"Am I standing still? I was doing 500 watts" - Visma rider stunned with UAE's Strade Bianche leadout for Pogacar
Cycling
Tim Rex is one of Team Visma | Lease a Bike new signings for this season and has put himself in a position of high responsibility at Strade Bianche. The Dutchman was in the day's breakaway and put on a strong display, but couldn't help but to get shocked at the moment he was caught by an all-out leadout from UAE Team Emirates - XRG who were launching Tadej Pogacar's winning attack.
“Everybody wants to be in position from the very start, and they all know exactly where they have to be. I knew it was going to be stressful, but I believed in myself," Rex shared with IDLProCycling. The tactic for the team was to have someone in the breakaway, in a race that often becomes very tactic. But just making it to the front is its own separate and incredibly difficult challenge.
“So the plan was for one of our riders to make the day’s front group, but the start was raced so incredibly hard. On the second gravel sector I was in a good position, but then there was a crash in front of me. I got caught behind that, and from there I really had to suffer to get back to the front.”
However, the 21-year old had good legs on the day and also had a good sense of opportunity, managing then to get himself in the front. “The first time I got back to the front, I already felt like I was going to get dropped again very quickly. But then there was a moment when the road opened up in front of me and I thought: I’m just going to go full gas back to the front. Apparently everyone was hurting a bit, because three or four guys came with me and that’s how we got away".
But this escape attempt didn't last long, as the pace never truly slowed down in the peloton, and a raging rhythm from UAE Team Emirates - XRG gave opportunity for no-one to anticipate into the first key moment of the race: Monte Sante Marie.
Rex being caught with 83 kilometers to go from the breakaway
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With 83 kilometers to go, Rex and the surviving breakaway companions were caught by the peloton at the start of Monte Sante Marie. “It was full gas the whole time, but I managed to survive until Monte Sante Marie. My goal was to hit that sector first, but after 500 metres they came past me," he laughed. That wouldn't ordinarily be surprising, but that became the case once he looked at his power meter.
“I thought 'what is going on here, am I standing still?' I was doing 500 watts and those guys still came past me, not normal,” he joked. The stage was set, and after pulls from Florian Vermeersch and Jan Christen, only a few riders could even hold the wheel of Tadej Pogacar and Isaac del Toro.
On the most difficult part of the sector, Pogacar attacked and rode to victory. Behind, Visma's battle was a different one. “After that, I still tried to stay with Wout van Aert for a while, but that’s probably where I blew myself up a bit.”
Rex nevertheless didn't just consider his job done for the day after dropping out of contention for a top result, and continued his pursuit for a good position in Siena. “That dropped me a little further back, but even there it was still flat-out racing. I don’t even know what place we were racing for, but it was so hard. I haven’t suffered like that in a long time".
At the end he was 55th at the finish, but this being his debut in the race and also after a massive early breakaway effort. It was a promising performance ahead of the spring where he may have gained extra points in the fight to be in the lineup for the big classics.
“I just really love gravel riding too, also in the winter. So I genuinely enjoyed it, but I’m completely done. Now? I’ll be happy if I can get a bit of sleep on the bus," he concluded.
Rúben SilvaEditor-in-Chief
A founding contributor to CyclingUpToDate since its launch in January 2022, Ruben Silva has played a central role in shaping the site’s editorial direction and long-term growth. Before joining the project, he built his experience through independent blogging at Echelons Hub and by producing race previews for Ciclismo Internacional, developing a strong analytical voice rooted in daily engagement with professional cycling.
Beyond editorial work, he has been closely involved in the expansion and coordination of CyclingUpToDate’s wider network, helping establish and support sister platforms across multiple languages. This includes ongoing collaboration with CiclismoAlDia (Spanish), CiclismoAtual (Portuguese), WielrennenUpToDate (Dutch), and RadsportAktuell (German), contributing to a shared editorial vision and consistent international coverage.
He also helps oversee editorial governance across the network, setting standards for accuracy and consistency and coordinating updates or corrections when needed.
Originally from the Porto metropolitan area in Portugal, he holds a bachelor’s degree in Geography. His path into cycling journalism was shaped not through formal media training, but through independent reporting, community engagement, and sustained on-the-ground involvement in the sport.
Over the course of his career, he has conducted approximately 100 interviews across road cycling and cyclocross, ranging from one-to-one conversations and online formats to press conferences and on-site pre- and post-race coverage. His interviews include leading riders, team managers, and prominent figures within cycling media: Tadej Pogacar, Jonas Vingegaard, Mathieu van der Poel, Primoz Roglic, Wout van Aert, Joao Almeida and Tom Pidcock; managers like Patrick Lefevere and Joxean Matxin; and YouTube personality Bryan Kennedy (BKXC)...
Within 18 months of launch, he helped grow CyclingUpToDate’s English-language platform into one of the most-read cycling news websites, built entirely from the ground up. As both a professional journalist and lifelong cycling enthusiast, his focus remains on delivering accurate, timely, and well-contextualized coverage.
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- Congrats! It is done so now is time for CX.averagecyclist15-11-2026
- It's going to happen at some point. It will happen to Tadej as well, we all get older. Jonas was in pretty great form at the tour. I still consider him a top two or three cyclist in the world, until he's not.awp15-11-2026
- mij, I am not so sure of that. I have been on a spine ward at a Denver hospital that had quite a few spinal injuries from mountain biking.BDBigGuy15-11-2026
- Pogi takes care of his teammates in races and training. Tadej Pogačar is widely praised within the cycling peloton for his fair and egalitarian leadership, actively supporting his UAE teammates both on the road during races and behind the scenes at training camps. Rather than acting like an untouchable superstar, he has intense team loyalty by sharing daily chores, giving up personal glory to help domestiques, and publicly praising their sacrifices. Unlike some Grand Tour contenders, like Vingegaard, who occasionally train away from their squads, Pogi consistently attends team training camps alongside his domestiques, making the exact same sacrifices to build friendship. I love how Pogačar shares his teammates-domestiques, either when they succeed or win in races or when they simply just do a good job for him. It has to be a great moral boost for them. And then they work even harder and go even deeper for Pogi. This is teamwork.PogiSloFans15-11-2026
- Yeah, what he said!Lozza15-11-2026
- I’m sure Jasper Philipsen would disagree with you.Lozza15-11-2026
- Article says he was “out for a spin around the town”, implying not off-road.Lozza15-11-2026
- let’s be honest, Alpecin is all about one rider - MVDP. I’m sure he gets whatever he needs, the rest get the scraps.mij15-11-2026
- there are more vicious injuries on a road bike than a mountain bike far and away.mij15-11-2026
- That'll be one crazy rider
Rafionain-Glas15-11-2026
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