Being a professional cyclist can sometimes be a tough job. Tadej Pogacar experienced this on Monte Grappa, on the penultimate day of the Giro d'Italia 2024. Dozens of fans ran alongside him, barely giving way to the road. Some even hit him on the back. The Slovenian had to slalom again and again to avoid collisions. He was reminiscent of a skipper travelling in waters with many reefs, even though the nautical chart had promised him clear sailing. The man in pink looked round angrily a few times. But then he drove on with concentration and finally reached the - sparse - barriers just before the summit.
Remarkable action by Tadej Pogacar
The enthusiastic fans on the 20th stage were possibly the biggest challenge for Pogacar in this Giro. The two-time Tour de France winner also mastered this with flying colours. He demonstrated just how superior he was in his first Tour of Italy a few kilometres further on. By then he had already digested his frustration at the pushy fans. When a boy ran alongside him and asked him for a water bottle, Pogacar passed the bidon he had received from a supporter just a moment before to the little admirer. "I recognised myself in him and imagined how happy I would have been if I had been given one back then," he said - alluding to the Giro ten years ago, when he stood at the side of the road as an adolescent and admired the big boys on their fancy racing bikes. The Gazzetta dello Sport praised this action as an "inspiration for an entire generation".
Pogacar also had gifts in store for the older riders. He spoilt the great experience of Giro debutant Giulio Pellizzari when he caught him on stage 16 and took the stage win himself. Afterwards, however, he handed over his pink jersey and pink glasses to the youngest professional of the Giro. Pellizzari was blown away. For his part, he showed Pogacar a photo of himself as an adolescent admirer of the Slovenian at the Strade Bianche 2019. This closed the circle: Of young lads who look up to those only a little older and feel inspired by them. You might want to remember the boy with the bottle.
No one can keep up with the UAE captain
Pellizzari, for his part, achieved another remarkable feat. After the UAE captain had asked him on the way: "Come with me", he kept pace for around five kilometres. In retrospect, that was the longest time of anyone who had even tried to follow the Slovenian on his many solo rides. Daniel Martinez dared to do so briefly, as did Ben O'Connor. But they quickly got into the red zone. Veteran Geraint Thomas sensibly didn't even try. Attila Valter told us that he had prepared to ride with Pogacar on one stage when he passed his breakaway group. "But after a few minutes I was done," said the Hungarian champion in the service of Visma | Lease a Bike. At least he was able to collect some data for his racing team, who would like to put more pressure on Pogacar in the Tour de France.
Toothless competition at the Giro d'Italia 2024
At UAE, they were surprised by the degree of superiority of their own captain at this Giro. "We expected that one or the other would be able to stay on Tadej's wheel," marvelled sporting director Fabio Baldato. "We also didn't think that the gap would be so big," he alluded to the almost ten-minute gap to Martinez in second place overall. "But the opponents orientated themselves towards each other early on, towards the battle for second, third and fourth place," he explained.
"They didn't really attack Pogacar once," said Marc Reef, Sports Director at Visma | Lease a Bike, slightly surprised. His racing team had provided the template for how to shake Pogacar at the 2023 Tour. "You could have done copy and paste. There are certainly other ways to shake up Pogacar based on the characteristics of your own riders," said Reef. But nobody went down this route, whether due to a lack of confidence or a lack of knowledge.
Tadej Pogacar right on schedule
Pogacar was therefore able to chalk up the Giro as a great experience. "A great race, lots of fantastic moments, super fans," he said. Yes, he also liked the fans on the whole, except for the few idiots on Monte Grappa. But above all, he had achieved his ultimate goal. He left the Giro "in a good mood and with good legs", he said. That was exactly what part one of the double plan envisaged. Not only to win the Giro, but also to finish it in a good mood and in top form. "We wanted Tadej to go into the Giro in such good shape that he wouldn't have to push himself too hard and always stay mentally fresh," UAE team boss Mauro Gianetti revealed the plan behind the plan. It worked perfectly, as not only the bottle episode with the young fan proves. Pogacar never seemed to be pushed to his limits, smiled incessantly and even after the longest solo rides, he quickly had the air for lively explanations.
Motivational kick for Tadej Pogacar
He and his coaching staff seem to have done a lot of things right in preparation. The double endeavour gave "Pogi" new motivation. He largely dispensed with the classics programme and concentrated on the long climbs in training. His numerous solo rides show how well this worked. The team around him also seemed sharper. Colnago provided him with a better bike. "We paid particular attention to weight and stiffness. The bike is lighter and the part around the bottom bracket is a real fortress," said a Colnago spokesman proudly. Pogacar himself also put a lot of ambition into optimising his seating position for the time trial. After long ups and downs, as he himself admitted, he found a better balance between aerodynamics and power output.
All of this contributed to him being named "King of Rome", as the Corriere della Sera headlined - and that he now quite rightly bears the honorary title of "cannibal" in the style of Eddy Merckx, as the Gazzetta dello Sport noted. Only Visma boss Richard Plugge dared to make critical points. "We'll only realise how good Pogacar really is when he comes up against equal opponents," he said, referring to the absence of his top rider Jonas Vingegaard, the Slovenian Primoz Roglic and the Belgian super talent Remco Evenepoel at this Giro. Hopefully there will be someone at the Tour who has a plan to shake Pogacar.
Pogacar himself is now back where he was thought to be in 2021. After his second consecutive Tour victory, it seemed only a matter of time before he would join the club of five-time winners. But then came Jonas Vingegaard and Jumbo-Visma with the attrition approach. Pogacar's current form is a reaction to just that. Even if the results are similar, the riders at the front remain the same: It's how they manage it that changes. So cycling remains in a state of flux.
