"I asked the car next to me: How many laps to go? I was really hoping he'd just say 1" - Tadej Pogacar recalls momentary weakness late on in World Championship road race

In 2024, Tadej Pogacar solidified his legacy as one of cycling’s greatest, achieving a rare "Triple Crown" by winning the Giro d'Italia, Tour de France, and the World Championships in Zürich - a feat last accomplished in the 1980s and much, much more to boot.

Although the dominance of his Grand Tour victories was impressive, the nature of his Rainbow Jersey victory, having launched an attack from 100km out against the likes of Mathieu van der Poel, Remco Evenepoel and others, means its probably the World Championship success that'll go down as the Slovenian's most spectacular moment of his season.

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"It was one of the best races I've ever done. For me, it was all so incredible," Pogacar admits in conversation with the 'Inside the Ring' podcast by MyWhoosh. "But the whole season was crazy," adds the UAE Team Emirates leader, who aside from the aforementioned Grand Tour double, also prevailed at the likes of Liege-Bastogne-Liege, Il Lombardia, Strade Bianche and the Volta a Catalunya. 

In his World Championship triumph however, one of the things that made it so exceptional was the drama late on as the gap began to close to the chasers behind, with Pogacar looking as if he was beginning to tire after so long out on the attack. "I was worried one lap before the last I think," he recalls. "I came to the top of the climb on the second to last lap and I asked, when the car to come next to me, 'how many laps to go? Is it 1 or is there 2?' I was really hoping he'd just say 1 and yeah, that was a relief," he laughs.

Pogacar celebrating with partner Urska Zigart after victory in Zurich

"I started to go a bit cross-eyed already but yeah, I knew that if I had a good margin at the top of the last climb on the last lap then I can do it. There's still a chance the catch you, but once I hit 10km to go, I was more relaxed. I was never sure though until the last kilometre," Pogacar explains. "Like everybody, I'd watched the under 23 race, the women's race, every race! Just to be prepared. At the start line everyone was thinking 'no one wants to do a Jan Christen (Swiss rider led the U23 race before fading badly late on ed.)'. He was probably the strongest rider in the race, but his move made everybody scared for the next days and hoping to wait for the last lap."

As mentioned though, wait for the last lap is not exactly what Pogacar did, instead attacking the peloton from 100km out! "The race exploded! Luckily I had Jan Tratnik in the front group, but I was thinking 'maybe this move is not perfect. 20 riders, all who could winning'," the Slovenian remembers.

Ultimately the audacious move paid off. Pogacar avoided 'doing a Jan Christen' and held on for Rainbow Jersey glory. Coming with the Rainbow Jersey though is a big question. White shorts or black shorts? "So far I've race two races. Emilia was rain so I had to go with the black pants and in Il Lombardia, luckily the weather was good," Pogacar answers. "In white, only if I'm lean I look good. Otherwise, white sort of makes you look bigger!"

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