+0
00:26
00:23
+9
10-05-2026 15:09
+1
06-05-2026 15:47
+4
05-05-2026 23:17
+6
05-05-2026 23:08
+35
05-05-2026 15:25
+3
27-04-2026 16:31
23-04-2026 15:43
+8
17-04-2026 03:40
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+0
MidnightRider
You clearly have no idea how his teammates feel about him. Did you see the pain face on Rex? Did you see veterans like Campy and Sepp empty their tanks for him? Riders of their stature could absolutely stand up to him, but have no need to. They like and respect him, and work like demons to support him.00:26
+0
MidnightRider
A wholly ludicrous take. He was all over the place thanking his teammates after the race, and of course they celebrate back at the hotel that night. He is clearly well-liked by his teammates, including veterans like Campy and Sepp who have more than enough stature to stand up to behavior that is bad for the the team. They accept him for who he is, and so should fans.00:23
+9
MidnightRider
Older/recently retired riders like Geraint Thomas and Peter Sagan say that pro racing no longer has any room for fun. The training is year-round and the racing is relentlessly intense from KM 0. Good for Wout and the other pros to have an event like this that is serious enough to be interesting, but still mostly for fun. Seems like a great weekend for lots of people, and in this case an exciting finale with a real life alien on course.10-05-2026 15:09
+1
MidnightRider
I just don't think it's "stooping low." Even the routine fight for position within a seemingly calm peloton is a huge struggle; pushing and yelling, top riders asserting themselves, lesser riders trying to hold on, team cars yelling in their ears, etc. And of course they are all fighting for their professional lives. Doesn't mean it should be ugly or personal, but the stakes are high and the margins are small. Some aggression or intimidation is normal.06-05-2026 15:47
+4
MidnightRider
While I agree that we like friendly rivals - I mean, who didn't get a little misty when MVDP congratulated Wout at Roubaix? - I think that what drives sport even more is heated rivals. Mercx, Hinault, Armstrong, Boonen, and many other champions have been famously fierce. We can debate where Pog is on that scale, but he is ruthless when he needs to be.05-05-2026 23:17
+6
MidnightRider
Absolutely. No one wants cheaters or dirty players, but intimidation, trash talk, and all that are built right into sports at almost all levels.05-05-2026 23:08
+35
MidnightRider
Speaking as a Visma (and Matteo) fan, Pog's job is to win races, not coddle his opponents. Anything he can do to intimidate or discourage them (within the rules, of course) is fair game. These are elite professional athletes; they should be able to both give and take some heat.05-05-2026 15:25
+3
MidnightRider
Two runners recently finished a official marathon under 2 hours. In the NBA, Victor Wembanyama is doing things at 7'4" that players 6'2" were not doing when I was younger. Shohei Otani may well win both an MVP and a Cy Young award in baseball. On and on it goes. The science of sport, the ubiquity of top training, the expansion of the talent pool across the globe, and all the money involved have combined to produce the biggest, fastest, most skilled athletes in almost every sport. In some cases by astonishing margins. Cycling has been among the last big sport to go through this revolution, in part because of the post-doping hangover, and in part because there is a natural conservatism in large parts of the cycling world. But that has changed since 2019/20, obviously, and what we are seeing in this sport is the nearly inevitable result of all the same factors that have advanced other sports. Of course there are cheaters, but 99% of what we are seeing is natural and admirable progress.27-04-2026 16:31
+4
MidnightRider
I was at the Montreal GP at which Wout finished 2nd to Pogacar. In a strong field, Wout was with Pog until the last few hundred meters, at which point there was a 180-degree hairpin into an uphill finish. Much better suited for Pog after 15k of climbing to come to a nearly complete stop and then accelerate up the hill. If it had finished on a flat, Wout would have won. But it didn't, so he didn't, and Pog is even better now. But with a bit less climbing for the WC course, Wout absolutely has a chance. He is on cracking form, and he has acknowledged that the win on Montmartre (albeit with Pog not at his best) rejuvenated his confidence. His performances this spring will obviously have added to that confidence. As long as he stays healthy, he would in my view be on the short list of favorites behind Pog.23-04-2026 15:43
+8
MidnightRider
Clearly not everyone understands. Not only is bad luck part of it, there is a difference between leading and chasing. Different groups/pairings, different tactics. It seems worth noting, for example, that when MVDP had closed to within 20 seconds at the 54km mark, Wout launched and Pog followed. They quickly built the lead back out to 40 seconds, which means they had not been fully on their limit. They were sensibly holding back just bit, no doubt due to the big gap to MVDP. But when he got close they were able to move on, at which point they had to play a complicated game with each other: attacking at times, cooperating at other times, testing each other while trying to protect their lead and still save something for the end. They slowed strategically as they got near the finale, then more yet once they got on the track. The chase group, which was still racing full gas, closed down some of the remaining gap at that point. The claim that MVDP was stronger because his elapsed time was lower misses all of that, and the claim that he would have dropped the other two is absurd.17-04-2026 03:40