Jakob vs Tadej Pogačar...who's the better athlete?

You’re probably going to get a lot of blank stares with that question regarding Tadej on here lol. Most people won’t have heard of him. Also very difficult to compare a road cyclist who competes over multiple stages in races to a runner who competes in single events.

Vinegar

Things can change, but Jakob is the best distance runner currently, while Tadej is already in the discussion as one of the best cyclists of all time. He’s doing things not seen since Merckx.

You mean doing things not seen since Lance

No, he means Merckx. Not the singular focus on the Tour but dominating most of his races. Tadej is dominant (when healthy) but against a far shallower field than Jakob, I’d go with Ingebritsen.

No, Merckx. Froome at his peak was already just about the next Lance. Tadej can win not only grand tours and the Ardennes, but also Flanders, Strade, and who knows maybe even Roubaix some day?

He’s like the Sifan Hassan of cycling.

Better athlete? It's like comparing apples and oranges here. Fundamentally different training and sports.

Better in their respective discipline? Tadej. He's absolutely dominant in stage races and single day classics. He's in contention for the best road cyclist ever. Jacob is the best right now, but I wouldn't call him the best ever (as of now, this could change if he stays this dominant for the coming years)

It is pretty amazing that no matter the course profile Pogacar can still win. Says a lot about his team/support, but it is extremely unusual to see the same athlete win multi-stage races in the mountains (tdf) as well as flatter/rolling one day classics (amstel, strade bianche, flanders, fleche wallonne) -- let alone in the same year!

Ive been a more competitive cyclist than runner, but it feels like the equivalent of having someone win major titles in the 5k and the marathon in the same year.

I have absolutely no idea what you mean by comparing Tadej Pogacar to Lance Armstrong.

So who won last year’s TDF?

Tadej is amazing but he is not clearly above Jonas. In fact, he appears to be a slightly weaker climber than Jonas despite being a faster sprinter/time trialist.

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.

Like what?

Nobody since Merckx has been able to win grand tours and classics, really? Seems like an exaggeration.

I agree

I agree Jonas had the stronger team, but I don’t think you should call a rider “dominant” in stage racing when they lost the most important stage race. It is very close between the two. Jonas also dropped Tadej on Mt Ventoux in 2021…I would not call Tadej a dominant climber against Jonas

I agree with you, but Pogacar is among the best climbers in the world and he is ALSO among the best TT, Roleur, Stage Racers, Classics racers in the world. The only thing he doesn't do is sprint. His versatility is what sets him apart and puts him on a level with Merckx.

Jonas is a stage racing climber and isn't winning a classic regardless of his support staff.

You don’t understand cycling. In ‘21 Pog won (dominated) a flatish TT in the tour, stage 12 I think, against some of the best TT riders of this generation (Stefan Kung and others). The next few stages he went on to dominate against the best climbers in the world. And in ‘22 stage 6 of TDF he went on to put away some of the best punchers (Michael Matthews Tom Pidcock WVA) in a sprint and comfortably at that. Meanwhile the day previous he went head to head against the best cobbles riders in the world and came 2nd if you ignore the break. In theory to do this I have made a rather simple calculation using a mixture of Kungs power data from last years TT, Pogs official weight and some of his times up the mountains in training and estimated his w/kg to be around 6.7-6.9. Which to be fully honest is ridiculous.

None of the above: Johannes Høsflot Klæbo

en.wikipedia.org

Johannes_H%C3%B8sflot_Kl%C3%A6bo

Link:en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Johannes_H%C3%B8...

Had Klaebo been a runner, he'd have the 1500m world record by now. Go watch him in a sprint final (after multiple rounds) literally sprint uphill on skis and tell me he wouldn't have the 1500m record.