A childhood dream comes true for the hero. Because the Giro d'Italia has long moved the heart of Tadej Pogačar. "Even as a child, I loved watching the Giro on TV. My father even took me to some of the stages. Italy is not that far away from Slovenia," said Pogačar with regard to his first encounters with the Giro d'Italia. His visit to the 2014 stage in Trieste, very close to the Slovenian border, is linked to special memories. "Our compatriot Luka Mezgec won there. That was special," recalls Pogačar.
Tadej Pogačar: Fan of the Giro d`Italia
This year, he doesn't just want to be happy when a Slovenian wins the final stage. He himself wants to win the entire tour at his first attempt. "Italy has shaped me as a cyclist. On the one hand, through the races I watched. My favourite food when I started racing myself was also pasta and pizza. That's why I wanted to start in the Giro for years. But my team wouldn't let me. They wanted me to grow slowly and only do one grand tour a year. But now I feel ready for it," he explained.
So a fan comes to Italy who is burning with longing for the pink race. This is a fan who, in turn, mobilises many fans. For years, Giro organiser RCS had been working to make participation attractive to Pogačar's entourage. The course was extended to Slovenia (2021) or at least moved closer (2023). So far, however, only the other Slovenian has been tempted. Primož Roglič also won the Giro last year because he was able to rely on a helper from his old ski jumping days in Slovenia - Mitja Meznar - for the time trial close to the border.
Priority Tour de France
The Tour de France has always been more important for Pogačar. In 2020, he surprisingly won it at his first attempt. In 2021, he won with aplomb. Jonas Vingegaard snatched away what he thought was his third victory. In 2023, a crash in the Liège-Bastogne-Liège classic prevented him from setting off for the Grand Loop in top form. He still finished second. This year, he is putting obstacles in his own way. Before the Tour, he contests the Giro. Nobody has won the double since 1998. 1998, that was in the last century, very different times. EPO was in circulation and widespread in the peloton.
Marco Pantani, the double winner that yearwas able to tune his naturally low haematocrit value to levels above 50, as various medical documents showed. After the Italian, nobody else managed the double. Neither Alberto Contador, who tackled the big task twice. He won the Giro in 2011 and 2015, but only finished 5th in the Tour. He also had to give back the 2011 Giro title due to doping. Bradley Wiggins tried his hand at the 2013 Giro with the fresh merits of the 2012 Tour winner, but it went horribly wrong. The Brit crashed, he was scared on the descents and was also shivering from the cold. He dropped out and no grand tour ever saw him as an active rider again.
Pogačar's motivation: to be the best driver of all time
The examples show the size of the task that lies ahead of Pogačar. However, he is also driven by a dual motivation. In addition to his as yet unfulfilled love of the pink race, it is the desire to immortalise himself in the history books. "I want to be the best in history," he announced his ambitions in the sports newspaper L'Équipe. Naturally, this includes the double of the Giro and Tour.
After his third Tour victory, he then wants to aim for the "rest": a victory at the Vuelta in the next few years, Olympic gold of course and the rainbow jersey, Milan-Sanremo at last, which he still hasn't won at his fourth attempt this year. And only much, much later the last monument, Paris-Roubaix. "Roubaix is not planned for the next few years. I would have to completely change my programme to get there in good form. I want to do the more doable things first," he said. This also includes the double.
Opportunities and risks for Tadej Pogačar
Part 1 will be a little easier for him. The Giro has around 10,000 metres less elevation gain than last year. The last week has also been defused. There are only two mountain finishes - Val Gardena and Passo del Brocon (16th and 17th stage). There is also Monte Grappa on the penultimate day with gradients of up to twelve per cent. In 2014, Nairo Quintana laid the foundations for his later overall success here with a victory in the mountain time trial. Incidentally, Quintana is likely to be the biggest obstacle for Pogačar in part 1 of the double attempt this year.
The really big rivals are focussing on the Tour. Vingegaard wants to complete his triple there, Roglič wants to finally close the circle of victories in the grand tours and Remco Evenepoel wants to prove that he too can succeed in the Tour. The start list for Italy reads much less spectacularly. Bora-Hansgrohe is sending the Colombian Daniel Martínez into the race, as well as the Germans Lennard Kämna and Emanuel Buchmann, who are more likely to have free roles. Ineos Grenadiers is likely to try with oldie Geraint Thomas. Local hero Damiano Caruso (Bahrain-Victorious) is also always good for a podium finish. Team Visma I Lease a Bike wants to go stage hunting with Wout van Aert.
In terms of the overall classification, Pogačar is indeed a whole class better - and probably also the magnet that will attract spectators to the road and consumers to the monitors. The Slovenian will also benefit from the many time trial kilometres. A long time trial over 38.5 kilometres, the first 30 of which are rather flat, is already scheduled for day 7. 31 completely flat kilometres make up stage 14 on Lake Garda. A real handicap for climbers who want to challenge Pogačar. The twelve kilometres of Tuscan gravel road on stage 6 are also made for the superior winner of the Strade Bianche. If he had had to draw the course himself, it would hardly have turned out any differently.
New stimuli for Tadej Pogačar
Pogačar has changed a few things for the big double adventure. He changed coach, with Javier Sola instead of Inigo San Millan in charge of his preparation. The Basque went to football club Athletic Bilbao - a completely new challenge. Pogačar also needed new stimuli, said UAE sports director Matxin Fernandez. Hence the double, relatively few race days in the spring and a break after the Tour/Olympics block to then tackle the World Championships as the final highlight. "We will skip the Vuelta 2023 so as not to have too many Grand Tours in a row," Fernandez explained the rough planning.
At the Giro, the outstanding rider of the spring has to be wide awake right from the start. After a loop around Turin, which includes a ride up to the Superga memorial, where the entire FC Turin football team died in a plane crash in 1949, the Santuario Oropa is the destination for the second day. It was here that Pantani, the role model for the double, made one of his most legendary appearances. He caught up with 49 rivals on his own after a defect. Another key stage is day 15 with the crossing of the Mortirolo and the mountain finish in Livigno. If Pogačar gets through everywhere well, then the triumphant ride through Rome beckons, fittingly past the Colosseum and with the finish line at the Imperial Forums. Perfect for the little blonde Caesar of road cycling.
