"The legs and the head are tired" - Tadej Pogacar ends season with title defense attempt at Il Lombardia

In 2021 Tadej Pogacar won Il Lombardia, the final monument of the season, in the same route the riders will find this Saturday. It is an ambitious goal as he faces very tough competition, but he will hope to perform one last time before the long winter that draws ahead.

"It's a long and tough race, with steep climbs, and you really have to be in top shape to finish well. I won on this course two years ago, so it suits me. I like long races with a lot of elevation gain. The finish is nice too," Pogacar told In de Leiderstrui ahead of the race. "One-day races require more concentration, they are more difficult to predict. The preparation is different, you don't think about the next day like with multi-day competitions. You come to the start fresher, determined to fight. It's the end of the season, the legs and the head are tired."

Pogacar rarely fails to perform with the best. Nevertheless, his preparation was less dominant than usual. At the Giro dell'Emilia he was outsprinted by Primoz Roglic at the top of San Luca. He then rode to fifth at Tre Valli Varesine where he didn't manage to make the difference on the climbs. Weeks prior, he also featured close to the front but did not win the Coppa Sabatini and Giro della Toscana. All this will certainly be a sign that he is not at his very best level, and he will face the likes of Primoz Roglic, Remco Evenepoel and Richard Carapaz in the mountains.

"We want to end this season as the world's number one team in the UCI rankings," he adds, a crucial goal for the team. "The team is growing with new riders, but also with new employees. We try to improve and think about all aspects, how we can grow, how we can improve small details. Yes, we are going in the right direction. Jumbo-Visma has more big wins than us, but if we compare Jumbo's season and ours, they are quite comparable."