Thomas agreed. \u201cWhat he\u2019s doing is absolutely insane \u2014 phenomenal,\u201d he said. \u201cWe are witnessing greatness. The greatest ever, potentially even now, but for sure by the time he\u2019s finished.\u201d<\/p>\n
The pair have occasionally questioned whether Pogacar\u2019s dominance risks sapping the unpredictability from the sport, but this time the tone was pure admiration. Rowe reeled off the numbers: \u201cIt\u2019s now sixteen of the last eighteen Monuments won by the same two riders \u2014 Mathieu van der Poel and Pogacar.\u201d And Pogacar\u2019s UAE Team Emirates – XRG, he added, \u201cwon eleven of the fourteen Italian one-day races this autumn.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cFair play,\u201d Thomas replied. \u201cHow many wins has he got this year \u2014 must be close to twenty?\u201d<\/p>\n
Rowe had the number to hand: \u201cNineteen. And they\u2019re not Mickey Mouse races either \u2014 Tours, Tour stages, Monuments. Almost all WorldTour.\u201d<\/p>\n
Thomas shook his head. \u201cThat\u2019s incredible,\u201d he said. \u201cI think if you put him as an individual in the WorldTour rankings, he\u2019d be top ten. That must be a record.\u201d<\/p>\n
Even the rare flashes of weakness are remembered because they\u2019re so rare. Rowe pointed out that \u201che\u2019s only been dropped once this year, and it was Stage 21 of the Tour \u2014 Wout van Aert was the only person to do it.\u201d<\/p>\n
It\u2019s a statistic that\u2019s become folklore already. Thomas may joke about \u201cdropping Pogi\u201d, but as he put it, \u201cyou\u2019ve got to respect it \u2014 what he\u2019s doing is absolutely insane.\u201d<\/p>\n
Paris\u2013Tours: when \u201call in to win\u201d backfires \u2014 and still feels right<\/p>\n
The conversation moved from greatness to grit, as Rowe dissected Paris\u2013Tours, a race where his Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale Team had animated the day\u2019s decisive move. \u201cOnce you\u2019re on the front foot in these races, good things happen,\u201d Rowe said. \u201cGetting there is the hard thing.\u201d<\/p>\n
His account was pure insider insight: Paul Lapeira went clear with one other rider, Stefan Bissegger led a five-man chase, with Trentin and Laporte behind, it was a high-stakes situation \u2014 and then came the decision that split opinion. \u201cWith 1.3k to go, Paul just stopped riding,\u201d Rowe explained. \u201cHe said, \u2018I\u2019m not going to drag him if he\u2019s faster.\u2019 He went all in for the win. If he rides to the line, maybe he\u2019s second, but he thought: I\u2019d rather risk everything trying to win.\u201d<\/p>\n
The gamble failed \u2014 the front duo were caught, Trentin won \u2014 but Rowe admired the intent. \u201cI 100% back it,\u201d he said. \u201cIf you think you\u2019re going to lose the sprint anyway, gamble. If you get caught, you get caught. But at least you\u2019ve tried to win.\u201d<\/p>\n
Thomas agreed: \u201cFair play. Sometimes that\u2019s the right call \u2014 better to go all-in than settle.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cOn the back foot, bad things happen\u201d<\/p>\n
Thomas contrasted that attacking mindset with a far tougher weekend for his own INEOS Grenadiers team. \u201cWhen you\u2019re on the back foot, bad things happen,\u201d he said bluntly.<\/p>\n
A crash on the first stretch of road furniture, a string of punctures and mechanicals \u2014 even Ben Turner left standing on the roadside as the team car blasted past after a late call on race radio. \u201cI put my hand up to apologise,\u201d Thomas admitted. \u201cIt\u2019s brutal, but when the DS calls you for another rider up the road, you\u2019ve got to go.\u201d<\/p>\n
It was the perfect illustration of how quickly fortunes can flip: one squad attacking in formation, another stuck firefighting from kilometre one.<\/p>\n
![\"Geraint](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/geraint-thomas-68bdec517dcd8.jpg@webp.webp\")
<\/p>\n
Geraint Thomas’ own pro career ended at the recent Tour of Britain<\/p>\n
British resilience and the gravel crossover<\/p>\n
As ever, both men saved special praise for the British contingent. Tom Pidcock\u2019s back-to-back efforts \u2014 sixth at Lombardia and sixth again at Gravel Worlds the following day \u2014 didn\u2019t go unnoticed. \u201cThat\u2019s one way to finish your season,\u201d Rowe laughed.<\/p>\n
Elsewhere, Paul Magnier\u2019s three straight stage wins at the Tour of Guangxi drew Rowe\u2019s praise. \u201cHe\u2019s been incredible,\u201d he said. \u201cHim, Brandon McNulty, Seixas \u2014 all these young guys are flying.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cTake it in\u2026 we are witnessing greatness\u201d<\/p>\n
For all the anecdotes, one sentiment kept resurfacing \u2014 that cycling fans shouldn\u2019t resist Pogacar\u2019s era, but relish it. \u201cWe\u2019ve always said maybe it\u2019s a bit predictable,\u201d Thomas reflected, \u201cbut what he\u2019s doing is absolutely insane. You\u2019ve got to respect it.\u201d<\/p>\n
Rowe nodded: \u201cWhen you\u2019re watching him, just take it in. This is our Messi, Tiger, Jordan moment.\u201d<\/p>\n
And when a rider who\u2019s seen it all \u2014 a Tour winner, an Olympic champion \u2014 can only joke that his proudest claim to fame is \u201conce dropping Pogi\u201d, that tells its own story about the level the sport\u2019s reached.<\/p><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Behind the laughter, though, was an acknowledgment of what every pro knows: Pogacar\u2019s level is redefining what\u2019s…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":208143,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[37],"tags":[4985,101,56,54,55],"class_list":{"0":"post-208142","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-cycling","8":"tag-cycling","9":"tag-sports","10":"tag-uk","11":"tag-united-kingdom","12":"tag-unitedkingdom"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/208142","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=208142"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/208142\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/208143"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=208142"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=208142"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=208142"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}