"The whole week was extraordinary" - After Catalunya success, Tadej Pogacar heads to altitude ahead of Giro d'Italia
Cycling
Tadej Pogacar started his season off with a blast, winning Strade Bianche and the Volta a Catalunya alongside four stages - and a podium at Milano-Sanremo where he was the absolute headliner. No matter where he goes, the UAE Team Emirates rider attracts all the attention; and now he will do so at Sierra Nevada where he will spend the next three weeks.
"I'm going to Sierra Nevada today. I stay there for almost three weeks, and then to Belgium," Pogacar told RTV Slo. "One week of a little rest, and then after, the preparations for Liège-Bastogne-Liège and the last preparations for the Giro d'Italia itself." Little time to rest or celebrate from his most recent win in Spain, in a race where he virtually had no competition. Pogacar could not win Milano-Sanremo, but could've hardly had a better start to the season.
"This start to the season and the performance shows that I am in great shape and on track for the Giro-Tour," the Slovenian believes. Although he's had a busy few weeks, there won't be much rest, as he heads into southern Spain for an altitude camp with a few teammates. He's aiming to win Liège-Bastogne-Liège before taking to the start of the Giro d'Italia in good form - just as Remco Evenepoel did last season.
"I already confirmed my good form at Strade Bianche and Sanremo, but this was a very different course," he says of Catalunya, where he dominantly won all three mountain stages. "Lots of climbs and descents. The whole week was extraordinary, not only for me but for the whole team."
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- yeah, that’s a more fair assessment. “reaching mathieu’s level” doesn’t mean you’re planning to replicate his whole career. the former IS doable, potentially. it’s just the latter that likely is not.OCexile25-12-2024
- That’s not entirely true. Every person follows their own development path and peaks differently. Remco and Primoz had hardly started cycling before elite level. Jonas was pretty much under the radzr until he unexpectedly had to take over responsibility at JV. Some guys only get real good in their thirties others have peaked mid-twenties. You can’t tell in advance how and upto what level they will progress, obviously his career might not have MVDPs length but nothing says he could not end up doing a few seasons at his level.Mistermaumau25-12-2024
- well, del grosso is 21 right now. when mathieu was a year younger than that, he was already winning elite level world championships, not U23. i think del grosso will be a very good pro for years, but if he was really going to be the next van der poel someday, he’d already have to be at that level right NOW. van der poel was showing signs of true greatness when he was 15-16. THAT’S what generational talent looks like.OCexile25-12-2024
- Yeah.... gear 😅.mikolajjj24-12-2024
- It shouldn’t be about expectations in the first place should it? Besides, if you look at everyone’s calculations as a whole they don’t add up in the first place. There’ll be 2-3 riders with a 50% chance, a dozen with 10 or 20% and dozens more with a 5% so we’re expecting at least 2 if not 3 winners. Remind me again who won before her? Says it all about using data to decide on participation.Mistermaumau24-12-2024
- Ok, happy I’m not too interested in this team coz’ the account of what happened is really hard to follow.Mistermaumau24-12-2024
- The UCI is worse than USA CyclingVeganpotter24-12-2024
- It's not like they wanted her to not win😅 She had an outstanding Olympics. But there's a reason why she wasn't expected to win the road race and that's ok. Things like this happen and it's great...better than seeing expected winners win.Veganpotter24-12-2024
- Bruyneel ? The man with a lifetime ban from cycling...why do you keep giving him and his doper mate, Armstrong, a platform?DJ24-12-2024
- yeah, agree. on the subject of being a “complete rider,” i do think that’s getting more interesting. mathieu seems to have decided he wants to get much better at climbing the the high mountain passes. he appears to be looking for new challenges, which should be interesting to watch. in most cases you’d dismiss a goal like that at age 30, but it’s mvdp. he’s never going to climb with the real climbers, but if he can improve enough it could open up stage wins when the parcours isnt just purely toothy and punchy.OCexile24-12-2024