Hard to say but I'd go with Pogacar. He has range from winning classics to the GC in tours, which has not been seen for some time. Jakob's accomplishments have not been as "broad" as Tadej's, but some of that is also just how the different sports are set up.
" Chep is better at the 5000. Girma is better at the 3000. Jakob is the best - though not by much - at the 1500."
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Objectiveobservers comment:
I never saw the above post but since the thread has reemerged after Jonas Vingegaard destroyed Pogacar today I will say the following.
Chep better than Jakob in the 5000m?! How did you reach that conclusion? Jakob is the reigning world champion and has never lost to Chep. I could understand if you said Krop is the best because he is no. 1 in the world ranking but I wouldn´t agree. If Jakob ran some more 5000meters, 2 miles or 3000meters he would possibly be the clear no1.
I suppose you agree that Jakob is better than Girma (and everybody else) in the 3000m after his recent WB in the 2 mile.
So you don´t think Jakob is the dominant runner the 1500m / mile. Can you disclose who you think is close to him?
Hard to say but I'd go with Pogacar. He has range from winning classics to the GC in tours, which has not been seen for some time. Jakob's accomplishments have not been as "broad" as Tadej's, but some of that is also just how the different sports are set up.
AS you say yourself bicycling and running are so different sports so it is difficult to compare.
In bicycling there are many more athletes who can win races. Even an Eddy Merckx couldn´t win so big percentage of his races as a dominant runner like El-G, Timothy or now Jakob can.
AS far as I can count Jakob ran 13 races last year (I am not counting heats). He won 10 of them, was no. 2 in in 2 and no. 4 in 1 (the 800m). That gives a winning percentage of 77%.
No bicyclist would be able to do.
It is even harder for a bicyclist to compare this year where Jakob has won 100% of his 7 races.
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I will state that Jakob is the dominant runner from 1500 to 5000m whereas Pogacar is not the dominant bicyclist anymore. Before Tour de France he was more or less equal to Vingegaard this season. If the latter continues as he started today it would be more relevant to compare Norwegian Jakob to Danish Jonas!
I was curious to see how George and Justus (Jakob´s Kenyan competitors in the U20 WC in 2018) were doing lately.
George hasn´t run fast in the 1500m since his brother Elijah got a 2 years ban per December 2019. George best time this season: 3:39. And 1:54 in the 800m.
Justus isn´t running the 1500m anymore. His last time was 3:47 in 2022. His best 5000m this year: 13:36.
I don't agree with this take. Jumbo won the tour last year and Vingegaard was the best climber on that team (which is where the tour is won). That team was incredibly stacked and the win was heavily reliant on Roglic and Wout. Pogacar fared very well against them given the circumstances. He basically lost on one mountain stage, and clawed back time nearly everywhere else.
Pogacar was the strongest all around rider there, but got outgunned by Jumbo. If Vingegaard didn't have his guys, Pogacar would have won.
I’ll accept apologies/concessions whenever. I don’t think you guys have paid enough attention to cycling this year. A shame as something truly magical has occurred.
There is a better rider than Tadej Pogacar in the peloton—there is no denying that now.
I've only recently gotten into cycling, and it's really interesting in the way it differs from running. Jonas won last year's TdF, and he might only be the third best cyclist on his own team. But he's skinny AF and can climb like anyone, so he'll always be a factor if he has the best time.
Meanwhile, Pogacar is just a totally different animal. Not sure how I'd compare him to Jacob, though. Just too different of a discipline, I think.
I think the people saying Jonas is just a pure long climber or totally reliant on his team should be watching this year’s Criterium du Dauphine. He just smashed everybody on a short, 10-minute climb to win today’s stage with no help from his team once the steep section started. He made a really aggressive attack on Carapaz too. He’s way way more like Pog than people are realizing
Mike Woods easily won a TDF stage. JI is massively fitter than Woods. Pogacar could train for the rest of his life and would never run a sub 4 mile. Woods is a better athlete than Pogacar, and Jakob is a better athlete than Woods.
It is just a fact, and any honest and intelligent person knows this: high level running is much much much harder than high level cycling.