"Maybe I'll quit early, then you'll be rid of me" - Tadej Pogacar sick of the same questioning at Giro d'Italia
CyclingMonday, 13 May 2024 at 10:35
Tadej Pogacar takes the questions regarding his Giro d'Italia dominance with a tad bit of humour, but it is no surprise that he is relatively tired of the questions regarding how much he can win. During yesterday's press conference following his third win of the week, that was evident once again.
"Well, the most important thing is to win in Rome. I didn't expect to win yesterday (stage 7 time-trial, ed.), and today the plan developed during the day. So far, it's going great," the UAE Team Emirates rider said following his third triumph - following those in the Santuario di Oropa and the Perugia time-trial.
Pogacar was asked how many stages he could possibly win throughout the entire Corsa Rosa and his response was "maybe I'll quit early, then you'll be rid of me." Not an unexpected answer as he has already been asked this since before the race started; and it shouldn't stop either as the Slovenian is dominating the race as expected and has already been the headliner of two days aside from those he won - where he attacked on stages 1 and 3.
Yesterday at Prati di Tivo it wasn't the initial plan, but UAE put in the work and Pogacar wanted to win for his teammates' sacrifice: "Today, I wanted to win for Mikkel Bjerg. But also for Rui Oliveira and Molano. You just want to reward the team when everyone works so hard. On to matching the victories of Mark Cavendish and Eddy Merckx!"
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- Is he one of those people attending the race to boo, throw beer or spit at MvDP?
KerisVroom25-05-2025 - (Just notice how long this is. Sorry.) I wonder why people rank van der Poel above Pogacar as a classics rider, like Museeuw does. Using Procyclingstats for what follows: Pogacar has 22 classics wins, of which 9 are monuments and 19 are at world tour level, and then there’s also one national and one world championship. His first classics win was 2021. Van der Poel has 26 classics wins, of which 8 are monuments and 17 are at world tour level, and there are 2 national and one world championship. His first classics win was in 2014. If we compare only the seasons from 2021 to now (meaning, from Pogacar’s first season with a classics won forward), van der Poel has 16 classics wins, of which 7 are monuments and 12 are at world tour level, and there’s a world championship. If we compare the seasons since Pogacar turned pro in 2019, then they are even at 22 classics wins, back to the 9 vs. 8 comparison of monuments, more of Pogacar’s are at world tour level (19 vs 16 of their 22), and they are even with 1 national and 1 world championship each. So it is damn close, but when I look at the stats alone, Pogacar comes out as the better classics rider in a head to head comparison, except at San Remo and Roubaix (his 4th place in a 2 man sprint at his first Flanders race has been more than rectified since). And yes, Pogacar will basically always lose the sprint at the end of a race to van der Poel, which requires him to use different tactics. So I get it, van der Poel is amazing, I absolutely love watching him race, I still think his Amstel win is one of the more superhuman feats I’ve seen in biking, and I got into CX and mountain biking because of him. But Pogacar, on the road, has a better head-to-head record. Sure, he also wins grand tours, but does that make him a worse classics rider? It shouldn’t. His record shows how amazing he is.RidesHills25-05-2025
- Some of those streets are the width of a car, this is stupid, I hope they don't take out the Tour winner.awp25-05-2025
- They have a serious problem getting Del Toro out of the pink jersey. He can win it!
DareDevil25-05-2025 - They should have waited in my view. Poor sportsmanship.Mart25-05-2025
- Would love to see him pull it off. Seems like a thoroughly decent guy.mobk24-05-2025
- Shame that, lads a natural, he'll have his time!
leedorney24-05-2025 - Whaaa? What’s the problem with mvdp? He’s just as classyCrashjames24-05-2025
- WvA says it right as always, great guy better then MvdP anyhow 👍leedorney24-05-2025
- I just finished watching his post stage interview, the more I see of him the more I like him, he showed empathy towards Ayuso which is a sign he has great character. I know he can climb, I don't know if he can climb like the rest of the gc challengers but I'm pulling for him!awp24-05-2025
Well Pogacar this is what comes with being in the leader's jersey. If you're tired of it now, wait until the TdeF.
Leader(s) need to deflect the questions to related topics: team performance, weather, race organizers and fans (hopefully praising them) and a lot of gratitude.
Keep your fans by being knowledgeable and humble.
Not surprised, journalists and fans usually have a very limited spectrum of questions, arguments and discussion desire.
And as most riders don’t dare answer outside the safe margins set by teams every interview includes a bunch of standard phrases and obligatory mentions.
Just about everything could be replaced by an AI sending each rider a multiple choice list or survey to answer in the comfort of their bus or hotel.
Whooo..I bet you had a very protected childhood. What is your point. WTF has AI to do with the Pog at the Giro. So sad.
Sorry, do you even read the articles or you just scan the comment to see if you can find someone to engage with?
Seems quite a few others had no problem understanding though it’s not my priority to write in consideration of the lowest common denominator.
In one day we’ve gone from questioning people’s mothers to childhood, all by people who don’t seem to have a clue on the subject and considering the statement made, not much about psychology either.
I left home at 16, does that fit into your picture? Wanna know anything else?
Thought that was directed towards my comment😅. I look at it, and be like 'What? I don't think this was a reply to my comments, super weird af'. I relief I was wrong. Almost got panic attack because of it😅😆😅
Totally impressive to see Pogacar in the form of his life, it's a more impressive sight than Vingegard! and a more interesting character compared to him, as JV is intriguing and a bit 'dark...
Funny, the article did not mentioned Jonas at all, at least not by name anyway. JV is abit more like an anti-hero guy. Remco fits the "villain" role better to me. But, anyways... This article is not about him or Remco anyway😅😂😅