No doubt the people in Slovenia are extremely happy with the current situation.
Did we (in Britain) moan when Sky were winning everything? Others did.
Tour de France 2026 ***Spoilers***
- Thread starter wakemalcolm
- Start date
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No doubt the people in Slovenia are extremely happy with the current situation.
Did we (in Britain) moan when Sky were winning everything? Others did.
Legs
usually riding on Zwift or up steep hills...
- Location
- Staffordshire
and Paris-Roubaix!
There is surely an element of it being boringly predictable, but there's also an element that this is professional cycling. A sport that throughout its entire history has been associated with people cheating to gain an advantage. Now, we have a quantum leap in overall speeds across the peloton, and a guy smashing times up all the climbs, all while dominating every kind of race in a manner never seen before. Oh, and he's in a team run by Gianetti.
No Ta Doctor
Veteran
It's fine if you're winning all the stages, but if you aren't then your DS is probably wishing he could whip you into a Max Gallop
roadrash
cycle chatterer
- Location
- sitting on the edge of wigan pier
why is it , a certain percentage of cycling fans love to moan no matter who is winning, its as if they cant stand watching who ever is the best at any given time.
No Ta Doctor
Veteran
To be fair, one of the main similarities between Pogacar and Sky/Ineos/Netcompany are that they're both trying to complete the set of monuments.
Skynet have won three in total over 16.5 seasons and are missing both Flanders and Lombardia, while Pog has won thirteen over 7.5 seasons and is only missing Roubaix. It's anyone's guess who'll win this battle of domination.
kingrollo
Legendary Member
Really. I thought he looked pretty well recovered considering what he'd just done.
Blazing Saddles
Über Member
If Pog wasn’t in the race we would be moaning about Jonas having a pretty comfortable lead, if not actually calling the race quite over after a measly 6 stages.
The bottom line is that unfortunately, fans can’t script the race. Otherwise, every edition would become 1989 again and boringly predictable.
Dogtrousers
Lefty tighty. Get it righty.
Those were indeed entertaining. As were the last two Roubaix, thanks in large part to Pog.
Lombardia ... not so entertaining.
Pog (or indeed Jonas) riding the vast majority of three weeks in pink or yellow while we admire the scenery is just a travelogue. More Judith Chalmers than Sean Kelly.
Are we not entertained? Well, no.
Linuswordymann
Regular
Cheer up it's only nearly three mins
No Ta Doctor
Veteran
I don't know why people moaned about Skynet Ineos, looking back on it. Their period of domination of stage racing lasted about 8 seasons, and in that time only Froome looked unbeatable. When Froome was the dominant stage racer there were others who were great in the classics (Gilbert, Cancellara, Boonen, Sagan...).
Now think back to Froome's most exciting win - the Giro in 2018. On stage 19 he attacked solo from 80km out on Finestre to demoralise and destroy Simon Yates in pink, who dropped 17 places in his despair. The ride was meticulously planned, with feed stations placed all along the way with half-filled bottles to reduce weight and the precise amount of carbs he'd need to fuel his attack. It was a ride so shockingly audacious many couldn't believe it. Comparisons (faulty in many ways) were made to Floyd Landis's miracle ride over a decade before. There were no other rides to compare to. Most people watching the stage were glued to it - could he really do it?
But Pog goes 80km out and it seems a foregone conclusion, unless he forgets to eat or rides off the road. It's just routine. There's nothing audacious about it, there's no jeopardy, there's no real risk. This isn't Pogacar's fault. But it's not very interesting or exciting for me. I like tactics, strategy, cycling being a game of chess on two wheels. Pog just has the strongest legs, it's pretty much just brute force.
There's two things there. I didn't think the Giro was at all exciting either, so from a racing perspective, things aren't really any different. It's more the incredulity with which I'm watching what he does. Since 2020 we've practically been watching a different sport such is the scale of the speed increase. The only time that's happened in the past was when EPO was introduced into the sport. Now it's supposedly more carbs.
- Location
- Somewhere wet & hilly in NW England.
This ^^^^
IMO it is fantastic to see a competitor move the game along in whatever sport they compete in.
I guess the moaners will be moaning about Seixas a few years down the track if his form trajectory continues.
N0bodyOfTheGoat
Über Member
- Location
- Hampshire, UK
Imagine if there wasn't a heatwave in France, Pog would be a stage ahead of the rest! 
