-6 km till Tadej took it home the last 5. There were no stop and go, no break getting caught just flat out ridingvfrom bottom to top. Visma and UAE ride very aggressive, new way compared to other vintages.
Absolutely - it's all carbs, aero bikes and altitude training don't you know?.