Tadej Pogačar has had an incredible 2024—not just winning, but dominating the Giro d’Italia and Tour de France, taking multiple stage wins and destroying his rivals. He’s won Strade Bianche, Liège-Bastogne-Liège, and the Volta Ciclista a Catalunya. And he’s not done yet: He aims to become the first cyclist to win the Triple Crown—the Giro, Tour, and World Road Championships—since Stephen Roche in 1987.
He’s also broken several notable records, including the long-standing one on the Plateau de Beille, previously held by the late Marco Pantani. As reported by Velo, he’s also put out power numbers that easily surpass those of multiple Tour de France winner Chris Froome.
The Israel-Premier Tech rider, to say the least, is blown away by the Slovenian.
“It’s incredible, absolutely incredible. If the numbers that are being reported coming out of the Tour de France are to be believed and correct, it is just mind-boggling. I mean, an amazing, amazing, amazing performance,” Froome said.
According to CyclingGraphs, on Isola 2000 he averaged 6.83 W/Kg for 37:44 min and 7.21 W/Kg normalized for sea level. Compared to Froome, that’s almost a full watt more than at his prime.
At the Giro, Pogačar won six stages and put almost ten minutes into the second-placed rider on GC, Dani Martínez. A month later, he had another standout performance at the Tour, winning the same number of stages and putting six minutes into Jonas Vingegaard.
“Given what he’s been able to do in one-day races and classics earlier on in the season, to still be able to carry that form through to the Giro and the Tour is just phenomenal. He’s a phenomenal athlete. It’s been a pleasure to watch,” Froome said.
Froome also noted that training has changed over his career, allowing younger riders to train smarter.
“Young teenagers most probably have access to how professionals are training,” he noted. “We’re probably getting 13, 14-year-olds training like WorldTour riders. That means by the time they turn professional at the age of 19, 20, 21, they’re ready to even go and win races like the Tour de France.”
Froome added that, across the board, the level is much higher. He also said that altitude is definitely a factor. Almost every rider is going to altitude now, whereas when he raced on Team Sky, only a few teams were doing that sort of training.
