'It's boring, I'm sorry', Voeckler knocks out Pogacar's dominance

“It's a year at Merckx… in an era that is no longer that of Merckx. Where everything has evolved, where competition is normally much more globalized, where everyone has somewhat the same working methods There are no secrets normally, the training techniques, the equipment, the nutrition, everyone is on point. What he did is therefore for me even stronger than what he did. did Merckx. Hinault, they were just stronger at the base, they just had to press the pedals. Pogacar is the strongest today, even though everything is optimized. have scored, these are those of Romain Bardet In an interview at the start of the year, he said that what only 10 runners were capable of doing 7 or 8 years ago, there are 40 who can do as well. today. That gives you an idea, Romain is not someone who talks to the air like that How I perceive that… I found the exploits he achieved, his panache, magnificent. . I think we can only love Tadej Pogacar. Honestly, I love it. On the other hand, it's boring, I'm sorry. When he starts so far from the finish, behind it's thrilling, but it's just for the 2nd place. Now, we should not boil this situation down to Pogacar.

If we take the classics, Mathieu van der Poel did the same at Paris-Roubaix, and it was boring, even if magnificent. At the Vélo d'Or the other day, we saw images of Tom Boonen on the cobblestones, we had the impression that it was 40 years ago, even though it is the legend of the Hell of the North! So yes of course, ultra domination from Pogacar. The good side of all this is that it attacks far from the finish, like in recent years where it was thrilling, and thanks to the great champions like Julian Alaphilippe, Van der Poel, Wout Van Aert or Pogacar for triggering the races so far from the finish. But today, Pogacar or others, like Remco Evenepoel in Liège the two years before, when they fly away, it's no longer interesting to watch. I don't blame them, it's magnificent what they do, they have panache. But everyone will pretty much agree with me: once we've said all that, we don't find much to say and we don't get carried away like when there's suspense for victory.” , confided Voeckler, disappointed by this lack of suspense and who makes it well known…

To summarize

The 2024 cycling season was dominated head and shoulders by Tadej Pogacar, who had a historic year, winning the Tour de France, the Giro, the World Championships but also numerous Classics.