2024-10-12 15:37:00
When it comes time to take stock, the observation is clear. In 2024 nothing or almost nothing stood up to Tadej Pogacar. The words of the Frenchman David Gaudu, before the start of the Giro di Lombardia on Saturday 12 October, summed up the situation perfectly: “We know that Tadej is at the start. I think 99% of teams think they’re going to win. Us too. » It’s difficult to blame this defeatism on the Groupama-FDJ rider.
Because the world champion’s just-worn rainbow jersey didn’t really destabilize the 26-year-old Slovenian. What’s worse, his new status gives him a boost of confidence, although not an entirely necessary one. His solo victory at the Tour d’Emilie, a week earlier, proved this. The outcome of Saturday’s race in northern Italy left no room for doubt. How could he miss the last monument of the cycling season, of which he was the triple title holder and whose route seemed designed especially for him?
It was therefore no great surprise that the thousands of spectators gathered in Como saw Tadej Pogacar running all alone at around 4.45pm, to cross the finish line in the lead, thus inserting his name into the annals of the event as well as that of the locals. the legend Fausto Coppi, the only man to have achieved four consecutive victories before him “classic of dead leaves”. Raising his arms again this season, “Pogi” also equaled the record of another transalpine, the sprinter Alessandro Petacchi, and his 25 successes in one year, in 2005 – others have done better, but not in the 21st century.
A prestigious hat-trick
For this last lap the leader of the UAE Emirates team had planned everything and the plan went smoothly: an attack 48 kilometers from the finish line, in the climb of the Sormano pass, the main difficulty of the day. No one could follow him. The Belgian Remco Evenepoel, announced as his most serious rival, tried to chase him… without ever managing to catch up. The 24-year-old Olympic champion finished 2nd, at 3:16. The Italian Giulio Ciccone (Lidl-Trek) completes the podium with a time of 4’34’. Two Frenchmen occupy the top 10: Pavel Sivakov, 6th, also at 4′ 34s and David Gaudu, 9th, at 4′ 58s.
Tadej Pogacar therefore ends his season as he began it with a victory, in Italy. But if the young man was already accustomed to victories, his 2024 season will remain exceptional. Because the Slovenian ogre entered the very small circle of riders who in the same year won the Giro (with almost ten minutes of advantage over the second classified, the Colombian Daniel Felipe Martinez, and six stage victories), the Tour de France (with more than six minutes ahead of the Dane Jonas Vingegaard and, again, six stage victories) and the road world championship, at the end of a 100 kilometer solo raid. Before him, two men had managed to achieve such a feat: the Belgian “Cannibal” Eddy Merckx (1974) and the Irishman Stephen Roche (1987).
A prestigious hat-trick that would almost make one forget that the young candidate had also given himself, among others, the Strade Bianche and the Liège-Bastogne-Liège monument in the spring! “I think this year Tadej is not normal”said Remco Evenepoel upon arriving at the World Championships in Zurich (Switzerland) at the end of September. Opinion is divided.
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