{"id":193008,"date":"2025-10-06T08:41:13","date_gmt":"2025-10-06T08:41:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/193008\/"},"modified":"2025-10-06T08:41:13","modified_gmt":"2025-10-06T08:41:13","slug":"what-can-anyone-do-about-tadej-pogacar-cyclings-quandary","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/193008\/","title":{"rendered":"What Can Anyone Do About Tadej Poga\u010dar? Cycling’s Quandary"},"content":{"rendered":"

Analysis: They\u2019ve drilled him, raced him, dodged him \u2014 nothing works. For the past 48 months, cycling\u2019s best still can\u2019t crack the Poga\u010dar code.<\/p>\n

\"Pogacar\"<\/p>\n

Poga\u010dar is riding a two-year wave of utter dominance. (Photo: Dario Belingheri\/Getty Images)<\/p>\n

Published October 6, 2025 02:08AM<\/p>\n

What can anyone do about Tadej Poga\u010dar<\/a>?<\/p>\n

Sunday\u2019s thrashing at the European championships<\/a> proved yet again that Poga\u010dar is in a league of his own.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s the question echoing through team buses and training camps as another season closes with the Slovenian sitting on top of the cycling world.<\/p>\n

In what\u2019s becoming his trademark long-range solo move, the Slovenian superstar made mincemeat of the world\u2019s best riders and his most direct rivals in a back-to-back grand slam at the UCI road worlds and European championships.<\/p>\n

That comes ahead of a likely fifth straight Il Lombardia crown that will tie him with Fausto Coppi and after another season of demolition.<\/p>\n

This winter will be a rough one for team managers, sport directors, tacticians, and coaches trying to find a weak spot to exploit going into 2026.<\/p>\n

Despite trying to grind him into the ground, take him on directly, or in some cases avoid him at all costs, the conclusion is the same: there\u2019s almost no way to beat Poga\u010dar.<\/p>\n

Also read: Why Evenepoel needs a big win before the Red Bull era begins<\/a><\/p>\n

Cycling\u2019s first Tour-worlds double \u2014 winning the yellow jersey and rainbow jersey two years in a row \u2014 leaves only one final, brutal option: acceptance.<\/p>\n

At this point, there\u2019s no more hiding what\u2019s been obvious since the decade began. Poga\u010dar is simply better than everyone else.<\/p>\n

His consistency, depth, and aggression have lifted him to a level where tactics, coaching, calendars, and ambitions do not apply.<\/p>\n

And if the peloton finally accepts that Pogacar is simply better, what is everyone left to do? Hoping, waiting, and praying for a bad day that may never come.<\/p>\n

It ain\u2019t pretty, but that seems to be just about the only option right now. Here\u2019s the reality:<\/p>\n

Drill him: Well, that doesn\u2019t work
\n\"VismaVisma\u2019s grinding tactic backfired at the Tour. (Photo: Bernard PAPON \/ AFP)<\/p>\n

Visma-Lease a Bike came into the 2025 Tour de France with one plan: throttle him and then crack him.<\/p>\n

The team had reason to believe. It happened with dramatic effect in 2022 and again in 2023.<\/p>\n

So after Poga\u010dar\u2019s near-perfect 2024 romp coming on the heels of Vingegaard\u2019s Itzulia crash, the Killer Bees believed if they had a healthy Vingo and if they piled on even more in the first half of the 2025 Tour, they would crack Pogi.<\/p>\n

Instead, they broke themselves.<\/p>\n

Matteo Jorgenson, who started as the team\u2019s No. 2, flamed out in the Pyr\u00e9n\u00e9es. Gir0 giant-killer Simon Yates was never at that pink jersey level. Sepp Kuss looked back at his best, but no one could follow Pogacar, let alone turn any screws.<\/p>\n

Vingegaard showed promise early but flamed out like the Hindenburg on Hautacam and again in the climbing time trial.<\/p>\n

Visma keep digging, going all-in on Mont Ventoux and again on the Col de la Loze, but by then, Pogi was on cruise control and Vingegaard was a spent force.<\/p>\n

Trying to bury him early only drains everyone else.<\/p>\n

The yellow jackets were almost like additional teammates for Pogacar, who came over the top to deliver the sting. \u00a0Visma learned that the hard way in July.<\/p>\n

Take him on: Someone\u2019s got to try
\n\"EvenepoelEvenepoel gave it all and stayed close, but couldn\u2019t beat Poga\u010dar\/ (Photo: Bernard Papon \u2013 Pool\/Getty Images)<\/p>\n

Vingegaard and Visma deserve kudos for at least trying at the Tour de France.<\/p>\n

Most don\u2019t.<\/p>\n

Vingegaard even reprogrammed his racing style to match Poga\u010dar\u2019s explosiveness. The Dane who once dominated long climbs turned his focus toward the short, savage ramps that define modern racing.<\/p>\n

It made sense, because Poga\u010dar\u2019s most dangerous on explosive finales when he can open up gaps and hoover up time bonuses.<\/p>\n

He was close at Mur de Bretagne, but when the Tour hit the real mountains, Vinge\u2019s long-range, diesel sputtered, and Vingegaard lost his wedge against Poga\u010dar.<\/p>\n

Enter Remco Evenepoel, whose ambition, ego, and ever-improving engine is one of the few who can take it straight to Poga\u010dar.<\/p>\n

With the climb-heavy courses in Rwanda and France turning away the cobble-bashers like Wout van Aert and Mathieu van der Poel, Evenepoel took up the challenge.<\/p>\n

