A long awaited return by Data in Sport looks at the ridiculous batting on show in the IPL, Scottie Schefflers continued dominance at Augusta National, and the prospect of Tadej Pogacar achieving something for the first time this millenium!
Is God to blame for Scottie’s success?
It is an indisputable fact that Scottie Scheffler is the best golfer on the planet right now. For a start he is the world no.1, and has been for 86 consecutive weeks, and alongside his 3 PGA Tour wins this year he has added another green jacket to his name. With this he becomes only the 10th golfer to win the Masters twice in a 3 year span, inching his way up the all time list.
What I am about to discuss is a bit of fun speculation. I personally am not a believer in a divine being, but who’s to say there isn’t one. Or multiple! So, does Scottie Scheffler’s faith give him an unfair advantage over his competitors?
I believe that today’s plans were already laid out many years ago, and I could do nothing to mess up those plans.
Scottie SCheffler
Scheffler is a devout catholic and has recently become more outspoken about his faith. He and his caddie attend bible study together and with his friend and fellow professional golfer Sam Burns he co-hosts an annual retreat with members of the College Golf Fellowship, a faith-based ministry. Before the Masters he spoke about how he is not defined by his golf score or his success but rather his faith. This final point is where I want to focus. In moments of high pressure, say on the back on 9 in the fourth round of arguably the greatest golf tournament on Earth, even a pro golfer would understandably feel some nerves.
But not Scottie Scheffler.
He just doesn’t feel the pressure the same way other golfers do. Whilst Max Homa and Colin Morikawa are hitting bogie after bogie to finish the final round over par, Scottie is calmly strolling around Augusta national actually extending his lead with 3 birdies in his last 6 holes. In an interview afterwards, Scottie said “I believe that today’s plans were already laid out many years ago, and I could do nothing to mess up those plans”.
Either Scottie Scheffler is doping, using the most powerful performance enhancing drug on the market – divine intervention – or his belief in this higher power affords him a moments clarity when all others see their judgement clouded.
Pogacar is Eddy Merckx reincarnate
Who is Eddy Merckx?
There is a strong argument to say that Eddy Merckx is the greatest cyclist of all time. He won a currently unmatched 11 grand tours (5 Tour de France, 5 Giro d’Italia and 1 Vuelta a Espana), all 5 monuments (the 5 most prestigious single stage races in the cycling calendar) at least twice – the only rider to ever do so – as well as winning every major single stage road race other than Paris-Tours. Tadej Pogacar, or any other rider, has a long way to go to match the greatness of Eddy Merckx. But he’s trying his best!
Tadej Pogacar’s 2024 season so far – making the sport look easy
Tadej Pogacar has been one of the most exciting riders on the world tour for the last few years, after breaking onto the scene at the end of the 2019 season. He followed this up with back to back Tour de France victories in 2020 and 2021 and has continued at the top of the sport since then despite the yellow jersey falling the way of rival Jonas Vingegaard in both of the last two Tour de France iterations. In the 2024 campaign, Pogacar has his eyes set on competing in both the Giro d’Italia and the Tour de France, two gruelling 3 week long stage races in relatively quick succession. This has resulted in a slimmed down race calendar to begin the season so he could focus on his training, but despite the fewer races it has been as exciting as always.
Strade Bianche
He began his season in Italy where he raced the Strade Bianche, a modern day classic first raced in 2007 consisting of 215km of undulating Italian country side. The race has earned a brutal reputation due to the multiple white gravel sections throughout the race, giving the race its name (Strade Bianche is Italian for White Roads). Prior to the race, Pogacar made no effort to hide his intentions, saying he would launch his attack “On the Sante Marie”. Few took him seriously as the climb in question was 81km from the finish. Those who did take him seriously could do nothing about it. Off the front he went and that was the last anyone saw of him as Pogacar completed a remarkable 81km solo effort to the finish winning by nearly 3 minutes in the end. Covered in dirt and dust from the gravel, a dishevelled looking Tom Pidcock (last years winner no less) summed up everyone’s reaction with an iconic quote:
“I don’t really know what to say to be honest like, just, what the fuck”
Tom Pidcock
Milan – San Remo
The first of two monuments Pogacar chose to race this year was Milan – San Remo. A brutally long 288km race, finishing on the coast in the picturesque San Remo. Despite being known as the ‘Sprinter’s Classic’, its series of iconic climbs as the riders approach the finish, is a parcour that suites Pogacar’s racing style. However, despite his many efforts he failed to replicate his Strade Bianche performance and the race ended in a bunch sprint in which he finished 3rd behind two specialist sprinters.
Volta a catalunya
A shorter 7 day stage race in the North East of Spain was chosen by Pogacar as a way to prepare for the longer Grand Tours to come. However, it quickly became apparent that this would be a race for second place. Despite not winning stage 1, he did cross the line in second after sprinting away from peloton to chase down a lone rider who had opened up a gap over the rest. Pogacar proceeded to win 4 of the remaining 6 stages, taking the overall win by 3’41”, as well as the points competition and the King of the Mountains.
Liege-Bastogne-Liege
In the second monument of his year, Pogacar wouldn’t accept the same result as before. This 259km race through the Belgian countryside is on of his favourite monuments, having previously won it in 2021. This time, no one could stop him repeating his Strade Bianche heroics, the Solvenian national champ attacking with 35km and again going solo to the finish. After 6h 14′ minutes in the saddle he crossed the line for his 6th monument win and certainly not his last.
