"You don't grasp exactly what you're witnessing" - Michael Matthews details Tadej Pogacar's climbing ability in training

Michael Matthews is one of the riders Tadej Pogacar frequently trains with back in Monaco, and is one of the riders who knows best what the World Champion can do on the bike. He has detailed a recent training ride in which Pogacar beat his own climbing record on a mountain known for being the testing grounds of Lance Armstrong and Chris Froome.

This was at the Col de la Madone, just outside the Monaco and Nice area. It is about 14.5 kilometers long at 7%, and because of its prime location, it has often been used for testing and also serious training for the riders who live in the area - often, some of the best in the world. Matthews and Pogacar have trained before on a day where the World Champion put out an all-out effort on the climb.

"I think we did one hour, pretty much a high zone two, low zone three [training], but one hour, pretty much as hard as you can go. And then he went and done his fastest time on Madone ever," Matthews said in the Roadman podcast.

"And basically blew up Strava. I mean, how is that possible? Like if guys are going to do a Strava time, normally they cruise there, maybe do some hit outs before, just open up, and then you go and do it. And he's just like 'I'm going to see if I can break this record'," the Australian laughs. Although he is a sprinter, Matthews is still a strong climber himself, and a rider who remains at the top of his game.

But despite this, there was no preparing him for the way he would see the UAE Team Emirates - XRG rider fly past him on the climb. "I started before him, so I had some different efforts. And he's like 'oh just take a video if you can, and I'm coming past'. And I was like, took a video, and on the video, I was doing myself close to 400 [watts], and he just rode past me like he was doing a training ride".

Those in the peloton are well aware that it is not by chance that Pogacar is currently at the very top of the sport, uncontested. He has won the Tour de France, World Championships, several monuments, stage-races and just about anything he's started in recent years.

But even those who spend time with him on the bike don't get used to what they are seeing. "But on the video, maybe you saw it on social media, you don't grasp exactly what you're witnessing. Like if I look down at my power and see him riding past, it's just mind blowing to see the speed that he can go up the hill, and it looks effortless".

The two often train together, and the Australian has also awarded a lot of his current motivation and evolution on the bike to the time he spends with Pogacar. Hence he has particularly detailed insight on his training, and shares that Pogacar beat his previous record by a significant margin too.

"I don't know. He broke his own record by 45 seconds or something [...] I'm really bad with Strava times, but it was 45 seconds quicker than he'd done it before. And he already took it off Richie [Porte] when Richie was priming to win the Tour de France, so you can imagine how fast it was".

These are times that also surpass by a long shot the times Lance Armstrong would have on this climb, however Matthews is aware that the material he currently rides on has nothing to do with what was used in the past.

"Yeah, and I guess the technology of the bikes, everything is helping a lot, but the wheels, tyres... Yeah, I also depend on the wind direction, a lot of different factors, but from what I saw with my own eyes, I was just like, oh wow, that was incredible".