Pop has not received feature updates for years, because the dev team focuses on implementing Cosmic. Given the overall progress of Linux Desktop environments, this might have led many users to switch away from Pop.
What exactly happened? The reasoning in the graphic does not tell me much. I only saw the summary which listed him as second. He seemed having finished his lap before the red flag, no?
So nice to have Nico alongside Crofty. I love the insight he gives, really adds a lot to the race.