What separates Pogacar, Vingegaard, Evenepoel and Roglic, according to a rider who’s been teammates with them all: “They still manage to stay completely normal guys”

When you have raced inside the same structures as Jonas Vingegaard, Tadej Pogacar, Primoz Roglic and Remco Evenepoel, your opinion carries a different kind of weight. Finn Fisher-Black is not a pundit looking in from the outside. He has lived inside three of cycling’s most powerful systems, first in the Visma set-up, then at UAE Team Emirates, and now at Red Bull - BORA - hansgrohe.

That is why his description of the sport’s dominant figures lands differently.

“What all three of them have in common is that they are constantly facing enormous pressure,” Fisher-Black said in an interview with Siol. “Even though expectations at their level are huge, they still manage to stay completely normal guys.”

For a rider who has seen the pressure from the inside, that normality is what stands out most. “They’re relaxed, approachable, and able to build relationships within the team easily. I see that as an incredible quality, and I’m not sure I would have it myself if I were at their level.”

Fisher-Black’s career path explains why his voice matters here. He came through the Jumbo-Visma development structure in 2020 and the first half of 2021, overlapping with the environment that shaped Jonas Vingegaard into a Tour de France winner.

In mid-2021 he moved into the UAE Team Emirates WorldTour squad, where he spent the next three full seasons racing alongside Tadej Pogacar and learning what life looks like inside the sport’s most dominant team.

From 2025 onwards, he has been part of the Red Bull - BORA - hansgrohe project, riding in the same colours as Primoz Roglic and, from 2026, Remco Evenepoel as well. Very few riders of his generation can genuinely say they have been teammates with all four.

That is why his central observation is not about watts, tactics or physiology, but about how the biggest riders in the sport carry themselves under constant expectation.

Fisher-Black’s own path to that world was not smooth. He left New Zealand as a teenager to chase a professional career in Europe. “Suddenly I was 20,000 kilometres from home, in a country where I didn’t know anyone and didn’t speak the language,” he said. “The start was really difficult.”

That early shock shaped how he sees the sport now. He does not talk like someone who expects anything to be given to him. “If you have dreams and you know why you’re doing it, everything becomes easier,” he said. “That’s why I’m still here and grateful that today I can live this kind of life.”

For a long time, Fisher-Black admits he did not fully understand what kind of rider he was meant to be. “In the past I didn’t really know what type of rider I was,” he said.

Over time, particularly through his years at UAE and now at Red Bull - BORA - hansgrohe, that has become clearer. He is not trying to copy the pure climbers or the all-terrain superstars. “My talent is quite specific, so I have to choose races that suit me best,” he said.

He has already shown that profile with strong performances in hot conditions and selective finishes, including stage wins at the Tour Down Under and the UAE Tour. “I don’t have problems with the heat,” he said. “Some of my best results have come in extreme conditions.”

Looking ahead, his ambitions are clear but measured. “One of my goals is to make the team for the Tour de France,” he said.

At the same time, he knows not every Grand Tour fits his profile. “I definitely won’t ride the Giro, because it doesn’t fit my programme,” he said.

That clarity in how he views himself mirrors the way he looks at the sport’s biggest stars: without myth-making, without exaggeration, just people operating at an extreme level under constant pressure, and finding their own way to live with it.