<\/p>\n
He pointed to how riders who once looked like contenders now struggle even to race for their own results, highlighting how collective strength and star power have reshaped the balance inside the bunch.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat\u2019s just not fun\u201d<\/p>\n
Asked whether such dominance affects a rider\u2019s willingness to attack, Naesen\u2019s answer shifted from tactics to something more human. He suggested that Pogacar\u2019s position at the very top of the sport now comes with a cost that goes far beyond racing.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019ll only be able to properly judge what they\u2019re doing in a few years,\u201d he said. \u201cBecause he\u2019s not going to keep it up for another ten years. It seems incredibly tough to live in his shoes.\u201d<\/p>\n
Naesen then referenced a moment he had recently seen from Pogacar\u2019s training, using it as a snapshot of how little privacy cycling\u2019s biggest star now enjoys. \u201cI recently saw a little clip of a pee break in training, with a fan sprinting up to him. He can barely pull his shorts back up. That\u2019s just not fun.\u201d<\/p>\n
The remark was not framed as criticism, but as quiet empathy from a rider who operates a step removed from that level of global attention.<\/p>\n
A different world of attention<\/p>\n
Naesen contrasted Pogacar\u2019s experience with his own, and with that of Belgium\u2019s biggest names, explaining that even in one of cycling\u2019s most intense fan cultures, there remains a line between recognition and intrusion.<\/p>\n
\u201cWith me, people look into my trolley in the supermarket and say, \u2018Ah, a bag of crisps, what are we doing mate?\u2019\u201d he said. \u201cPeople over 60 know me, at least on the train. Then they look at me and go, \u2018Who are you again?\u2019 In a charming and polite way.\u201d<\/p>\n
He noted that riders such as Wout van Aert and Remco Evenepoel already live with a far higher level of attention, even during routine rides. Pogacar\u2019s situation, he implied, has moved beyond that entirely.<\/p>\n
\u201cFor their coffee ride they practically need a dark corner table,\u201d Naesen added.<\/p>\n
Dominance with a price<\/p>\n
Naesen\u2019s reflections offer a rare perspective from inside the peloton, not on how Pogacar wins races, but on what it costs to exist permanently at the centre of the sport. While the Slovenian continues to redefine what is possible on the road, Naesen\u2019s comments suggest that the burden of being cycling\u2019s most recognisable figure is now felt just as strongly away from it.<\/p>\n
It is a reminder that in an era of overwhelming dominance, even success comes with pressures that are increasingly difficult to escape.<\/p><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" He pointed to how riders who once looked like contenders now struggle even to race for their…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":468506,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[445],"tags":[49,48,635,13633,16060,82,1422,58564],"class_list":["post-468505","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-cycling","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-cycling","tag-mathieu-van-der-poel","tag-oliver-naesen","tag-sports","tag-tadej-pogacar","tag-tour-of-flanders"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/468505","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=468505"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/468505\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/468506"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=468505"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=468505"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=468505"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}