Fabian Cancellara on Tadej Pogacar: Do we still consider him a Grand Tour rider?

Tadej Pogacar is a generational talent. Even within the world class riders, 'Pogi' seems to be on a level of his own, having grown as a prime stage-racer, but since last year specializing in the spring classics too. There's virtually no race in which Pogacar can't fight for a result, and Fabian Cancellara questions if he can be termed as any type of rider.

"The other thing that stood out to me was Tadej Pogačar, and I'm wondering what kind of rider he is. Do we still consider him a Grand Tour rider – yes or no?" Cancellara wrote in a column for Cyclingnews. "I have never seen a Grand Tour rider attacking like this at the Classics. Would we see Jonas Vingegaard doing what Tadej did today? No chance. The last rider to win Harelbeke and the Tour de France was Geraint Thomas but he had to make choices and specialize in a certain area."

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Having shown immense performances last year at Milano-Sanremo and Tour des Flandres, he consolidated himself as a legitimate contender for victory in those two monuments. Two races where usually stage-racers - Grand Tour specialists specially - rarely perform at the top, but not the case for the Slovenian.

In 2023 his goals were the same for the spring, and so far he hasn't disappointed. "Tadej's style is just non-typical for a Grand Tour rider – this way of moving around, of powering over the cobbles, of forcing so hard on the climbs. He is a natural. To me, he looks more like a one-day Classics rider than a Grand Tour rider at the moment," Cancellara admits.

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"So the question is... is Tadej going full gas to all these races because in summer he sees he has trouble with the heat and the long mountains compared to his competition, which is Jonas Vingegaard. Does he just love doing these races? Does he see it as just another chance to win races?" He questions. Liège-Bastogne-Liège is still in his schedule for the spring, but he's proven to be able to keep high form for a long time, and he hasn't ridden an altitude camp as did many of his rivals.

A fourth place in Milano-Sanremo showed Pogacar's continuous form in the one-day races, and his aggressive stance and third place put him as a great favourite for the Tour des Flandres. "I raced to win bike races and this is the same as what he does. I have a lot of respect for that. Whatever kind of rider he is, he is good for the sport," Cancellara concluded.

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