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‘Pogacar is starting to grow bigger than the sport’ - Fisher-Black reflects on ex-teammate

At just 23 years old, Finn Fisher-Black has already been exposed to two of the greatest riders of his generation. As a teenager he was thrown into WorldTour racing alongside Jonas Vingegaard at Jumbo-Visma. He later spent a season with Tadej Pogačar at UAE Team Emirates, where he witnessed the Slovenian’s dominance from the inside. And in 2026, Remco Evenepoel will arrive at Red Bull-BORA-hansgrohe, giving Fisher-Black yet another vantage point on a rider shaping the sport’s future.

Finn Fisher Black - UAE Tour - 2025
Cor Vos

Speaking on the Domestique Hotseat Podcast, Fisher-Black looked back on life alongside cycling’s biggest names and the lessons he has drawn from being in their orbit.

At UAE, Fisher-Black quickly discovered what it meant to be part of the most talent-stacked team in the world. The presence of Pogačar set the tone, but the sheer depth of leaders added its own challenges. As he explained: “When Tadej [Pogačar] is at the race, there’s only one cook and everyone knows it. But it’s this next level in that team, it’s just completely stacked. I mean, it was a cool environment to be in because you’ve got so many superstars around you. But it does get tricky in something like a Grand Tour. There’s only three of them and everyone wants a chance and everyone wants to try to win them. They’ve got a handful of guys that can win a Grand Tour on that team. So naturally, there are always going to be some heated moments.”

Yet what impressed him most was Pogačar himself. Away from the clichés of endless energy and charisma, Fisher-Black saw a rider with an unusual ability to adapt and thrive. 

“In cycling, I feel like you almost need to have a relaxed mindset because so much goes wrong that you need to be able to adapt. And he’s just brilliant at that. The guy doesn’t really have many bad days and it’s kind of because he can adapt so quickly to any attack or crash or anything that’s thrown at him.”

That calm exterior, Fisher-Black says, masks the growing weight on Pogačar’s shoulders as his fame spreads far beyond the sport. 

“It’s something I think people don’t realise so much, how big he is getting. He’s starting to transcend the sport a bit. People who don’t watch cycling know who he is now. I noticed that especially in Canada, we’d just walk into a café and we’re trying to form a bubble around Tadej so we can actually get to the counter without people stopping him." 

"Maybe he is getting a bit fatigued from that side of things, from being really at the top for a number of years now and kind of being maybe one of the biggest cycling personalities we’ve ever had. He’s starting to grow bigger than the sport. But the fire in him is always kicking. As soon as the flag drops, he loves racing. That’s never going to go out.”

Asked if Pogačar might already be the greatest rider we’ll ever see, Fisher-Black doesn’t hesitate. “Yeah, I definitely think so. I think it’s clear now, especially whatever 26 or whatever he is. He’s already done more than what most people can’t even imagine. Yeah, I think he could stop now and be already the best we’ve ever seen, in my opinion. But I think he’s still got probably quite a lot more left in the tank.”

Pogačar was not the first superstar Fisher-Black had shared the road with. At Jumbo-Visma, he was already riding alongside Jonas Vingegaard, before the Dane rose to Tour de France dominance. “I also raced with Jonas, but that was before he really took off before he won the Tour. They’re just normal guys, that’s the thing. It’s also what I realised. I’ve ridden for a lot of the world’s best riders now. And you realise, when you have dinner with them, they’re just like normal guys. But definitely coming from juniors and coming from New Zealand, I’d only seen these guys on TV. So it was a big shock in the first place to be like, okay, now I’m riding for them.”

The final piece of the puzzle of the Big Three comes next year, when Evenepoel arrives at Red Bull-BORA-Hansgrohe. Fisher-Black hasn’t yet shared a jersey with the Belgian, but his anticipation is clear. “I don’t know Remco at all, to be honest. But I think he, from racing with him in the bunch, presents himself pretty well. So I’m excited to have him in the team. Between him and Lipo [Florian Lipowitz], I have no idea what they’ll do for the Tour next year, if they’ll both go or if they’ll have different focuses. But the GC team, the climbers, that department’s getting very busy.”

Most riders go their entire careers without ever being inside the orbit of a generational champion. Finn Fisher-Black, at just 23, has already learned lessons from two of them and is about to meet the third. In a peloton defined by Pogačar, Vingegaard and Evenepoel, his perspective is unique and it may just shape the rider he becomes.

Catch the full Hotseat conversation with Finn Fisher-Black, only on Domestique.

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