"Anything that he can improve upon is a motivation for him" - Matxin tells that Tadej Pogacar is racing Giro d'Italia with time-trial improvements

Time-trialing is a key aspect of cycling and for Grand Tours, it is more important than ever as most victory contenders are also contenders to win the time-trials themselves. Having a bad TT capacity severely limits chances of winning one, and so despite having great capacity, UAE Team Emirates continues to work very hard on improving Tadej Pogacar's ability against the clock.

"It’s also good training for the summer. When you have four time trials in your two main objectives of the year, then it’s obvious that it’s a discipline you need to work on," Matxin told Cyclingnews. "Both by training a lot on the time trial bike and by working a lot on the position and so on."

Pogacar is having more new equipment, in the form of a helmet and undershirt for example... All in pursuit of the few seconds which can prove crucial to win stages or overall classification in stage-races. The Giro's stage 7 time-trial was the first of the season for the Slovenian but he took a very strong win over Filippo Ganna, benefiting from a tough ascent towards the finale of the day to make the difference.

“A time trial in a Grand Tour is influenced a lot by how much energy you’ve got left, which is very different to a one-off event like the Worlds," Matxin argues as something that could be in favour of Pogacar for today's 31-kilometer time-trial. "Tadej worked a lot on his position, with the mechanics and in the wind tunnel, with the aim of being more aerodynamic, obviously, but also with the idea of being more efficient."

The stage is more flat, but as Ganna himself warned, it features more difficulties than what may seem on profile. “Ganna is the big favourite and then there’s a battle between Tadej and the best TT riders in the GC race. There are really time trials in one, because the specialists can have calm days beforehand, whereas Tadej has to be competitive every day.”

He has won last week against the clock but there is always the possibility of improving as he chases the pink jersey: “Tadej likes to improve, and the time trial is an area in which he needs to improve and in which he has been improving. Anything that he can improve upon is a motivation for him. He’s very serious about that.”

Matxin also said in words to AS that Pogacar will be riding with a new undershirt that bring aerodynamic benefits to the rider and could be worth from 20 to 30 seconds on a time-trial such as today's:

"You also save ten watts because you have a lower CDA. This energy saving on the flatter sections also allows you to arrive with more power in your legs for the uphill part, such as in that first time trial. That is where the CDA loses its value."