The podium of the 2023 Men Elite world championships. One for the ages. 🥇 🇳🇱 Mathieu van der Poel 🌈 🥈 🇧🇪 Wout van Aert 🥉 🇸🇮 Tadej Pogacar #GlasgowScotland2023
"This was one of the toughest races I've ever ridden" - Tadej Pogacar gives his all but can't claim World Championship win
CyclingMonday, 07 August 2023 at 09:51
The 2023 World Championship road race may go down in history as one of the most exciting for fans but one of the most brutal for the riders. Tadej Pogacar gave his absolute all, even edging out Mads Pedersen in a sprint for third but couldn't claim the Rainbow Jersey.
“I realized that Mathieu was too strong, but I still wanted to go for second place and tried to save as much energy as possible. That's why I didn't fully chase anymore, that I occasionally skipped a turn," the Slovenian admitted afterwards in his post-stage interview. “I also realized that I wasn't the strongest of the three, because I couldn't get away from them on the climbs. They were a bit too short for me.”
As mentioned the race was an incredibly brutal one with an unrelenting pace throughout the day (other than when the race was halted by protests), and as Pogacar says himself, it wasn't an especially enjoyable day on the bike.
“Whether I enjoyed it? Phew, no. This was one of the toughest races I've ever ridden," he says. "It was really crazy. I enjoyed it up to 70 kilometres from the end, after that it was a struggle to the finish,” but finish Pogacar did, in third behind winner Mathieu van der Poel and runner-up Wout van Aert to complete an elite level podium.
Read also
claps 1visitors 9321
Just in
Subscribe to our Daily Newsletter today!
Nov 05, 13:04
0
Popular news
Latest comments
- Some things sound crazy until they aren't, what if he's actually right? 🤷vappaxbipmv23-12-2024
- Why make a comment to state the obvious? Of course MvdP is much better at CX than Pogacar, does anyone doubt that But that wasn't his pointvappaxbipmv23-12-2024
- If you look at road alone obvi Pogacar is the better rider. But maybe MVDP is the better overall rider since he can win in three plus disciplines?mobk23-12-2024
- Correction on 2021 Olympics. It was mainly the Dutch ladies who didn’t know who was leading the race. Other teams like the Germans and Italians knew that Kiesenhofer was out front.mobk23-12-2024
- A champion turning into a sore loser. Or is he on coke again?
UltimateOpportunist23-12-2024 - If you look at the major races they’ve both been in, van der Poel had the early edge as lately Pogacar has had the advantage. It’s all on procyclingstats.RidesHills23-12-2024
- I wouldn’t assume Tadej can’t win at cross. He did a cross race, not a World Cup, a few years ago and crushed the field. It was a minor race. But he can win anywhere.mij23-12-2024
- I wonder what would happen if Pogacar attacked on the Cipressa instead of the Poggio in San Remo? Would MvdPoel still be able to follow?Ride197423-12-2024
- Debatable?Ride197423-12-2024
- The point is obvious: MVDP can beat Tadej on CX/Road and Tadej cannot. What is so hard to understand???averagecyclist22-12-2024