Giro d’Italia (So far)
Pogacar is racing in the Giro d’Italia for the first time in his young career this year, and he is the red hot favourite for the win. From stage 1, Pogacar was attempting to be on the second rider in history to hold the leader’s jersey from stage 1 until the finish, but he was narrowly beaten on the line. Not to be disheartened, Pogacar comfortably won stage 2 to take the Maglia Rosa and it is unlikely he will relinquish the famous jersey before the final stage in Rome. By the first rest day (between stages 9 and 10) Pogacar had won 3 stages including a dominant individual time trial performance, as well as opening up 2’40” in the General Classification, a large portion of which was due to the aformentioned time trial. After an uneventful start to the second week in terms of the General Classification, Pogacar added a another minute to his lead in the second time trial. But it would be Sunday’s Queen stage where Tadej Pogacar would all but cement his name on the 2024 Giro d’Italia trophy. The Slovenian attacked from the group of favourites with 15km to go, immediately opening up a gap on the best of the rest. Pogacar hoovered up the majority of the breakaway in a matter of minutes and steadily reeled Nairo Quintana at the head of the race. By the finish, Pogacar had put a further 2’50” into his overall lead, almost doubling it to 6’41” – the largest lead at the end of the second week of a Grand Tour for nearly 70 years.
Edit: I can’t write this article fast enough and he just keeps winning stages! Immediately after the second rest day was another mountain top finish. The breakaway didn’t have enough of a gap and the Pink Panther gobbled them up to take his 5th stage of his debut Giro. What a rider.
Tour de France and beyond
Pogacar is hoping to win the Tour for a third time this year and, with the three other favourites Jonas Vingegaard, Primoz Roglic and Remco Evenepoel suffering a huge crash in the Tour of the Basque Country, it could be his best chance in the last three years. A Giro Tour double would put Pogacar firmly in the history books (if he isn’t there already) as no rider has managed this huge feat since the 90s. Below is a list of riders who have won the Giro and the Tour in the same year, the Grand Tour double considered the most difficult due to their proximity in the racing calendar (just 34 days from the end of the Giro to the start of the Tour).
| Year | Giro d’Italia | Tour de France | Vuelta a Espana |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1949 | Fausto Coppi (ITA) | Fausto Coppi (ITA) | – |
| 1952 | Fausto Coppi (ITA) | Fausto Coppi (ITA) | – |
| 1964 | Jacques Anquetil (FRA) | Jacques Anquetil (FRA) | Raymond Poulidor (FRA) |
| 1970 | Eddy Merckx (BEL) | Eddy Merckx (BEL) | Luis Ocana (ESP) |
| 1972 | Eddy Merckx (BEL) | Eddy Merckx (BEL) | Jose Manuel Fuente (ESP) |
| 1974 | Eddy Merckx (BEL) | Eddy Merckx (BEL) | Jose Manuel Fuente (ESP) |
| 1982 | Bernard Hinault (FRA) | Bernard Hinault (FRA) | Marino Lejarreta (ESP) |
| 1985 | Bernard Hinault (FRA) | Bernard Hinault (FRA) | Pedro Delgado (ESP) |
| 1987 | Stephen Roche (IRL) | Stephen Roche (IRL) | Luis Herrera (COL) |
| 1992 | Miguel Indurain (ESP) | Miguel Indurain (ESP) | Tony Rominger (SWI) |
| 1993 | Miguel Indurain (ESP) | Miguel Indurain (ESP) | Tony Rominger (SWI) |
| 1998 | Marco Pantani (ITA)* | Marco Pantani (ITA)* | Abraham Olano |
Only 7 riders have ever completed this double, and no one has managed since the 1990s. Could this be Pogacar’s year? The eagle eyed among you will note that not a single rider has ever won all 3 grand tours in a single calendar year with only Jacques Enquetil (1963-1964) and Eddy Merckx (1973-1974) ever holding all Grand Tours at the same time. The riders in this list (aside from Merckx) were Grand Tour riders however, with few of them seeing success in the single stage races. Not since Merckx have we seen a rider as well rounded as Pogacar is right now. Able to win one day races with outlandish solo attacks, dominate time trials, out sprint the rest the best sprinters in the peloton and claim victory atop the largest mountains in world cycling 3 weeks into a gruelling Grand Tour. He can do it all. At just 25, you could argue he isn’t even at his peak yet…
This sport is getting nuts
This seasons IPL has seen some of the all time great innings with 5 of the 11 highest domestic innings totals coming in just 4 weeks from the end of March to the end of April 2024. Three of these were the same team – Sunrisers Hyderabad. As part of this rampage of runs, we’ve seen the highest domestic innings total ever of 287 (2nd only to Nepals 314 against Mongolia in September last year) scored by the Sunrisers against RCB. The scorecard speaks for itself, including a 100 off just 40 balls from Travis Head and an overall run rate of 14.35 per over.
‘Why this season?’ you might ask. As of 2023, the IPL introduced an Impact Player rule, allowing teams to substitute a player of their choice during their innings. This enables teams to in effect lengthen their batting line up to 8 players, giving the batsmen at the top of the order the freedom to swing for the hills. They have seized this opportunity with both hands! 1000 sixes has only been surpassed in two seasons previously (2022 – 1062 and 2023 – 1124), whilst the current season has seen 1208 sixes with 4 matches still to play. Without the loss of three matches to rain at the tail end of the group stage, this seasons total might have reached a total that is impassable. That is until next season of course. Some might feel sorry for the bowlers, Reece Topley disappearing for 68 off his 4 overs int he above mentioned match with only 1 wicket to show for it, but a tactical bowling display riddled with slower balls that suffocates a team to a sub par total is inherently less entertaining that seeing the ball disappear over the rope and, in some instances, out of the stadium completely.
Infrequent to say the least
Hopefully the enjoyment I’ve taken from writing my first article in a long time can spur me on to revive this weekly newsletter. However, in order to be realistic it may have to become biweekly (or even monthly!). We’ll see, but lets be postive.
See you soon! Adios!
