"The only rider in the world who can win all races" – Former teammate sheds new light on how good Tadej Pogacar is
Cycling
Wieler Revue recently caught up with Matteo Trentin to discuss his relationship with Tadej Pogacar. The pair were teammates at UAE Team Emirates until Trentin made the switch to Tudor Pro Cycling Team last year, and Trentin gave some insights into how the world’s best rider trains.
The 35-year-old Italian, a stage winner in all three Grand Tours (including three victories at the Tour de France) shared his experiences training with the Slovenian superstar.
"Do I like training with him? Well, only when I'm in really good shape, haha. No, it's always fun with him. He doesn't surprise me during training anymore, you know. He used to, but now I know how good he is. A nice anecdote? Well, usually I get dropped on a climb and that's where my story ends, haha."
Trentin has witnessed firsthand Pogacar's relentless dedication, acknowledging the questions often raised about his incredible performances.
"All I can say is that he is really that good. I often get questions like: is it possible what he does, or is he really that good? During training he does the same as in the race. You sometimes saw champions from the past take it easier in training, but not Tadej. He is very professional and as strong as he rides in the race, he is also in training."
Now at Tudor Pro Cycling Team, Trentin is set to race alongside new signings Julian Alaphilippe and Marc Hirschi, with ambitions of challenging Pogacar in the spring classics. That will be no easy task, given that Pogacar secured the prestigious triple crown last season, and also won at Strade Bianche, Liège-Bastogne-Liège, and Il Lombardia.
"You know, Tadej is Tadej. We haven’t seen a rider like him in the last 50 years, and we probably won’t see a rider like him in the next 50 years."
Pogacar's all-around abilities set him apart from the rest of the peloton, with Trentin believing that no other rider possesses the same versatility.
"He is the only rider in the world who can win all races. The first after the Eddy Merckx era. An important strength of Tadej is that he works very hard on his 'weak points'. Do I see similarities between someone like Tadej and Julian or Marc? I think Julian is in a way a bit more relaxed."
While Alaphilippe and Hirschi are both highly talented, Trentin sees a clear distinction in their approaches compared to Pogacar’s all-encompassing dedication.
"He doesn't have to win time trials and that's why he works less on them. Tadej has to be good at everything, because he wants to win Grand Tours. Marc is a bit in between in that respect, because he focuses more on riding classifications than Julian."
Let's see him off-road on a really technical XCO course......say Mont Sainte-Anne.....
As I look across the river to Mt Ste Anne while skiing in Quebec, you’re right. At the moment only van der Poel and maybe Pidcock have shown that kind of success across the disciplines. But in the road disciplines, there is clearly no one like Pogacar these days.
Not sure Pog would have survived the Koppenberg chaos, maybe lucky for him he wasn’t there that day.
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- Let me help you. Alfredo BindaUpHill31-03-2025
- He'll certainly last it and prob ride his own race, at the front 😁
leedorney31-03-2025 - Gaio Primus Caesar Roglus, Rome is waiting for you, Imperator :-)).
maria2024202431-03-2025 - And he probably wasn’t even at the limit ;-) Have to wonder how much Mads could catch up if he’d tune his physique to be as sharp as MVDPs’Mistermaumau31-03-2025
- Respect for giving Van Eetvelt credit there.Mistermaumau31-03-2025
- He’s already a star for me for HAVING complained about it, the recent trend having been, let them then try to take advantage by making them sign NDAs ;-)Mistermaumau31-03-2025
- Agreed, but if it was a radio thing then all the riders should have the same story and it would be easy to call anyone out. Kind of surprised this isn’t cleared up half officially afterwards, just like the Alaphilippe divorce, seems like once something spreads on the net it kind of gets accepted that everyone wants to have their own truth so no-one bothers to contest anything that’s verifiable anymore, we all just move on.Mistermaumau31-03-2025
- maybe. what makes that a LITTLE fishy is that they suddenly hit the gas and started hammering it. even mathieu, who i’ve never heard complain about ANYTHING (other than teenage girls waking him up and being spit on by belgians) was pretty hacked off about the race tactics after the split. i think he was upset for what his teammates had to do, not for the fact he ended up isolated as a result.OCexile31-03-2025
- It seems that in E3 it wasn’t legit to criticise teams that « took advantage » because there was no radio communication about the incident so they couldn’t know to slow down. Only one source so far but should be quite easy to verify.Mistermaumau31-03-2025
- mads SMOKED it at ghent! love that guy. he’s just the best interview ever, always smart and hilarious and with a biting intolerance for stupidity. happy for him. just as a secondary thought, consider that mvdp beat THAT version of mads by a full minute at E3 two days ago. the gap between pog/mvdp and even tho other GREAT riders like mads is kinda staggering to comprehend. this is a time in cycling history that’s certainly worth paying attention to while it lasts.OCexile31-03-2025