The Newest Triple Crown Winner on Two Wheels
October 1, 2024 2:29 PM Subscribe
On Sunday, September 29, Giro d'Itaia and Tour de France winner, Tadej Pogačar won the World Championship race in Zurich, becoming the third male cyclist to win the sport's triple crown since the last winner in 1987.
The cycling triple crown is won when a cyclist wins two grand tours (multi-week stage races) and the World Championships in one season. One of the grand tours should be the Tour de France, the most esteemed and highly held of the grand tour races. The other races, Giro d'Italia and the Vuelta de España, are considered acceptable, but so far all triple crown winners have won the Giro, not the Vuelta, which has historically been seen as the lesser of the three.
The previous male cyclists winners were the great Eddy Merckx, of Belgium, and Irish rider, Stephen Roche. Only one female cyclist has won the Triple Crown, in 2022, the incredible Annemiek van Vleuten, of the Netherlands.
The cycling triple crown is won when a cyclist wins two grand tours (multi-week stage races) and the World Championships in one season. One of the grand tours should be the Tour de France, the most esteemed and highly held of the grand tour races. The other races, Giro d'Italia and the Vuelta de España, are considered acceptable, but so far all triple crown winners have won the Giro, not the Vuelta, which has historically been seen as the lesser of the three.
The previous male cyclists winners were the great Eddy Merckx, of Belgium, and Irish rider, Stephen Roche. Only one female cyclist has won the Triple Crown, in 2022, the incredible Annemiek van Vleuten, of the Netherlands.
I have no doubt that Tadej could have swept all three grand tours, won the Olympic road race, the world championship, and possibly the Olympic TT. There’s quite simply no one else like him on the road right now, and we are so lucky to be alive to see it.
posted by turbowombat at 2:58 PM on October 1 [3 favorites]
posted by turbowombat at 2:58 PM on October 1 [3 favorites]
Lanterne Rouge rates climbs by measuring estimated power-to-weight output of the rider, with time as the Y-axis. (You should expect that anyone, regardless of fitness, can put out more power over shorter timespans.) By their metrics, Pogačar had three of the 40 greatest climbing performances in the 2024 Tour.
posted by suckerpunch at 3:06 PM on October 1 [1 favorite]
posted by suckerpunch at 3:06 PM on October 1 [1 favorite]
It's crazy though because without him, we'd possibly be having this convo about Remco, and he's only slightly more remarkable than van der Poel and WvA. With a healthy amount of skepticism about how clean the sport is given its past, we really are living in a remarkable age for bike racers.
Lets not forget the ladies. Lotte Kopecky managed to repeat as world champ in the road race, and multi-disciplinary world champ and rising superstar Puck Pieterse won the U23.
On a sadder note, Swiss rider Muriel Furrer dies after sustaining injuries on rain slicked roads during the junior race.
posted by OHenryPacey at 3:07 PM on October 1 [2 favorites]
Lets not forget the ladies. Lotte Kopecky managed to repeat as world champ in the road race, and multi-disciplinary world champ and rising superstar Puck Pieterse won the U23.
On a sadder note, Swiss rider Muriel Furrer dies after sustaining injuries on rain slicked roads during the junior race.
posted by OHenryPacey at 3:07 PM on October 1 [2 favorites]
I don't follow cycling but it shows up in my feed and I've read the name Tadej Pogačar quite a lot this year. The only news I ended up reading from the World Championships was about a Canadian cyclist eating a tupperware box of sodium bicarbonate gel during the race.
posted by any portmanteau in a storm at 3:10 PM on October 1 [2 favorites]
posted by any portmanteau in a storm at 3:10 PM on October 1 [2 favorites]
The World Championships is a funny race. Depending on the route profile, it might favour a sprint finish, or be structured so that a climber has an advantage. The result is that, in any given year, the fact of who wins the world championships may not bear a whole lot of correlation to who the best rider is at that time. I don't think that anyone would have seriously contended that, say, Mark Cavendish was the world's best rider when he took the rainbow jersey in 2011.
Which is all to say that the best rider in the world rode away from the rest of a very motivated peleton in a demonstration of superiority that is just on another level. For this year at least world championships rainbow jersey will be worn by the rider who is without doubt the best in the world right now, and possibly ever.
posted by tim_in_oz at 4:41 PM on October 1
Which is all to say that the best rider in the world rode away from the rest of a very motivated peleton in a demonstration of superiority that is just on another level. For this year at least world championships rainbow jersey will be worn by the rider who is without doubt the best in the world right now, and possibly ever.
posted by tim_in_oz at 4:41 PM on October 1
Why is it bad to break away from the peloton? Wind resistance?
posted by rebent at 4:53 PM on October 1
posted by rebent at 4:53 PM on October 1
"Bad" might not be the right word, but basically yeah. It's about aerodynamics.
When you're riding 25 kph (way slower than the pros) on level ground, 90% of the drag you encounter on a bike is aerodynamic, and it increases with the square of your speed. If you're pacelining behind someone else, your aerodynamic resistance is reduced about 30%. If you're in the middle of a big pack with 100 other riders, you're in an air bubble that moves with you, so your drag is greatly reduced.
So it's much harder for a solo rider to stay ahead of a pack, where the riders can rotate through the lead position. Some riders can pull this off. Some have explosive sprints, and have a better chance of winning if any breakaways get reeled in before the finish (especially since the riders in the break will be comparatively exhausted).
posted by adamrice at 5:05 PM on October 1
When you're riding 25 kph (way slower than the pros) on level ground, 90% of the drag you encounter on a bike is aerodynamic, and it increases with the square of your speed. If you're pacelining behind someone else, your aerodynamic resistance is reduced about 30%. If you're in the middle of a big pack with 100 other riders, you're in an air bubble that moves with you, so your drag is greatly reduced.
So it's much harder for a solo rider to stay ahead of a pack, where the riders can rotate through the lead position. Some riders can pull this off. Some have explosive sprints, and have a better chance of winning if any breakaways get reeled in before the finish (especially since the riders in the break will be comparatively exhausted).
posted by adamrice at 5:05 PM on October 1
« Older Smart bitch writes about trashy books...
Pogačar did not compete in the Vuelta at all this year, perhaps because riding three grand tours in one year is too exhausting, and perhaps also to give his teammates a chance to emerge from his shadow.
He didn't compete in the Olympics either, and it is widely speculated that it was because the Slovenian national team snubbed his fiancee, Urška Žigart, who is no slouch either: in 2024, she won both the national road and time-trial championships.
posted by adamrice at 2:51 PM on October 1 [1 favorite]