Dominance in pro cycling: Is it good or bad?

Every time he laces up his shoes, I would sigh to myself and tell myself that the race is over. Because he wins almost all of the races he pins a number on, I think that Tadej Pogacar is making professional cycling boring to death.

If you are partially serious about racing, then you know who I am talking about. Pogacar is 25years old, has won the Tour de France twice and also lost it twice. But this year, he is so unstoppable that just like the great Babe Ruth, he would announce where he would attack during a race and yet no one could do anything about it.

The way Pogacar races is so unlike racing in the past 30 years. When Lance Armstrong won his seven TdF’s (which were later taken back for doping), he had a superior team that would control the race. The team would then bring and set him up during the last climb where he would drop his rivals.

In another contrast, Armstrong, even on rare occasions, would gift a rival or a teammate with a win. The most infamous incident involved LA and the Italian legend Marco Pantani when he gave the stage to Ventoux to the “Pirate”. I have to see Pogacar do that this year. One of the most savage things he did to the peloton this year was to attack with 80km to go in the semi-classic, Strade Bianchi. He also made a long breakaway to win the monument, Liege-Bastogne-Liege.

Currently, with two weeks still to race in this year’s Giro d’Italia, Pogacar already had a 2min plus lead and three stage wins. And there seemed to be no one in the peloton that could challenge him.

It would seem to me  that Pogacar is not only so good but he is also hungrier than the rest. At least that’s how I view this.

Reactions to a dominance like this are dual- one is excitement and the other is ennui. Excitement is when you are a true fan and a true believer. Boring is when your favorite rider or team can’t do anything about this dominant rider.

So why would I watch a bike race when I know that Tadej Pogacar is going to win? I have watched LA’s “dominance” from 1997-2005, but it wasn’t the same as Pogacar dominates. Also Armstrong was quite defensive and seemed too serious and angry when talking to the press when he raced because of the doping allegations. Pogacar on the other hand has this boy-next-door look, betraying an interior which is Eddy Merckx-esque. I don’t really want to go to PED’s but it’s strange that there is no one talking and questioning about his superiority which has never been seen before for those fans watching the tour since Greg Lemond won his first TdF in the 80’s.

While I really feel and I believe most fans, too, feel that Pogacar is making bike racing less attractive, It should also be a challenge to his rivals to do something about it. Jonas Vingegaard and Matthieu Van Der Poel, the only two riders who can challenge the Slovenian, are only great in stage races and one day races, respectively. They are not all rounders. To add fuel to the fire, Vingegaard’s participation in the TdF is still in question after a horrible crash.

There is a weird phenomenon in cycling and that is when you are dominating, fans cheer against you. It’s only when you start losing that they will start to love you. I hope it doesn’t come to that conclusion.