Bike Racing

[PeteS]

I don't think that losing the tour had anything to do with it.

Back in 2021 he was in a class of his own, winning by 5:20 - a huge margin for recent times. He didn't have a particuarly strong team, either.

In 2022 he was in a class of two, finishing 4:39 ahead of third. The problem for him was that the other member of the 'elite', Vingegaard, had van Aert and a much stronger team; I'm not sure that he was second best at all, I think if the teams had been equal that he'd have won it (but not by 5:20)

My point was really that I think Pog felt invincible prior to that race but to a rider of his calibre, Vingegaarde basically poked a bear with a stick.