Index – Sports – Pogacarék The weight of paint on expensive space bikes is also important

Valter Attila is competing in his fourth Giro d’Italia this year, his second as a rider for the Jumbo-Visma team. He did not compete in the Tour de France, which ends on Sunday, but is preparing for the Paris Olympics at home in Andorra, where the hills and valleys are perfect for cycling, between the peaks of the Pyrenees.

The red, white and green of the Visma team

Even though the best Hungarian cyclists were not present on the world’s most important professional cycling circuit, Cube Csömör Válé Flórián, managing director of his parenting association, watched the first two stages of this year’s Tour de France starting in Tuscany, between Florence and Rimini, as well as Cesenatico and Bologna. Why Cesenatico? Because the legendary Marco Pantani was born there, he is also buried there, and a statue of a pirate can also be seen there.

But how did he come here? Marco Pantani? So much so that he last won the Giro d’Italia and the Tour de France in the same year. This didn’t happen recently, but in 1998, six years before the legendary motorcyclist’s death. Tadej Pogacar This year he repeated the feat: the Slovenian talent won the two biggest tours in professional cycling in 2024 by an astonishing 16 minutes and 13 seconds.

In a league with the greatest players

Pantani’s hero and doping past. Although now and the most likely future, However, Pogacar’s. According to Marca, Pogacar will soon join the club which consists of only four members: Jacques Anquetier, Eddy Merckx, Bernard Eno and Miguel IndurainThey are the men who have won five Tour de France titles in their lifetime, more than anyone else, that is, if you don’t count seven-time winner Lance Armstrong. – But from what we know, he was doping and because of that his trophy was taken away from him.

This year, Pogacar not only won the Tour de France and the Giro d’Italia, but also triumphed in the Liège-Bastogne-Liège race in the Ardennes and won the Volta de Catalunya and the Strade Bianche.

I mean, officially, that’s the reason. However, according to media reports, the reasons are quite different.: His fiancée was left out of the team during the five-ring competition, and the groom was offended.

It’s better than its great predecessor

In terms of time, Pogacar is better than any of the great predecessors, as he is only 25 years old, and at that age, Anquetil, Merckx, Hinault and Indurain had not won three Tours. In fact, Indurain has not even won once, as the Navarrese won his first title at the age of 27!

Pogaca In 2020, at the age of 21, he became the second-youngest Tour winner ever. The only younger winner was Henri Cornet in 1904, when he was 19.

But how did he win the Giro d’Italia and the Tour de France in the same season (besides him only Pantani and Fausto did so) Coppi, Anquetil, Merckx, Hinault, Stephen Roche and Indurai succeeded) After losing to Jonas Vengergaard in the combined events of 2022 and 2023?

Science helps

So his team, Emirati Emirates, called on biomechanics and nutritional science. Jocson Fernandez RebellionThe day after UAE coach Jonas Vingegaard defeated Pogacar last year, he instructed his experts to find a way to reclaim the throne.

You know, there were certain objective reasons for Pogacar’s defeat last year. He participated in the competition with a broken and almost fused wrist (the so-called brace). SplintAlso, his tactics had a flaw, which was the way he responded to attacks from compatriots Primoz Roglic and Vengergaard.

At this However, more importantly Backstage As Fernández Matecin says, planning. That is, everything that is invisible to an outside observer. Aerodynamics, nutrition and regeneration. The expert in the latter is a Basque masseuse, Joseba Elguezabal

After him and his bride, more conscious than ever before, Urska Zygatal Back from his holidays last year, he trained at the El Puig Velodrome in Valencia in January, where Pogacar’s aerodynamics were optimized in the wind tunnel. He is an expert in this area. David HerreroJuskartel, former rider, changed the Slovenian’s position on the saddle. That is, it eliminated the roll in the upright position and it had to lie completely flat on the handlebars to minimize air resistance. All this was made possible thanks to big data, that is, data-based analysis, and the help of professionals who have already succeeded.

details make a difference

“We even calculated what the best position for Tadej was in the team, so he could rest in the wind shadow while the others protected him. We didn’t overlook anything,” Herrero said.

Responsible for Proper Nutrition Gorka Perez. The Spanish nutritionist even measured in grams the amount of rice that Pogacar eats with his sushi. Pérez has developed an app that measures in real time the energy burned in kilojoules and calories, as well as what and how much the cyclist needs to replenish. The chef prepares custom menus for all the team’s competitors. The bottom line is: one should eat enough so as not to be hungry, but not a gram more!

Finally, regeneration and recovery, for which Victor MorenoExperts from the University of Elche are in charge. The essence of this is that if an athlete is injured or sick, instead of going to the hospital, the hospital comes to Moreno himself at home.

Moreno said that it should be known that the hospital environment has a harmful effect on the psychology of athletes. “That is why, when I am needed, I immediately go to the person’s house or apartment and heal them there. This way, my regeneration and recovery time is reduced by fifty percent.”

Last year, Moreno was in his apartment in Monaco with Pogacar when the Slovenian broke his wrist.

Every gram counts!

when With Florian We talked about Pogacar, and the executives of Cube Csömör nodded in agreement after hearing the above. When we noticed, cool cyclists are usually short, which may not be a coincidence, but more importantly, they have bird bones, which experts do not disagree with.

Although Walter Attila is not short, at 186 cm tall, he weighs only 66 kg, the same as Pogacar, who is 176 cm tall. A simple calculation: the less weight you need to climb a two-thousand-meter mountain and overcome a four-thousand-meter altitude difference every day, the less energy you need. This can be calculated in the same way as the fuel consumption of a car. It is no coincidence that the competitors always throw away the water bottles when they are empty, because those few dekas are also important. They even considered repainting the bikes, because the paint on the bikes would only increase their weight..

As for the bikes: They are worth a fortune. By the way, Attila and his team, Team Wisma leader Jonas Vingegaard, race on the same bikes. It makes no difference.

“These bikes cost 4-5 million forints, but that’s just the frame. The wheels, the chain, the steering wheel, the saddle, everything is worth hundreds of thousands of forints. When the bikes are roadworthy, they spend as much on them as on a high-end car. Of course, they are made of special materials, special carbon alloys. One bike weighs no more than 6-8 kilograms.”

We wondered if this expert also agreed with the common view that Pogacar’s monopoly will continue for many years.

I can’t swear to this as I think Pogacar and Vingegaard have roughly similar skills. Last year, the decision was made in the Dane’s favour as the Slovenian missed ten important training days due to injury, this year the situation was reversed and the Dane fell ill. We can safely list the Belgian Remco Evenepoel next to them, whose role is also decisive in today’s professional cycling. So I would rather say that the three of them can dominate the future for some time.

What interests us Hungarians most is what are the chances of Valter Attila catching up/falling behind the greats.

“Attila and Pogacar are of similar age, their careers started and continued together, few people remember it now, but there was a time when Attila beat Pogacar in age group competitions. So, Ati will keep improving. The next test of strength is already here, the Paris Olympics, where he will compete in the road race and the individual time trial. The latter is just training for him, as he has more opportunities to perform well on the highway.”

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