{"id":444016,"date":"2026-02-25T02:25:10","date_gmt":"2026-02-25T02:25:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/444016\/"},"modified":"2026-02-25T02:25:10","modified_gmt":"2026-02-25T02:25:10","slug":"top-riders-like-pogacar-vingegaard-or-del-toro-dont-have-weaknesses-anymore","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/444016\/","title":{"rendered":"Top riders like Pogacar, Vingegaard or Del Toro don\u2019t have weaknesses anymore"},"content":{"rendered":"

<\/p>\n

It is not admiration for talent alone. It is recognition of completeness.<\/p>\n

From brilliance with flaws to near-perfectionK\u00fcng\u2019s reference point is telling. He rode alongside Thibaut Pinot<\/a> at Groupama – FDJ<\/a>, a rider capable of breathtaking mountain victories and a Monument triumph at Il Lombardia in 2018. Pinot was one of the purest climbers of his generation and stood on the Tour de France podium in 2014.But he also had identifiable vulnerabilities<\/a>.<\/p>\n

At the 2014 Tour, Pinot lost second place in the long individual time trial on Stage 20, a result that cemented a long-running perception: for all his climbing brilliance, he could be exposed against the clock. That duality, immense strength coupled with visible weakness, made him compelling and unpredictable.<\/p>\n

K\u00fcng sees that archetype fading. \u201cI used to ride with Thibaut Pinot. He had some enormous qualities, but he also had weaknesses,\u201d he explained. \u201cThe modern top riders don\u2019t have weaknesses anymore.\u201d<\/p>\n

The implication is clear. Where Pinot might soar in the mountains and struggle in a time trial, today\u2019s leaders do both.<\/p>\n

The complete rider templateConsider Tadej Pogacar<\/a>. Over recent seasons, he has won the Tour de France, conquered cobbled Monuments such as the Tour of Flanders, dominated Il Lombardia, and delivered decisive time trials in Grand Tours. He has proven competitive on steep, punchy climbs, long Alpine ascents, cobbles and against the clock.<\/p>\n

The same pattern applies to Jonas Vingegaard. Once viewed primarily as a pure climber, Vingegaard famously demolished the field in the 2023 Tour de France time trial to Combloux, beating Pogacar by over a minute and effectively sealing overall victory. His time trialing, positioning and crosswind resilience have improved markedly since his early WorldTour seasons.<\/p>\n

Even the youngest name K\u00fcng cites, Isaac Del Toro, has already demonstrated breadth. A Giro d\u2019Italia stage winner and overall podium finisher in 2025, Del Toro has also claimed hilly one-day victories such as Milano-Torino and shown increasing strength against the clock. His profile spans Grand Tour durability and punchy Classics explosiveness before his 23rd birthday.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey can time trial, they know how to position themselves in the peloton, they can ride in crosswinds,\u201d K\u00fcng said. \u201cOf course, they can rely on a strong team around them, but their skill set is very broad. That\u2019s a big change compared to ten years ago.\u201d<\/p>\n

A shrinking margin in the Classics<\/p>\n

For K\u00fcng, that evolution has practical consequences.<\/p>\n

The Tudor Pro Cycling leader has built a career on consistency. He has stood on the podium at Paris-Roubaix, collected European time trial titles, and repeatedly finished in the top five of the sport\u2019s toughest one-day races. He is almost always there.<\/p>\n

Yet in an era of near faultless superstars, being \u201calmost\u201d complete is rarely enough.<\/p>\n

Even at Omloop Het Nieuwsblad, where he was caught inside the final kilometre last year, K\u00fcng admits the odds are stacked. \u201cNine times out of ten, they will be better than me, but I focus on that one time when it happens that one of them doesn\u2019t win. You never know what happens in the Classics. That\u2019s what makes these races so special.\u201d<\/p>\n

It is both realism and defiance. \u201cI\u2019ve been on the podium in some races, and in almost all of them I\u2019ve finished in the top five at some point. If you\u2019re always there, eventually it will fall your way. A moment like that can define a career. The chance may be very small against Van der Poel and Pogacar, but you always have to keep believing.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Stefan<\/p>\n

K\u00fcng enters his 12th season as a pro rider in 2026<\/p>\n

The end of visible flaws?<\/p>\n

Whether or not the era of Pinot-style brilliance has truly disappeared is open to debate. Even today\u2019s champions have off days, bad luck or tactical misfires. But what K\u00fcng is articulating is harder to dismiss: the margin created by a single exploitable weakness has narrowed dramatically.<\/p>\n

Time trials no longer reliably undo climbers. Crosswinds no longer reliably expose mountain specialists. Cobbles no longer automatically eliminate Grand Tour contenders.<\/p>\n

In that sense, K\u00fcng\u2019s words are less about nostalgia and more about adaptation. To win in 2026 is not simply to be strong in one domain. It is to be strong everywhere.<\/p>\n

For riders like K\u00fcng, that reality does not remove belief. It simply redefines the odds.<\/p>\n

And in the Spring Classics, where chaos still reigns, sometimes one chance out of ten is enough.<\/p><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" It is not admiration for talent alone. It is recognition of completeness. From brilliance with flaws to…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":444017,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[37],"tags":[4985,56529,109610,9046,101,109542,8782,161339,56,54,55],"class_list":{"0":"post-444016","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-cycling","8":"tag-cycling","9":"tag-groupama-fdj","10":"tag-isaac-del-toro","11":"tag-jonas-vingegaard","12":"tag-sports","13":"tag-stefan-kung","14":"tag-tadej-pogacar","15":"tag-thibaut-pinot","16":"tag-uk","17":"tag-united-kingdom","18":"tag-unitedkingdom"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/444016","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=444016"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/444016\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/444017"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=444016"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=444016"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=444016"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}