"You can sense a resignation creeping into the peloton” – Analysts claim Tadej Pogacar’s dominance has crushed morale in the WorldTour
Cycling
Tadej Pogacar’s historic 2025 season has left much of the peloton in a state of collective despair — at least that’s the view of Het Nieuwsblad analysts Guy Van den Langenbergh and Jan-Pieter De Vlieger, who believe the Slovenian’s relentless dominance is starting to suffocate competition at the very top of men’s professional cycling.
Speaking on the Café Koers podcast, Van den Langenbergh described a sense of hopelessness spreading through the bunch, suggesting that even before the final Monument of the year, Il Lombardia, Pogacar’s rivals had all but conceded defeat.
“You can sense a kind of resignation creeping into the peloton,” he said. “You ask riders beforehand how they’re going to approach the race — in other words, what their plan is to beat Pogacar — and they just laugh or shrug their shoulders. Everyone seems to have accepted his dominance.”
Pogacar’s season of supremacy
Few could argue that Pogacar has operated on a different level throughout 2025. The UAE Team Emirates – XRG leader not only added three Monuments — Flanders, Liege–Bastogne–Liege, and Il Lombardia — to his glittering palmarès, but also claimed his fourth Tour de France title, further cementing his status as the defining rider of his generation.
The Slovenian’s combination of consistency, tactical intelligence and sheer explosiveness has rendered even the sport’s biggest teams powerless. Where once his attacks were seen as bold or unpredictable, now they carry an air of inevitability.
“Even at Team Visma | Lease a Bike”
Van den Langenbergh noted that this sense of inevitability extends far beyond smaller outfits. Even Team Visma | Lease a Bike — the squad that entered 2025 vowing to become the best team in the world — have been unable to find an answer.
“It’s not just the smaller teams,” he explained. “Even at Team Visma | Lease a Bike, you can see it. It’s not as if they have a plan to anticipate anything. Saying they’re being led to the slaughter might be a bit extreme, but you do get the feeling that everyone knows it’s impossible to beat Pogacar.”
For the Dutch team, whose dominance once mirrored that of Pogacar’s UAE juggernaut, 2025 has been a humbling campaign. Despite Jonas Vingegaard’s overall victory at the Vuelta a Espana, Visma have found themselves adrift in the world rankings — well behind Pogacar’s imperious UAE Team Emirates - XRG, who have set new standards for collective control and strategic execution.
A sport searching for answers
The remarks from Van den Langenbergh and De Vlieger echo a growing unease among riders and observers alike: that Pogacar’s reign, while dazzling in its brilliance, may be eroding the competitive tension that defines elite racing.
What was once a question of how Pogacar would win has increasingly become one of when. Rival teams have struggled to find meaningful counter-strategies, while the Slovenian continues to expand his dominance across every terrain and every format — from spring classics to grand tours, from one-day monuments to week-long stage races.
For much of the peloton, it seems Pogacar’s supremacy is not just a problem to solve — it’s a reality to endure.
Kieran WoodDeputy Editor-in-Chief
Kieran Wood is a sports journalist based in Wales and has been active in journalism since 2022. He regularly contributes to DartsNews.com and CyclingUpToDate.com, where he covers professional cycling and darts. In cycling, his work includes liveblogs from major races, including the Tour de France, the Giro d’Italia, and La Vuelta a España, alongside race reports and analysis. He has also conducted interviews with professional riders.
His reporting spans the full racing calendar, from one-day classics to stage races, with a focus on accurate, real-time coverage and clear contextual analysis. For statistics, results, and historical context, he regularly uses resources such as ProCyclingStats. To support reporting on rider activity and training context where relevant, he also references Strava.
In his work, Kieran places strong emphasis on careful sourcing, editorial accuracy, and updating articles as new, verified information becomes available.
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- many people advise him to grow slowly and rather do giro and/or vuelta instead of tdf. but i can totally understand that he is not satisfied with taking over once pogi declines, but instead beat him in his prime. so if he goes for tdf again, i‘m all for it. let‘s hope that pogi recovers soon!Ketterechts07-11-2026
- So gracious to offer something no-one would be prepared to pay for. The Giro is not the Tour and doesn’t command the same interest or attract the same “elite” (those willing to pay to be a part of something they consider has ego boosting potential). Roadside viewing will always largely remain free for everyone outside circuits. Introduction of a symbolic entrance to mountain climbs is worthy of exploration. Asking 1-2€ isn’t going to repulse real fans (most will spend 50-100€ on their outing that day all things included) but will prevent a portion of the total knobhead thrillseekers who will join in any large gathering as long as it’s free, just because they’re attracted to crowds, without which it it difficult for them to work up their anti-social behaviour.Jumpyjohn07-11-2026
- How is radio going to help when someone went over a cliff or bridge or off the roadside into a forest unnoticed and is laying there unconscious?Jumpyjohn07-11-2026
- Yep, next we’ll be accusing F1 drivers of avoiding Le Mans.Jumpyjohn07-11-2026
- But on what is that opinion based? Are you holding him to a different standard than others? Are you saying he should do learn to like something he doesn’t Are you saying he hasn’t achieved enough Are you saying he pretends to be better than his results? It’s actually a really strange opinion to oust if you consider it objectively or rationally. Try applying it to others or yourself by asking if not EVERYONE should then be doing more? Nobody in athletics or swimming gets criticism for not expanding their repertoire when a rival or someone else does. In fact, most who move to another event get accused of running from their rival. Opinions are boring, the reasons behind them are what count.Jumpyjohn07-11-2026
- for a medical chief to throw things like is just bad. There are already radios which were banned for spectacle. allow radios. Gps trackers are not a complete solutionabstractengineer07-11-2026
- Yeah man...PogiSloFans07-11-2026
- any rider less than 25 whether they are really ready for the position of leadership of GT is probably not the case. I think Pogi himself suffered when he was defeated by Jonas in the TDF twice. But that would be the team's job to ensure support so that they can bounce back. It requires a team and time to get back up and win after getting knocked down.abstractengineer07-11-2026
- I'm very glad he got the big late Quickstep Vuelta win and I hope he has a few left for Euskaltel-Euskadi.flyer07-11-2026
- My memories of Ivan Basso aren't good but I liked his sister Elisa ok.flyer07-11-2026
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