Tadej Pogacar: "I don't have an answer to the question why I'm so good"

Tadej Pogacar is one of the biggest talents in cycling history. Despite still being in the early years of his career the list of achievements is impressive by anyone's standards and much remains to be accomplished. Ahead of Paris-Nice, the UAE Team Emirates tells a bit about his start to the season.

“We raced in the Ruta del Sol for a week and I was very surprised at how good he is as a rider, as a teammate and as a person," Pogacar told Sporza regarding Tim Wellens. "If everything goes well, Tim will certainly be an added value in the Tour team. He is very humble and professional. I haven't seen many riders more professional than Tim. He also loves stories, such as roommates who do things while they sleep. If someone tells something at the table, he picks up with a cycling story. Or when it's quiet, he says: cycling story! And then he starts his story."

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At the Vuelta a Andalucia the duo won four out of the five stages and worked towards GC success. Indeed Wellens is showing tremendous form as shown by his recent performances in the cobbled classics, and he will this weekend be a big favourite for Strade Bianche - where Pogacar was initially planning to ride.

"I don't have an answer to the question why I'm so good. The eyes are on me and that sometimes makes it difficult, but if you know you're good, it will work," he explained. "I just like racing. When I look at the Tour Down Under in January, I can't wait for my first day of racing. I understand that other riders want to be as fresh as possible towards their goals. Sometimes it wears you out, but I don't mind racing."

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At Gran Camino and Andalucia the Slovenian showed his classic dominating style of racing, seemingly on a different level when comparing to the competition. They were comfortable wins for Pogacar, who now aims to defeat Jonas Vingegaard and many others at Paris-Nice.

All of that though comes before the Tour des Flandres, a race where he was out of his comfort zone but almost won last year. This year he returns to try and take his third different monument. "Can I beat Mathieu van der Poel and Wout van Aert? I do not know. I'll be happy if I can follow them and finish better than last year," he admits.

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However until then some other races are still remaining, and Pogacar will likely have a win goal for each of them. Although in his early years UAE could not provide much support, the big financial capacity has seen the team build a big block of climbers around him that will come in very handy at the Tour de Frace.

"Would I ever see myself with another team? Yes. I think so anyway. But that's still a long way off. Currently, I couldn't be happier with UAE. I'm enjoying my time and we'll see what happens next," he concluded.

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