Tadej Pogacar's dominant cycling year is now truly at an end. The Slovenian superstar of UAE Team Emirates won his fourth consecutive Tour of Lombardy on Saturday, putting the icing on the cake of an incredible 2024. In it, he won virtually everything where he competed, which led to mixed reactions from cycling analysts and commentators. Karsten Kroon's words in the podcast Kop over Kop spoke volumes.
"He's only 26," Kroon begins about the phenomenon from Slovenia. "Suppose he progresses like this for two or three more years. Then, in two years, the UCI will intervene, and he will just be forced to start half an hour later than the rest," said the 48-year-old Dutchman in laughter. He saw the peloton ride against Pogacar in Lombardy. "They did that well, but it's not enough to stop the UAE Team Emirates team. They should have blocked the road and given Pogacar a 10-minute deficit that way... But even then, he still wins," joked the former cyclist.
So, the fact that Pogacar won almost all the races he competed in this year has stirred up considerable debate in the cycling world. Should the cycling fan be happy to see absolute greatness at work, or should it fear that Pogacar's dominance is killing the excitement in cycling? According to Kroon, the cycling fan should "basically worry," although the former rider remains hopeful. "This supremacy, too, will come to an end."
Kroon, therefore, wants to compare Pogi's current display of power with other waves of dominance by cyclists. "In the past, we have often shouted that someone would win the Tour de France for the next 10 years, but then it didn't happen." Still, at this point, he says, there is nothing to do but "pay our respects" to Pogacar. "He is the best."
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According to fellow Eurosport commentator Jeroen Vanbelleghem, no one could defeat Pogacar in Lombardy. "Not even a fit Remco Evenepoel. In the Tour, where he was in top form, he was also just defeated by this Pogacar. Maybe he could have stayed with him longer, but winning? No." Kroon does put his hopes on the number two rider of the Tour of Lombardy 2024. "He did say after Saturday that he wanted to work this winter to keep up with Pogacar. I think that's a nice ambition."