13/03/2023

Paris-Nice the 13th stage-race victory for Tadej Pogacar, at only age 24

Tadej Pogacar is an extraordinary rider and the numbers make him even greater. The Slovenian, who won't turn 25 until September, has an immaculate track record in stage races. He has raced 21 and has never withdrawn from any of them. Never. He is much more than a double Tour de France winner.

The UAE Team Emirates rider has raced 21 and only twice finished outside the top 5. Yes, out of 21 stage races, only in the first and third he raced did he finish outside those positions. When he debuted in 2019 at the Tour Down Under he finished in 13th position, but immediately after that he won the Volta ao Algarve. He followed that up with sixth in the Itzulia. It was April 2019. He never again dropped out of the top five.

"Offense is the best defense" - Tadej Pogacar culminates dominant week with solo victory at Paris-Nice

In fact, we can do even better statistics. Because only 2 other times he was off the podium of the stage races in which he participated. Still in 2019, after winning the Tour of California, he finished fourth in his home race, the Tour of Slovenia. Thus, his last non-podium came in the 2020 Critérium du Dauphiné, just before winning his first Tour de France, where he finished fourth.

Since then he has raced a total of 12 races and won them all except for the last Tour de France in which he was second behind Jonas Vingegaard and the 2021 Itzulia, in which he finished third.

Jonas Vingegaard closes podium at Paris-Nice: "Now I can continue to work on my form for the Tour de France"

His palmarès is simply astounding. He raced 13 days in 2023 and won 7 stages (he counts 9 overall victories in Andalucia and Paris-Nice). In total, he has raced 231 in his still short career of less than 5 years and has achieved no less than 55 victories. Almost nothing...

We don't know what will happen in the future. Maybe Jumbo-Visma and Jonas Vingegaard will be able to take the Tour de France from him again, but Pogacar seems to have enough energy for a while and there is no doubt that he will continue to accumulate victories in both stage races and one-day classics. Next stop: Milan-San Remo, a race that doesn't suit him as well, but that's what makes him great, he doesn't say 'no' to any challenge (he already tried Flanders last year and will try again).