Category: Tadej Pogacar

‘I was quite emotional’ – Pogacar dedicates win to fiancée’s late mother

April 21, 2024

The Slovenian pulled out of the Monument in 2022 after his fiancée’s mother died, before he fractured his wrist in a nasty crash a year later.

He put in a devastating display on Sunday as he attacked on the imposing La Redoute with 35km remaining, with only Richard Carapaz (EF Education First) able to cope with the change in tempo – and even then, only briefly.

Pogacar quickly built a lead of well over a minute as he evoked memories of his victory at Strade Bianche in March, when he dropped a staggering 82km solo exhibition.

The 25-year-old cruised into the finish in Liege to wrap up a seventh win in just 10 days of racing in 2024, dedicating the victory to the late mother of his fiancée, fellow pro cyclist Urska Zigart.

“All day it was quite emotional for me riding on the bike, thinking of Urska’s mother from two years ago when we had to go home, and last year when I broke my hand,” said Pogacar.

“The last two years were really difficult and I was riding for Urska’s mother today. I’m really happy that I can finally win in this race again, this beautiful race.

“Thanks to all the team that worked for me today, it was amazing teamwork and I couldn’t have done it without them. I’m full of emotion.”

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Highlights: Pogacar storms to win, Van der Poel fights back for third

Pogacar is focused on a Giro d’Italia-Tour de France double in 2024 and said his priority was staying safe after last year’s crash.

“Today, I had all day in my mind [telling myself] to be careful. Last year I had all day in mind [trying] to save as much energy as possible, but today I was more on the safe side,” he said.

“The team did a super job. We rode hard on the climbs, safe on the downhills and La Redoute we did exactly what we said. From then on, it was suffering to the finish.”

Pogacar will next pin on a number at the Giro, which starts in Piedmont on May 4.

He will come up against Geraint Thomas (Ineos Grenadiers) in Italy, while his main GC rival at the Tour could yet be Jonas Vingegaard (Visma-Lease a Bike) despite the Danish two-time champion suffering multiple fractures in a crash at Itzulia Basque Country earlier in April.

Remco Evenepoel (Soudal Quick-Step), who is also recovering from a broken collarbone sustained in that crash, and Primoz Roglic (Bora-hansgrohe) are expected to provide further competition to Pogacar at the Tour in July.

Froome: Another Tour stage win would be an amazing way to end my career

April 10, 2024

Chris Froome has revealed his ambition of finishing his storied cycling career with one more “amazing” stage win at the Tour de France.

The 38-year-old has been a key rider in the Tour’s history this century, winning the race four times and placing on the podium on two other occasions.

Froome didn’t even make the Israel-Premier Tech team for the Tour de France last year, but is hopeful of returning this summer as his career nears its conclusion.

Asked what goals he has left in cycling, he told Eurosport: “I’m still contracted for this year and for next year, and for now I think that would take me until being 40 years old. I think that for me is quite a good goal to reach 40 and still be racing.

“I would be really happy with that, but I mean in terms of actual goals getting back to the Tour de France and fighting for even a stage win would be for me an amazing way to end my career with at least a few more battles in the mountains.

“A fifth Tour de France for me is always there as a dream, but I think I’ve come to the reality now that returning to that level of really fighting for victory at the Tour de France is certainly going to be very, very difficult.

“For me right now, I would just love to get back to the Tour de France. Even if I’m there fighting in the mountains, potentially for another stage win, that would be amazing.”

Froome, who is currently recovering from a fractured wrist suffered at Tirreno-Adriatico in March, says a few things need to come together for him to challenge again for stage wins.

“Consistency… a little bit of luck as well, or should I say a little bit of not bad luck,” he reflected.

“Unfortunately, things like this [wrist injury] do set me back. I mean crashing is never fun but when you break a bone then it takes time to recover and heal from that, but I think just consistency.

“Time to train, time to go to the races, being healthy. That’s all it takes, but to try and avoid having setbacks and bad luck.”

Froome was once the dominant figure at the Tour de France, winning the race four out of five years from 2013 to 2017.

But these days it is the likes of Tadej Pogacar (UAE Team Emirates) and Jonas Vingegaard (Visma-Lease a Bike) who are the star names at cycling’s biggest race.

“It would have been really interesting to have raced against them in my best years,” said Froome about the new generation of leading riders.

“It would have been interesting to see, but it’s definitely getting younger. There’s definitely a pattern of guys coming in at a much higher level from a younger age.

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Watch ‘absolutely magnificent’ Pogacar’s four stage wins at Volta a Catalunya

“I believe that’s because of the amount of information available to coaches who are then training younger athletes. I think there are kids of the age 12, 13 years old, almost training like professionals. By the time they’re 18, they’ve already been doing it for five to six years already, training correctly, eating correctly.

“As you’ve seen, they’re ready to win the world’s biggest races in their early 20s already. It’s quite amazing to witness.”

