"I think we’re seeing the best-ever Tadej Pogacar" - Joxean Matxin lauds praise onto UAE Team Emirates leader
Cycling
In ten race days so far this year, it's six wins, a second-place and a third-place finish already for Tadej Pogacar, firmly asserting himself as the number one rider in the peloton today. Never more so was this on show than with the Slovenian's dominant victory at Liege-Bastogne-Liege last Sunday.
The worrying thing for the rest of the riders though, is the fact that with two Grand Tours still to come, Pogacar might not even be at his best level just yet. “When you are the number one ranked rider in the world, it’s not easy to improve on that but I think we’re seeing the best-ever Tadej Pogacar in every possible way,” UAE Team Emirates' sports manager Joxean Matxin says in conversation with La Gazzetta dello Sport.
With the Classics Spring over, Pogacar's attention now turns to the goal of becoming the first man since Marco Pantani to claim a Giro d'Italia/Tour de France double, a goal that seemed ambitious not so long ago but now is arguably odds on to happen.
The 2024 Giro d'Italia gets underway on May 2nd and with a major mountain finish at the Oropa Sanctuary coming as early as stage 2, there is possibility, Pogacar could wear the Maglia Rosa for almost the entirety of the race.
“You can’t hold back that day, a stage like that designs the GC standings and so the overall contenders can’t hide,” UAE Team Emirates team manager Mauro Gianetti previews of the stage to La Gazzetta dello Sport and giving an insight into the team's potential tactics. “The Maglia Rosa is the Maglia Rosa, if you let it go, you then have to get it back.”
Kieran WoodDeputy Editor-in-Chief
Kieran Wood is a sports journalist based in Wales and has been active in journalism since 2022. He regularly contributes to DartsNews.com and CyclingUpToDate.com, where he covers professional cycling and darts. In cycling, his work includes liveblogs from major races, including the Tour de France, the Giro d’Italia, and La Vuelta a España, alongside race reports and analysis. He has also conducted interviews with professional riders.
His reporting spans the full racing calendar, from one-day classics to stage races, with a focus on accurate, real-time coverage and clear contextual analysis. For statistics, results, and historical context, he regularly uses resources such as ProCyclingStats. To support reporting on rider activity and training context where relevant, he also references Strava.
In his work, Kieran places strong emphasis on careful sourcing, editorial accuracy, and updating articles as new, verified information becomes available.
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- A mindset that reminds me of Tim Declerq. I loved watching that guy just pound away the kilometers, hours at the front, holding an entire breakaway in check on his own. Bjerg seems like a similar guy. Curling, the team sport.RidesHills04-11-2026
- He will be lol, but he can still win on the climbs hahaawp04-11-2026
- I would love to have his inconsistency. How many wins this year? 2 TdF stages, a WC, a Euro championship, San Sebastian, multiple wins early year. Monument podiums. I'd take it. I don't think he has a chance in the TdF, but he is still amazing.mij04-11-2026
- He's not going to win the TdF. Maybe if they make every single stage a TT he could win. But I still believe Tadej would just sharpen his TT skills and win.mij04-11-2026
- You beat me to it. Should he make a full recovery (likely) and go light early in the year. One, two, three. Don't ask me, I don't give a damn. Should he be on a Feel-Like-He's-Fixin'-to-Die High.Yepperoni04-11-2026
- The deciding factor may be the (TBD) number of (any type of) kilometers without Pogacar.Yepperoni04-11-2026
- Unexplained chronic fatigue is an all too common bitch. The hard to find definitive answer may lie buried in gut mechanisms. A mystery of the deep.Yepperoni04-11-2026
- It's weird to say Evenepoel would be making a "serious mistake by adding the 2027 Giro d'Italia to his calendar, warning that such a decision could even be interpreted as a lack of confidence in his ability to win the Tour de France." It may well be a mistake but with so many commentators (of all sorts) continuously claiming almost everything Remco does as being a mistake, almost nobody should care what the pundits and the disparagers should say. His team may not want him to do the Giro, and that matters. But it's possibly or probably up to Remco to decide and it may not have to be decided on until a month or so ahead of the race. Yes , Remco is inconsistent much like the majority of the best riders but he's enjoying a period of not having been recently injured (or sick). Whatever he does he need not be concerned with critics who will second guess any perceived failure no matter what. I suspect he will have enough other races on his schedule so he won't be considering it. But the worst reason to not race it is because of what some will say - humorous that be.Yepperoni04-11-2026
- I'll say clean sweep all grand tourZamorano04-11-2026
- And the place he calls home is in Slovenia with his parents.RidesHills04-11-2026
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