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"I enjoyed the Tour very much from the first to the last day" - the 2024 Tour de France champion, Tadej Pogacar
CyclingMonday, 22 July 2024 at 09:33
There was a tiny chance Tadej Pogacar would take the final time trial 'easy' and let someone else celebrate on the final podium in Nice... just kidding. The Slovenian doesn't hand out gifts and that didn't change in the last 33 kilometers of this year's Tour de France. Flying through the mountainous course a full minute faster than Jonas Vingegaard and Remco Evenepoel and adding a sixth stage win to this year's record.
"I'm happy. I can't even describe how happy I am, after two tough years in the Tour de France. There were always some mistakes, but now everything went perfectly. I have no words, this is incredible," Pogacar opened the flash interview after his time trial victory.
Then he made a small confession. "This is the first Grand Tour where I had confidence every day. Even in the Giro I had a bad day, but I won't say which one," he smirks. Did he mean it? Is he just trying to deceive his opponents into thinking they've got a chance? We might learn more about that in the coming years. "This year's Tour was just great, I enjoyed it very much from the first to the last day. I was perfectly supported there, so I couldn't disappoint those people either."
From his hometown, he completed yet another feat on Sunday. "I started off well in Monaco, on the Formula 1 circuit. The most beautiful circuit in the world. I kept an eye on Remco Evenepoel's times, but in the end I felt really good on that first climb. In my head I had Urska's voice, that she found it annoying that we did that climb so often during training. That's why I wanted to do it full throttle now, otherwise I would be denying all that work," said the proud winner in his first reaction.
And so, after Marco Pantani in 1998, he is the next to win the Giro and Tour in one year. "I could never have imagined this. Some people thought the Giro was a safety choice. Of course that was already great, but to win the Tour now... that is on a different level. I am very proud of that."
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