Pog withdrawn from Olympic

[Alex321]

Citing "extreme fatigue"
https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/cycling/articles/ckvg09p909eo

 

[dan_bo]

'Extreme gear useage'

 

[JuhaL]

Who knows, maybe he want to participate to Vuelta next.

 

[cyberknight]

Who knows, maybe he want to participate to Vuelta next.

my thoughts too , it would set him above anyone else .

 

[T4tomo]

Who knows, maybe he want to participate to Vuelta next.

Don't be silly, he's just resting and recouping ahead of the WC's, defo not doing La Vuelta.

Wiggo did both RR and ITT (which he won) after his TDeF victory, but it was a home Olympics, he hadn't done the Giro ahead the TdeF, and he was focussed on the ITT. The attempt to set up Cav for the RR win didn't materialise as the Germans etc al didn't want to help brink back the break as they thought Cav would beat them, even though they weren't going to win if the break stayed away.

 

[Jameshow]

He's going for the triple it's obvs!!

 

[Roscoe]

Vuelta followed by World Champs.

 

[Dogtrousers]

As @Cathryn pointed out in the other thread, the fact that the Slovenian Olympic team have failed to select Urška Žigart - the current Slovenian womens road champion and Slovenian womens TT champion for the past three years - may have swayed his thinking. (She also happens to be his girlfriend)

Quite what's going on in Slovenian cycling politics I don't know, but not selecting your standout rider is a bit odd.

Primoz Roglic isn't going either, but I think Mohoric and Tratnik are. (Sorry, forgot to add Luka Mezgec too)

 

[andrew_s]

I think he's not doing the Olympics because he's not sure enough of winning, and feels that making the attempt would reduce his chances at his main post-Tour goal (the Zurich Worlds) .
Being able to ride everyone (Jonas, Remco) off your wheel on a big mountain (20 km @ 8%) doesn't necessarily mean that you can also ride everyone (Mathieu, Wout, Mads) off your wheel on a modest Paris hill (1 km @ 5%), even if repeated lots of times.

My guess is that the original plan was to take a week or two R&R after the Tour, and then spend 5 or 6 weeks training to realign his form back into Classics mode, with more punch and more absolute max power, and maybe a bit of extra muscle. The Olympics would take a couple of weeks off that retraining time, and the Vuelta would eliminate it entirely.

It may be that had Urška been going to the Olympics, he'd have gone too. They have a history of turning up to offer support at each others races when the calendar allows, and if he's there he may as well ride.

The next Olympics are likely to give a more suitable route anyway - there are reasonable hills (Santa Monica mountains) fairly close to what passes for central LA.

 

[Dogtrousers]

Primoz Roglic isn't going either, but I think Mohoric and Tratnik are. (Sorry, forgot to add Luka Mezgec too)

Should add that Rogla has a pretty good excuse. He's just announced that he suffered a lower back fracture when he crashed in the Tour.

 

[rich p]

Should add that Rogla has a pretty good excuse. He's just announced that he suffered a lower back fracture when he crashed in the Tour.

Tis but a flesh wound...

 

[Ming the Merciless]

Should add that Rogla has a pretty good excuse. He's just announced that he suffered a lower back fracture when he crashed in the Tour.

No backbone eh?