Tadej Pogacar has already struck his first blow at the 2024 Giro d'Italia. Emulating the great Marco Pantani, the UAE Team Emirates leader recovered from a crash at the foot of the Oropa to take a stunning stage win and move into the Maglia Rosa.
This is Pogacar's 15th stage victory in Grand Tours and his first in the Giro. After this second stage, Joxean Matxin, UAE's director, reflected on his leader's performance. "We wanted to wear the Maglia rosa from the first to the last day," he revealed in statements to Rai Sport. "However, Pogacar later said that it is not necessary and that the important thing is to wear it when the race is over."
Whilst some might now expect Pogacar to take it somewhat easy and attempt to conserve energy ahead of the Tour de France later this summer, Matxin disagrees. "The last week of this Giro will be very demanding. We are focused on the Giro d'Italia and we are not thinking about saving energy for the Tour," he makes clear.
Finally, the Spaniard also spoke about the small fall of Tadej after he had a puncture and the respect there was with INEOS Grenadiers in the quest for the win at the finish line: "We had some doubts with INEOS but we were looking to win the stage. Pogacar entered the corner with a completely flat front wheel and went to the ground."
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