Tadej Pogačar and Urška Žigart enjoying their time together at home. 🥰 Tadej before the Giro d’Italia and Urška after Gracia Orlová.
“It’s not like during the era of Chris Froome, when there was no panache" - Philippe Gilbert disagrees Tadej Pogacar's likely Giro d'Italia domination will be boring
CyclingWednesday, 01 May 2024 at 13:24
Barring any accident, injury or illness, Tadej Pogacar is widely expected to dominate the Maglia Rosa fight at the upcoming Giro d'Italia. Some have shared concerns that this could lead to boring racing, however, Philippe Gilbert completely disagrees.
“I think even if he has dominance he is still attractive to watch. He is winning in style,” the Classics legend turned Eurosport expert, Gilbert said on Tuesday in quotes collected by Velo. “It’s not like during the era of Chris Froome, when there was no panache. It was not nice during these years.”
Froome managed to win seven Grand Tours, during his peak and whilst Pogacar's tally stands at just the two currently, if he secures his goal of a historic Giro d'Italia/Tour de France double this year, the Slovenian could firmly launch himself even further into the conversation for greatest rider of all time. “He almost brings back cycling into the 1960s, 1970s, and 1980s from the times when Merckx and Moser went very far from the finish, and won more with minutes than seconds, so that’s good for cycling," analyses Gilbert. “He also wants to win the classics, the Giro, and one day the Vuelta. It’s not like before when the riders only wanted to win the Tour de France."
“He is a rider who would like to win everything. And I also believe one day he will become the world champion," Gilbert continues. “He will be one of the great cyclists, but to say he is better than Merckx, that is hard to say. It’s hard to compare the different eras. In the time of Merckx, there were less nationalities. Now we have Australians, Americans, East Europeans, there are more rivals. Now it is worldwide, and it is interesting to see.”
Gilbert does join the opinion though, that the Giro is surely Pogacar's race to lose. “Honestly, when we see him racing like he has this year, it’s hard to believe he cannot win this one. It’s logical to say he is going to win," the Belgian predicts. “Three weeks racing is still a long way, and we’ve seen in the past that a lot of things can happen, so maybe he can be sick or crash. Apart from that, I don’t see him losing. Tactically he is quite smart, and he doesn’t make any mistakes. So I don’t see him losing apart from being sick or crashing.”
“He will go from the first day he will get the chance to take big time on the others. I believe he will go full-gas quite early, and then just control. When you get two or three minutes on the others, it’s almost easier," Gilbert concludes. “The others will also protect their spot, and they will race for that. I think he will try to smash them and make a big gap. He can control the race, and use the TT’s to take even more time.”
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