Stephen Roche on Tadej Pogacar's Giro d'Italia: "It’s not his fault that he is currently so far ahead"
CyclingFriday, 31 May 2024 at 13:00
Tadej Pogacar has won the Giro d'Italia with a dominant performance, and this opens up the way for other possible big achievements for later in the year. One of them being winning the Giro and Tour de France on the same season. Stephen Roche, one of those who has achieved this, analyses the past and following month.
“Pogacar is very good. It’s not his fault that he is currently so far ahead. There simply wasn’t enough competition for him in the Giro," Roche said to Cyclism'Actu. "What speaks in his favour is that he didn’t have to tap into his reserves for the Tour de France. Even though he has achieved some great performances. He came out of the Giro with a victory and in a good mood. All indicators are green for a repeat in the Tour.”
Roche holds a record dating back to 1987, when he won the Tour de France, Giro d'Italia and World Championships. This hasn't happened since, but the chance does exist for Pogacar to do this in 2024.
“Not because there were no riders to do it, but because the conditions weren’t right. Miguel Indurain, Lance Armstrong, Marco Pantani or Chris Froome could have done it," the former Irish pro continues. Regarding the Tour, he certainly seems to be the main favourite currently. But the World Championships, taking place in a hilly Zurich course this year, will likely also see the Slovenian as a big favourite to take the rainbow jersey.
"If you arrive at the World Championships on a flat course, you have a handicap. But Pogacar is one of the best riders of all time. He climbs well, he descends like the best, he can ride fast and sprint. He can do it all," Roche says. "And luckily he dares to combine the two [grand] tours. Many riders are afraid of that. Not only physically, but also because the sponsors are desperate to win the Tour de France.”
“I don’t think he will be too tired at the start of the Tour. His competitors, such as Jonas Vingegaard, lack competitive rhythm. But a lot can happen. We will only know more at the first time trial or the first mountain stage. If I were Pogacar, I would try to create as big a gap as possible in the first week, because the others will probably be even stronger in the last week.”
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- What is the word "Demanding" doing in the heading of this article? Did I miss something?Ride197409-06-2025
- Would Pog. ride the same if with children, prob. yes, JV, only does 1 race and isn't as good as Pog end of!
leedorney09-06-2025 - Dont do leadout for Phillipsen otherwise it is going to be another wasted TDF MVDP can afford to take these risks since come spring he wins monumentsabstractengineer09-06-2025
- In case, someone misunderstood, I was referring to the YouTube video "Causally Explained: Cycling". It is a satire.
KerisVroom09-06-2025 - I see. Now, I know why Wout lost to MVDP so often. This article feels like a copy of Casually Explained: Cycling. In short, pregnant women are not aero. So serious cyclists should shun away from them.KerisVroom09-06-2025
- Commentators, experts, journalists, a bunch of desperate people creating hate and gossip for a click ( for money). Stop.
maria2024202409-06-2025 - Only 1 position matters.. pseudo journalists and bloggers can spin as much as they like reality is Pogacar is in Yellow and Green after winning the stage.. THATS what mattersslappers6609-06-2025
- Cycling and the sport of cycling was the real winner, the 4 very best riders on the planet went racing and that should be applauded. PS Tadej is in yellow with 4 seconds in hand.. that's winning on a day when they should have been nicely tucked in the bunch... facts... no journalistic spin neededslappers6609-06-2025
- Netflix... creating conflict and drama where none actually exists. It all very well letting them "in" but they are creating a narrative that is false. They've done the same in F1.slappers6609-06-2025
- Absolutely! He is incredible, he easily went up and down with the GC riders.maria2024202409-06-2025
Kind of right BUT, it would be naïve to equate “not going into reserves” with didn’t put strain on his shape.
There is a huge difference with riding at race pace 3 weeks and doing structured build up. You may not see it, even for weeks after but there will be effects at some point and if they come at the wrong time and the competition is in shape, he won’t be able to answer.
He had a complete failure once against Jonas when nothing indicated the possibility, I’m not sure anyone on the team figured out why but I hope they remember that. All it takes at their level is one bad day over 3 weeks.
It has been a long time since "old" riders appreciate young ones.
This is good habit & really appreciated