"I'd love to try but I'd probably be lapped by Mathieu van der Poel on the first lap" - Tadej Pogacar open to racing cyclocross in future

2024 is set to be a big year for Tadej Pogacar as he takes on the immense challenge of a Giro d'Italia/Tour de France double. Clearly someone who likes to test himself, could the Slovenian try his luck at cyclocross over the coming years?

This was one of the questions posed to the two-time former Tour de France winner in a recent Q&A with Eurosport ahead of his season opener at Strade Bianche. "Oh yeah, I'd love to try one day!" Pogacar answers enthusiastically, although he sees one major stumbling block to any potential ambitions. "I'd probably be lapped by Mathieu van der Poel on the first lap so I'm not sure it makes sense. I can't even jump over the beams so I would be pretty shit. One day I could try it maybe."

Pogacar and van der Poel are known to be good friends off the bike as well as big rivals on it. In fact, recently the pair were spotted training together during the off-season. "We are good friends," says Pogacar when asked about the relationship. "We met each other on the road in Spain and we did some good training together."

The meeting was actually not planned. "It was a coincidence yeah," Pogacar explains. "We saw him on the road, picked him up and then we rode a couple of hours together. It was a really nice training but then it was a shame he had a cyclocross race after so we couldn't train more."