Tadej Pogacar begins 2024 season with ride for the ages at Strade Bianche, taking three-minute victory after 81km solo demonstration
CyclingSaturday, 02 March 2024 at 16:39
Tadej Pogacar is back and back with a bang! Although starting the day pre-race favourite, who could have foreseen the UAE Team Emirates leader taking an incredible 81km solo victory in his first race of the season at Strade Bianche 2024?
After an early group went clear it looked like a breakaway would be formed. When it was realised that Toms Skujins had made the break however, UAE Team Emirates quickly made an effort to get things regrouped and as the TV cameras started rolling with just over 90km to go, things were all back together.
When we say things were all back together, this was far from a conventionally sized peloton at the head of the race. Numerous big names were already struggling and notable riders such as Soudal - Quick-Step duo Julian Alaphilippe and Paul Magnier had abandoned.
Then, with 81km to go, Tadej Pogacar decided to thin things down even further at the front, attacking clear solo.
Just a matter of moments later, Pogacar had already stretched into a lead of over a minute from the chasing pack and despite the fact there was still 75km to go, it seemed as if it could be race over already.
Maxim van Gils attempted to bridge the gap but with the risk of being stuck in no man's land, the Lotto Dstny rider was soon waiting back for the bunch, nearly two minutes down on Pogacar with 70km to go.
Despite a counter-attack led by Romain Bardet and Benoit Cosnefroy, with 50km to go, Pogacar's lead had extended to an incredible 2:40.
Heading into the final 15km, behind the runaway Slovenian, Maxim van Gils and Toms Skujins were the closest challengers over three minutes down with the main 'peloton' (group of less than 20 riders) almost five minutes behind.
Last year's winner, Tom Pidcock made a last-gasp attempt to make the podium, attacking from the chase group so with 10km to go, the situation was Pogacar three minutes clear, then van Gils and Skujins with Pidcock somewhere in between that duo and the main chase group.
With Pogacar able to ease towards the finish line with a 5km warm down and soak in the adulation of the fans, the enormity of what a performance this was, really cannot be overstated.
In the fight for second, Skujins out fought van Gils to take the next step on the podium with Pidcock holding off the chase group to take fourth.
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- I love it when the "little guy" wins!acem8214-05-2025
- Yeah, TdF is completely overrated, only amateurs and has-beens participate. And little ole skimpy Jonas has only won it as often as Switzerland or The Netherlands or Germany and Australia combined. Prestigewise there is NO comparison until he wins either the WC again or something big coz sorry G-W is basically a 2nd rate race at their level and he’s not won much else except a decent collection of stages, which Jonas and plenty of sprinters win too. Until now, MP is about pulling level with Asgreen who also won stages and classics, was a WC and HE got himself a monument and almost as many almosts as Mads but in a career only half as long.Mistermaumau13-05-2025
- Jonas is a great rider but only rides stage races so i would have to say he & Mads are about equal now. Stage racing in general is overvalued i think... (vs the power required to win one day races)Xrider5113-05-2025
- Jonas only does stage raXrider5113-05-2025
- First goats and now great danes, all we need now is a showdown at the tour of turkey, that could maybe slide into grease. Sorry, always happens when I get tired.Mistermaumau13-05-2025
- I think this kind of thing will become quite common in future in light of the way pros have had to up their game and risk-taking. Means more precarity but also a bigger pool.Mistermaumau13-05-2025
- Its difficult to compare the two, since both are fundamentally different as cyclists. Jonas is essentially a stage racer, whereas Mads excels in classics as well as in sprint stages at GTs. At this point of time, Jonas with his two Tour wins, beating Pogacar no less, has the better credentials. If Mads wins a few monuments and some Points Jerseys, the comparison may be closer.Cooldude13-05-2025
- I thought he did quite well in that team if not for the illnesses and strings of bad luck.
KerisVroom13-05-2025 - For his sacrifice, he was rewarded with nice haircut by his team lead. It's heartwarming to see a team lead who appreciates his domestique.KerisVroom13-05-2025
- Have you gone Mads? Jeez, this is the Giro, and apart from there being other races and riders not participating, there are over 150 riders with plots and subplots, including a thing called the GC for which I doubt VERY much he’ll come into contention. Are there no other stories or topics to propose currently? Does every article have to include MP? Comparisons to Wout, to Danes, how hell fare on every single stage. Soon Pogi will start feeling like he’ll have to do some publicity stunt to become relevant again. How about updating us on how his UCI ranking is evolving with all the frenzy?Mistermaumau13-05-2025
While it was an incredible and impressive display of power put on by Tadej Pogacar, I ended up finding the race quite boring and far too predictable to to fully watch. It's funny how that happens.
It is impressive but mostly because of the lack of enthusiasm amongst the others to do something, seems like they all resigned themselves to race for 2nd from the moment he left.
Unless you are Slovenian or a fan of him in particular I no longer see the point in watching one day races where he doesn’t have anyone of his caliber, at least in Cyclocross there is still a decent chance of something going wrong for MVDP, though that hardly happened this season. It doesn’t matter how good journalists are at finding superlatives to describe « exploits « like this, viewing figures for races on screens are not going to rise due to the excitement of watching 2nd, 3rd and maybe even 4th place (who can always claim to granchildren he’d have made the podium if he hadn’t been so unlucky to be riding during the Pogyears.