I think one of Pogacar's main competitors at Le Tour will be what he left at the Giro. I'll put him as the favorite on the Corsa Rossa for sure but am suspicious he can hold on for a lap of France, too. He doesn't have the same jour sans risk that Remco does, but somehow Vinegaard has still managed to get ahead of him during the big grinds despite losing some seconds here and there on the punchy stuff. Even without Pogacar pre-gaming a Grand Tour. It will be a heckuva Tour, but I think a little less so after the Giro. Though I hope I'm wrong! And he sure has thinned out his spring (Giro notwithstanding) to try to make me wrong.
I read some Giro GC Wout conjecture but have a hard time taking that seriously watching Pogacar crucify the climbers. I sure wouldn't bet against him for the Maglia Ciclimina, but there are only so many bonus seconds WVA can bank to cover the inevitable bleeding he'll do on some of the peaks after miraculously hanging on and even excelling on others. He's got a bunch of cobbles and bergs in two classics and the cobbled momuments on his program, then the Giro.
I hear what you're saying about the Cyclingnews boards. Very active but lousy signal to noise ratio. I have no good answer for you but if you stumble on one, please let us know. I remember a few years back there was another venue I watched a bit (can't hunt it down now) but everyone thought they were Johan Bruyneel or Sean Kelly so it wasn't particularly congenial discussion.
Every now and then some racing observations make their way into the fantasy threads between our various delusions and dysfunctions, but I can understand how that juice may not be worth the squeeze.