{"id":216596,"date":"2025-10-16T05:47:10","date_gmt":"2025-10-16T05:47:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/216596\/"},"modified":"2025-10-16T05:47:10","modified_gmt":"2025-10-16T05:47:10","slug":"tadej-pogacar-is-somehow-still-getting-stronger","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/216596\/","title":{"rendered":"Tadej Poga\u010dar Is Somehow Still Getting Stronger"},"content":{"rendered":"

Comparing Poga\u010dar’s obliteration of Il Lombardia with his other recent bests shows the peloton has got a serious problem.<\/p>\n

\"Power<\/p>\n

(Photo: Getty Images)<\/p>\n

Published October 15, 2025 11:15AM<\/p>\n

In my last Power Analysis column<\/a>, I explained how the professional peloton can beat Tadej Poga\u010dar<\/a>. When it came to the 119th edition of Il Lombardia<\/a>, they didn\u2019t listen. Any guesses at the outcome? The world champion destroyed them all.<\/p>\n

The final monument of the 2025 season made its way from Como to Bergamo along a 241.5km route that included 4,639 meters of climbing. The first 150km were a warmup for the mountainous finale that included the Passo Della Crocetta (11.7km at 5.8%), Passo di Ganda (9.3km at 7.1%), and Colle Aperto (1.3km at 7.4%).<\/p>\n

Everyone knew that Poga\u010dar would attack on the Passo di Ganda, which topped out at 31km to go. So what did they do to prepare for the inevitable attack? A few riders had the right idea, such as Quinn Simmons who attacked at kilometer zero. \u201cCaptain America\u201d helped form the 14-rider breakaway<\/a> that stayed out front for the majority of the day.<\/p>\n

By the time they reached the finish, Simmons had averaged 357w (NP 390w) for nearly six hours. The craziest part? He didn\u2019t even finish on the podium. The American finished 4th\u2026but let\u2019s rewind to 150km to go.<\/p>\n

Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe were pacing in the peloton, not UAE Team Emirates-XRG with the overwhelming race favorite in Poga\u010dar. Instead, the team of Primo\u017e Rogli\u010d were doing the lion\u2019s share of the work. Their best result at the end of the day: 22nd place. But I digress.<\/p>\n

The way that the race was playing out, the only way to beat Poga\u010dar was to be far enough ahead at the bottom of Passo di Ganda that you were still within touching distance following the inevitable catch. Simmons was the last survivor of the breakaway, and he began the Passo di Ganda with a 2:45 lead. However, Jay Vine and UAE Team Emirates-XRG began mowing down the American, launching Poga\u010dar from the lead group with a few kilometers to go on the climb.<\/p>\n

Simmons\u2019 gap evaporated, and it wasn\u2019t long until Poga\u010dar was solo off the front of Il Lombardia. There wasn\u2019t much else to say over the final 40km. Remco Evenepoel and Michael Storer were the best of the rest on the Passo di Ganda, finishing second and third, respectively, in Bergamo. Simmons held on for 4th, while Isaac Del Toro won the small group sprint for fifth.<\/p>\n

Poga\u010dar\u2019s dominance is, of course, utterly impressive. But we\u2019re not here to focus on yet another Poga\u010dar race win. Instead, we\u2019re here to analyze Poga\u010dar\u2019s 2025 season and how he has progressed (or regressed) from previous years.<\/p>\n

Il Lombardia
\n\"Poga\u010darPoga\u010dar blew everyone\u2019s doors off \u2013 again \u2013 at Il Lombardia. (Photo: Luca Bettini \u2013 Pool\/Getty Images )<\/p>\n

Poga\u010dar\u2019s attack on Passo di Ganda was one of the best climbing performances of his entire career. We\u2019re not joking. Just because he seemed to win so easily doesn\u2019t mean that he wasn\u2019t performing at his best. Before the world champion launched, the pace was already around 7w\/kg in the lead group.<\/p>\n

Oscar Onley was one of the riders following the UAE Team Emirates-XRG train, and he averaged 6.7w\/kg for the first half of the Passo di Ganda. Keep in mind, this was the shallower part of the climb with an average gradient of 6.7%. Onley averaged 26kph during this section of the climb, meaning that he was saving at least 10-20w in the draft.<\/p>\n

When Vine finished his pull, Poga\u010dar launched at 950w and rode at 470w for six minutes to blow out his gap. The world champion averaged 390w for the final 49:44 of Il Lombardia, but the normalized power was significantly higher when you factor in the corners, attacks, and descents.<\/p>\n

Let\u2019s take a closer look at Poga\u010dar\u2019s effort on the Passo di Ganda.<\/p>\n

Best performances of 2025<\/p>\n

The climb of Passo di Ganda is Poga\u010dar\u2019s best 20-minute w\/kg performance of the season. There were a few comparable performances in the Tour de France, such as his ascents of the Hautacam<\/a> and Mont Ventoux, but those climbs were significantly longer at 35-55 minutes.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Poga\u010dar \u2013 Passo di Ganda<\/p>\n

