2023-04-22 18:12:00
Described as a superman by his opponents at 24, was Tadej Pogacar a superbaby? Recently, the mother of the carnivore with the gentle and mischievous gaze mentioned in The evening an adventure that happened to his “nine or ten months”. “Pogi” climbs a slide in the garden of the family home in Komenda, near Ljubljana, Slovenia, by the “slippery side”. At the very top, he pees on himself, slips thanks to the urine and goes down again “quickly” of the toboggan, without incident.
On Wednesday, it was from a waterfall in the wall of Huy, the final climb of the Flèche Wallonne, that the UAE Team Emirates rider made his incredible start to the season, first with his buttocks resting on his saddle when all his competitors climbed like a dancer, then with dizzying acceleration. On arrival, the Slovenian broke with the world of men, Starship rocket leaving (without incident) the earth’s atmosphere. Canadian Michael Woods writes on Instagram to have arrived “fourth” racing but “the third mortal”. The young Dane Mattias Skjelmose, on the second step of the podium, praises Pogi: “He is incredible, incomparable. When you are second behind perhaps the best runner of all time, you can be happy. And memorializes: “He’s the kind of runner you only see once a century.”
Since the start of the cycling season, Pogacar has opened up unexplored paths. The 24-year-old rider took 12 victories in 18 days of racing, including a combined Tour of Flanders, Amstel Gold Race, Flèche Wallonne. Never seen. This Sunday April 23, he is on the basis of an Ardennes hat-trick if he reigns over Liège-Bastogne-Liège, which has only been achieved twice, by Davide Rebellin (2004) and Philippe Gilbert (2011). The latter, in March, expressed aloud what everyone thinks (or says, in the first place the Cannibal himself): “We can start comparing Pogacar to Eddy Merckx.”
Divan rouge
The double winner of the Tour de France, second last year behind Jonas Vingegaard – the two will do it again this summer – flies on the cobbles and in the steep slopes, is equally at ease in the long climbs and the solitary efforts of several tens kilometers from the finish and, as a bonus, he can bottom out a pint of beer in four seconds, like the podium in the Amstel Gold Race on April 15: nothing escapes him, or so little.
The world of cycling only has to sit on a red couch, the brain struck by questions: should we now reach second place, since the first is already conquered in advance by Tadej Pogacar? Less sarcastic and more vertiginous: since victory seems out of reach, should the other riders in the peloton adapt their calendar according to that of the Slovenian?
Sunday, on Liège-Bastogne-Liège, the last great classic of the spring and its 258 kilometers, Pogacar (winner in 2021) will face Remco Evenepoel (winner in 2022), who will be assisted by the French Julian Alaphilippe. The mano a mano with the young Belgian, a cycling sensation with an already plump track record, promises to be hair-raising. The two men are facing each other for the first time this year, and only Evenepoel, equipped with the world champion’s rainbow jersey, seems able to shade Pogacar’s health walk since mid-February. In March, Evenepoel asked his opponent on social networks: “Stop winning, thank you”, plea embellished with a few smileys (laughter, clap-clap, flames). Since then, Pogacar has won seven victories.
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