Robbie McEwen advises Tadej Pogacar to "be conservative in the Giro d'Italia. It's a long time until the end of July"

With Tadej Pogacar attempting to become the first man since Marco Pantani to win both the Giro d'Italia and the Tour de France in the same year, Eurosport expert Robbie McEwen has advised the Slovenian to try and win the Giro whilst being as conservative as possible.

"Be conservative in the Giro. It's a long time until the end of July," warns the Australian, twelve-time Giro d'Italia stage winner, in conversation with Eurosport. "No matter if you're the big favourite and you're stronger than everybody in the Giro, it's a race and a course that can really hurt you if you have ambition to do the double. Yes, of course, ride to win the Giro but be conservative for the energy."

In somewhat recent years, both Tom Dumoulin and Chris Froome have paid for their Giro d'Italia winning efforts at the subsequent Tour de France. Given the fact Pogacar is such an overwhelming favourite for the first Grand Tour of the year and that his arch-rival Jonas Vingegaard is unlikely to compete for victory at the Tour de France after his Itzulia Basque Country crash, this could be a perfect chance to Pogacar to write his name even further into the history books.

"Pogacar can win the Giro-Tour regardless of whether Vingegaard or others would have or not have fallen," adds McEwen's Eurosport colleague, Alberto Contador. "It is undoubted that Jonas Vingegaard is a great rival. It is true that he is very solid, he has a very good measure of the Tour of France, as he has demonstrated the last two years. But Pogacar, even if these riders would not have fallen, had many chances of winning the Giro and the Tour."