Very early on stage 2 of the 2024
Volta a Catalunya, news came through that
Tadej Pogacar was on the attack, riding clear of the peloton alongside teammate,
Domen Novak. Post-stage, the Slovenian explained in more detail what transpired.
“No one started attacking. Israel - Premier Tech told us they didn't want to do any work, so we decided to do the work. We came from behind, but no one came with us. Then we suddenly had an opening and decided to continue," recalled the
UAE Team Emirates leader, who eventually won the stage in emphatic style, in his post-stage interview.
"We stopped for a pee-pee," Pogacar continues with a gleeful smile on his face as he recalls the details on the incident. "Then we hid in the bushes. The peloton didn't know where we were, haha. Just a little bit of fun!"
As mentioned, Pogacar didn't waste any energy in that mini-attack, as the Slovenian powered to a dominant stage win atop Vallter 2000, and he now holds a very comfortable overall lead in the general classification ahead of his nearest rival, Mikel Landa.
The way the others are riding, he could stop to call his mother and still have time to write his diary. Maybe they could start doing pre-finish interviews with him waiting for the peleton to catch up to make it a bit more exciting?
Maybe on the next stage he'll have time to stop for a coffee.
He didn’t even try, just riding his own pace. Seems like a few of the rest have resigned themselves to waiting for him go before setting up a B-race between themselves (I’m pretty sure someone already prepared a parallel betting market for 2nd place on races he’s in).
Thankfully there are only so many races on the calendar and it’s not possible for the best never to meet.