A temper tantrum in Rwanda gave him a bit of cover, but the Belgian was blatantly spanked down in France at the Euros.<\/p>\n

Evenepoel is under pressure to be able to beat Pogacar, and it\u2019s the one-day races like worlds and Euros that give him the best chance, but like Vingegaard at the grand tours, Pogacar has Evenepoel\u2019s number.<\/p>\n

Over the past 48 months of Poga\u010dar\u2019s ruthless run, only MVPD has been able to take it straight to Poga\u010dar and beat him.<\/p>\n

Avoid him: At least there\u2019s a chance for a win
\n\"Roglic\"Rogli\u010d\u2019s unconventional approach saw him crash out of the Giro and be eclipsed by a teammate at the Tour. (Photo: Tim de Waele\/Getty Images)<\/p>\n

If you can\u2019t beat him, avoid him.<\/p>\n

That could be the new tactic going into 2026, but that\u2019s no guarantee either.<\/p>\n

Primo\u017e Rogli\u010d gave that a go in 2025, targeting the Giro as a clean shot at pink, with the idea of coming into the Tour as a wild card.<\/p>\n

That backfired on both scores. Rogli\u010d crashed out of the Giro and left Italy with nothing, and then came to the Tour under-cooked and was surpassed by teammate Florian Lipowitz inside the Red Bull machine.<\/p>\n

Everyone knows that going up against Pogacar means second place, so will more riders try to avoid him going forward just to get some wins on the board?<\/p>\n

The number of times the \u201cBig 4\u201d actually face off is already pretty rare. In fact, Evenepoel and Poga\u010dar have only faced off four times in stage races so far in their careers (spoiler alert: Poga\u010dar won them all).<\/p>\n

The peloton could split into two camps \u2014 those chasing wins where Poga\u010dar isn\u2019t racing, and those brave (or foolish) enough to try.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s a tough spot for the peloton\u2019s top riders. Avoiding Pog might yield results, but not relevance. You can pad a palmar\u00e8s, but history won\u2019t remember who won the Tour de Suisse when Poga\u010dar won everything else.<\/p>\n

Accept it: Waiting for a bad day
\n\"Vingegaard\"Vingegaard congratulates Poga\u010dar with another win. (Photo: Dario Belingheri\/Getty Images)<\/p>\n

The final, most humbling option is one that everyone wants to avoid \u2014 acceptance.<\/p>\n

The pack seems now to realize that racing in the Poga\u010dar Era means racing for second. And just like Merckx or Indurain before them, there\u2019s a growing sense of inevitability of the outcome among fans, media, and race organizers.<\/p>\n

Everyone will keep training harder and racing smarter, but what can anyone do when the gap never closes?<\/p>\n

Especially since his partnership with new coach Javier Sola began in late 2023, Poga\u010dar has been borderline untouchable.<\/p>\n

The only thing that can beat Poga\u010dar now is himself, and unfortunately for everyone else, Poga\u010dar is racing smarter. He\u2019s not getting caught out in traps anymore on the Col du Galibier circa 2022.<\/p>\n

The only thing that can \u2014 and has \u2014 beat him are crashes or bad luck. A broken wrist in the 2023 Li\u00e8ge-Bastogne-Li\u00e8ge haunted him all season long.<\/p>\n

He was lucky to avoid serious injury in crashes this year at Strade Bianche and in the first week of the Tour de France. And sooner or later, that luck will run out.<\/p>\n

And that leaves everyone else hoping for that one bad day.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s a terrible way to race, but it\u2019s the brutal reality right now. Riders like Vinegegaard, Evenepoel, and some up-and-comer we might not have even considered might yet will someday get the better of him.<\/p>\n

But will it be because they\u2019re better, or because Poga\u010dar made a mistake or had something happen to him?<\/p>\n

Poga\u010dar has reached that rare space in professional cycling where he is simply better than everyone else. It\u2019s something that happens about every 10 years or so. What was once relative parity is now a race for second in almost every race on the calendar.<\/p>\n

And now that he\u2019s been pounding that into everyone\u2019s head with brutal consistency for 48 months and counting, it\u2019s only going to get worse. His contract runs through 2030 \u2014 that\u2019s five more years.<\/p>\n

If he stays healthy and keeps doing the work, Poga\u010dar will win a fifth yellow jersey, and probably two more to equal the now-erased Armstrong record. He\u2019ll probably add one more on top of that.<\/p>\n

Poga\u010dar isn\u2019t unbeatable forever \u2014 no one is \u2014 but he\u2019s in that rare, untouchable moment where the cycling stars all align.<\/p>\n

And until that window ends, the rest of the world is simply hoping for a bad day.<\/p><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Analysis: They\u2019ve drilled him, raced him, dodged him \u2014 nothing works. For the past 48 months, cycling\u2019s best…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":193009,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[569],"tags":[64,63,784,68224,85,100854,69110,121959,100857,68380,67883],"class_list":{"0":"post-193008","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-cycling","8":"tag-au","9":"tag-australia","10":"tag-cycling","11":"tag-parent_category-road","12":"tag-sports","13":"tag-tag-analysis","14":"tag-tag-jonas-vingegaard","15":"tag-tag-primoz-roglic","16":"tag-tag-remco-evenepoel","17":"tag-tag-tadej-pogacar","18":"tag-type-article"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/193008","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=193008"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/193008\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/193009"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=193008"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=193008"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=193008"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}