2024-05-13 17:01:03
There is him… and the others. On the Italian roads of the Giro, Tadej Pogacar is too strong. The Slovenian has already won three of the 9 stages of the Tour of Italy which observed this May 13, its first day of rest. The double winner (2020, 2021) of the Tour de France stunned the peloton in just one week of racing. After 9 stages, he is at the top of the provisional classification, pink jersey firmly attached to his back, already 2′40″ ahead of his main rival, the Colombian Daniel Martínez (Bora).
The rest of the pack chasing him is relegated well beyond and barring a health problem, Pogacar may already have won the race. The competition in any case is disgusted. “The race against Pogi is a bit absurd,” comments Bora German Maximilian Schachmann. People need to put themselves in our place. What he does is next level. It’s impressive. Next to him, we sometimes look like clowns. »
According to him, Tadej Pogacar has surely already won the race. “Not at all,” he immediately warned during a press briefing on May 13 from his hotel. I had a very good first week, indeed. We raced in excellent weather conditions and so far so good. I am happy and proud of what I achieved and of all the work put in by the team. She’s really good. I give her ten out of ten for her great work and with her, I feel like I’m family. But nothing is over: with my teammates, we take the race day after day. The coming week promises to be complicated. There is a very big stage on Sunday with the arrival in Livigno. We’ll see where we are at that point. Don’t forget that there are still two weeks of racing left. It’s a good thing to have this advantage, but I’m preparing for a second week with attacks from our competitors, in particular from the Ineos team with Geraint Thomas.
Beyond the words, sometimes polite to give the rest of the peloton a chance to believe in it a little more, Tadej Pogacar discovers the Giro, he who already has 4 Tours de France (2020, 2021, 2022, 2023) and a Vuelta (2019) in the legs. By the way, yellow or white jersey for the best young person, he has never finished a Grand Tour with only his UEA Emirates tunic on his back. This is on track to be the case again in Italy.
“I have a weakness for the Giro”
“There are differences between the three Grand Tours,” he said. They each have their own story, but I have a soft spot for the Giro. It’s pretty well organized, we’re lucky with the weather, the stages aren’t too long and it’s less stressful than the Tour de France.” Understand, the Giro is less gigantic than the Tour: he knew that but discovers it for real. The Tour is precisely an event that the double winner of the Grande Boucle is already thinking about. He was determined to complete the Giro-Tour double, a challenge not seen since Marco Pantani‘s double in 1998. He hasn’t changed his mind, obviously. Between the arrival of the Giro in Rome on May 26 and the start of the Tour in Florence, he will only have 34 days of recovery.
“My lead in the ranking now allows me to no longer have to attack,” warns the Slovenian. I can stay on the defensive by managing my efforts so as not to draw too much on my reserves. I’m going to use the team as much as possible to get to the finish line. I will therefore arrive as fresh as possible at the start of the Tour. » Which may not be the case for his main opponent, Jonas Vingegaard. The Dane, double winner of the Tour in 2022 and 2023, is recovering from his terrible fall at the Tour du Basque and hopes to be on the starting line. “I saw and read that he gave good news about his health,” Pogacar slips. I am happy. I wish him the best recovery because I really hope to meet him on the roads of the Tour. »
After around fifteen minutes of exchanges via screens in English and Slovenian, Tadej Pogacar leaves the room without us forgetting to ask if he took advantage of the start of the race to devour a pizza and taste a famous gelato (Italian ice cream. “I think we have delicious burgers on the menu tonight,” he replies. But I haven’t said my last word on the ice cream. »
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