"Those real lightweight climbers like Tadej Pogacar struggle in 8 degrees and rain" - Jan Bakelants feels weather could be deciding factor at Liege-Bastogne-Liege
Cycling
At the fourth monument of the season this coming weekend, Tadej Pogacar will start as the favourite for Liege-Bastogne-Liege victory.
When assessing the potential challengers to Pogacar this Sunday, could mother nature herself prove the most difficult obstacle to overcome for the UAE Team Emirates leader? "If the weather stays like this, I think the chances will increase for the real classic riders, such as Mathieu van der Poel," predicts Jan Bakelants on the Wielerclub Wattage podcast, with bad weather having caused havoc this Wednesday afternoon at La Fleche Wallonne and the Tour of the Alps. "They take advantage of the bad weather conditions."
There's no doubt that cold weather affects each rider differently but for Bakelants there could be a worrying correlation for Pogacar to take note of. "Those real lightweights - climbers like Pogacar - struggle in 8 degrees and rain," analyses the former Tour de France stage winning Belgian.
Nevertheless, Bakelants still predicts Pogacar to emerge victorious. "He is now in Spain and he will be even more motivated to train there. He hasn't peaked yet, certainly not," Bakelants adds in conclusion. "If you see how steep the Redoute is, he can easily take a minute off the rest there. Normally I just don't see anyone beating Pogacar."
Bakelants is talking crap, he was in Monaco yesterday according to Strava...
You never know these days ;-) Maybe he left his device with a friend as decoy to prevent everyone from knowing what he’s up to? They get around quite a bit these boys. But yeah, unlikely
I do not think it matters what weather it is. Pogacar will still win. Easily 😁
Wow, everyone in full agreement :-) Seriously guys, I don’t know about some of these pros. Riding in weather so awful they prefer to abandon. How about adapting your clothing a bit more, at least you might make it to the end then, and considering how few did, that’s a bunch of free points.
Agreed. Aren't everyone are well prepared for any scenarios right?
If anything Pogi thrives in the cold and suffers in the heat. Anything could happen at LBL, but it's not going to be the weather that stops Pogi winning.
Where is the proof on this? Pogi never had problems with racing on a bad weather🤦🏻. Did he watch him racing at all?
"Those real lightweights - climbers like Pogacar - struggle in 8 degrees and rain," Does this guy even watch racing? Pogi has never ever had a bad day in cold and/or rain. Not only that, it seems like that kind of weather affects everyone accept him. Pogacar is the worst possible example you can name here
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- Not only the public, just about every analyst and commentator had been piling it on. Under the circumstances I’d even say he’s showing real character. Not sure likeable Tadej would manage as well during a longer rough patch.Mistermaumau03-04-2025
- Took a while but we finally have a more nuanced analysis.Mistermaumau03-04-2025
- If I remember right, it was those same hungry journalists selling us a different story less than a year ago about the bleak future of Dutch (men’s) cycling with no possible successor for MVDP ;-)Mistermaumau03-04-2025
- Good, hopefully Jonas goes also so we get a nice duelvappaxbipmv03-04-2025
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KerisVroom03-04-2025 - If he's very lucky maybe he can podium a Tour one season, I certainly don't believe he can win it, evervappaxbipmv03-04-2025