Time: 21:19
\nEstimated Average Power: ~465w (7.2w\/kg)
\nVAM: 1,869 Vm\/h<\/p>\n

The Tour\u2019s stage 13 time trial on Peyragudes is the most comparable performance to Poga\u010dar\u2019s Passo di Ganda ascent. But even then, we are talking about a completely fresh effort versus a race-winning attack after 4,500 kJs. The world champion pushed ~7.5w\/kg for 17 minutes and 19 seconds on Peyragudes, and an estimated 7.2w\/kg for 21 minutes 19 seconds on Passo di Ganda. Poga\u010dar had also crashed a few days before the Peyragudes effort, so it\u2019s unlikely he was 100% for the effort.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Poga\u010dar \u2013 Peyragudes<\/p>\n

Time: 17:19
\nEstimated Average Power: ~475w (7.5w\/kg)
\nVAM: 1,960 Vm\/h<\/p>\n

It is also worth noting that Poga\u010dar\u2019s effort didn\u2019t finish at the top of Passo di Ganda. He still had 40km to go, and he was able to push 350-400w for the remainder of the race. Of course, this is only a Zone 3 effort for him, but it is still 5.5-6w\/kg after 5,000 kJs.<\/p>\n

How much Poga\u010dar has improved since 2023
\n\"\"Poga\u010dar ran riot in the Pyrenees at the 2025 Tour de France and could do it again in 2026. (Photo: LOIC VENANCE\/AFP via Getty Images )<\/p>\n

The pro peloton doesn\u2019t want to hear this: Poga\u010dar is still improving.<\/p>\n

While it\u2019s obvious that he has improved since 2019, we can even see the progress from one year to another. Take 2023 for example, when Poga\u010dar climbed the Passo di Ganda in 23:07. It was an incredibly impressive effort at the time, but it was nearly two minutes slower than this year\u2019s effort.<\/p>\n

Even when you account for a possible headwind, equipment differences, and stop-start tactics, a two-minute difference is nearly unfathomable. That is a 9% increase in speed between 2023 and 2025.<\/p>\n

Velon published portions of Poga\u010dar\u2019s data last year, including his 48km solo effort to win Il Lombardia. He averaged 340w for just over an hour last year, versus 390w for 50 minutes this year. It is an incredible difference.<\/p>\n

What we are seeing is not just the addition of heat training and shorter cranks. Instead, we are seeing the difference that these changes make when they are implemented long-term. That is the key: long-term improvement. You could add heat training to any cyclist\u2019s program and they will probably gain a few watts in the first couple of weeks. But how many watts will they gain when they heat train consistently for 2.5 years? That\u2019s what we are finding out now.<\/p>\n

You can apply the same principles to your own training. Take the things that you know work for you. Let\u2019s say it is weekly heat training, VO2 Max intervals, and core work. Don\u2019t just commit to a few weeks of training \u2013 commit to a full year. You will make small gains in the first few weeks, but think of how much you can gain in the long term.<\/p>\n

Remember that your progress won\u2019t be linear (i.e. you won\u2019t gain 2w on your FTP every single week). It\u2019s much more likely that your progress looks like a staircase. Some weeks you will improve, while others you might stagnate. But when you are consistent with your goals, the progress will always be there in the long-term. Just look at Poga\u010dar\u2019s 2025 season.<\/p>\n

He won his fourth Tour de France, but he certainly wasn\u2019t at his best, and he didn\u2019t break any of the performance benchmarks that he set during the 2024 Tour. Poga\u010dar won the Ronde van Vlaanderen and Li\u00e8ge-Bastogne-Li\u00e8ge, but he came up short at Milan-San Remo and Paris-Roubaix.<\/p>\n

Even at the UCI Road World Championships, Poga\u010dar didn\u2019t look his best when he failed to reach the podium in the time trial. But he didn\u2019t let that performance keep him down. A few days later, he dominated the road race to earn his second consecutive rainbow jersey.<\/p>\n

Power Analysis data courtesy of Strava<\/p>\n

Strava sauce extension<\/a><\/p>\n

Riders:<\/p>\n

Tadej Poga\u010dar
\nOscar Onley
\nQuinn Simmons<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Comparing Poga\u010dar’s obliteration of Il Lombardia with his other recent bests shows the peloton has got a serious…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":216597,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[445],"tags":[49,48,635,54263,82,99383,78247,54266,54267],"class_list":{"0":"post-216596","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-cycling","8":"tag-ca","9":"tag-canada","10":"tag-cycling","11":"tag-parent_category-road","12":"tag-sports","13":"tag-tag-il-lombardia","14":"tag-tag-power-analysis","15":"tag-tag-tadej-pogacar","16":"tag-type-article"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/216596","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=216596"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/216596\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/216597"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=216596"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=216596"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=216596"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}