Asked whether he could see any of today’s riders dominating like the legendary Eddy Merckx did at his peak in the early ’70s, Froome said: “It’s tough. It’s really tough.

“It goes in waves. At the moment, it definitely seems to feel like a wave of the Jumbo-Visma team having won all the Grand Tours last year. But cycling is a sport that’s always evolving, always changing, and there will always be new rivals coming up. Let’s see. I think it’s very rare in this day and age to see one rider really dominating everything the way Eddy Merckx did back in his era.

“I think the sport’s just evolved so much and become so specific that it’s very hard for someone to be good over all types of terrain. That’s one thing that Tadej Pogacar really impresses me in the sense that he’s able to win one-day Classics like Flanders or Strade Bianche and also be there challenging in the Grand Tours, so it’s very impressive.”

Both Vingegaard and Pogacar have won the Tour de France twice and will be aiming for a third win this summer. That would place them one behind Froome and two behind Merckx, who is joint-top of the overall standings.

Had Froome not crashed at the Criterium du Dauphine in 2019, he could well be sitting alongside Merckx with five Tour de France titles.

“It had a huge impact on me that crash,” said Froome.

“It was really at the worst moment, just before the Tour de France. I was in fantastic shape, hoping to go and fight for the fifth victory at the Tour de France.

“But that’s life. That’s also part of the sport. It is a dangerous sport. These accidents do happen. We’ve seen many serious accidents in the last weeks and months as well, where riders have broken several bones. Unfortunately, it’s a part of the sport.

“It definitely brought my Grand Tour challenging days to an end, certainly. I found it very difficult to come back to a competitive level. But on a more personal, human side, that crash took me months, if not even a full year, to try and recover from that. Just to learn to walk again, to walk normally without limping, took me over a year.

“It was a big crash, but I’m really glad to be back racing now and to have no pain. I feel extremely grateful to have another chance.”

Stream top cycling action, including all three Grand Tours, live on discovery+, the Eurosport app and at eurosport.com

Pogacar ‘could pay the price’ for his early-season feats ahead of Giro-Tour double – Indurain

March 29, 2024

Tadej Pogacar (UAE Team Emirates) may “pay the price” for his early-season feats as he targets a momentous Giro d’Italia-Tour de France double, believes five-time yellow jersey winner Miguel Indurain.

Indurain, who won the Tour de France-Giro d’Italia double in 1992 and 1993 – and remains the only cyclist to win the Tour five times in a row – assessed Pogacar’s chances of matching his achievement in 2024.

“For sure he’s got the capacity [to do the double]. Of course, he has,” Indurain told Cyclingnews.

“In my era, the way we handled the season differently, but it remains a very hard challenge no matter which approach path you take.

“If he’s winning so much now, he could pay the price for that later,” he added.

“But that said, there’s so much more data about power output and watts and so on now than there was in my era, it’s much easier to manage your effort.”

Indurain – drawing on his own experiences – warned of the challenges of tackling back-to-back GCs, as Pogacar will do later this year.

“The effort you have to make is a big one, even though every rider is different,” he said.

“And then after starting at the Giro, there’s the question of holding your form right the way through to the end of the third week of the Tour. That last week could drain him [Pogacar] in particular.

“It’s important just to stay focussed on the race you have in front of you. Each race is different, with its time trials, mountains and so on. You can’t be racing the Giro thinking about what might happen in the Tour.”

Of the month-long break between the two Grand Tours, Indurain noted: “In my era it was different, there was less time. Either way, you have to strike a balance between easing back too much to try and rest and training too hard. That’s very difficult.”

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‘I don’t know why!’ – Even Pogacar unsure over wild solo attack

The nature of the UAE Team Emirates team around Pogacar has often been discussed, with some questioning whether he has the right support, despite a team stacked with the likes of Adam Yates and Joao Almeida.

On this theme, Indurain said: “The thing is though, that Pogacar’s racing style is not based around relying heavily on his team. And those efforts end up being paid for in the long run.

“That’s the way he is though, and that’s not going to change.”

The Giro gets underway on May 4, while the Tour’s Grand Depart is on June 29.

Stream all the top cycling action, including the Giro d’Italia, Tour de France and Vuelta a Espana, live and on-demand on discovery+.

Tour of Flanders 2024: When is it? Who is riding? How to watch

March 26, 2024

The second Monument race of the season will see the best men’s and women’s riders in the world tackle the gruelling cobbled climbs around Flanders.

The Tour of Flanders is one of the most iconic races on the cycling calendar and has been won by the likes of Eddy Merckx, Mathieu van der Poel, Tadej Pogacar and Lotte Kopecky.

Pogacar was victorious in the men’s race in 2023, while Kopecky claimed victory in the women’s race for the second year in a row.

Who will be crowned champions this time around?

We look at everything you need to know about the Tour of Flanders, including when the men’s and women’s races take place, how to watch on discovery+, the route, and who is racing…

When is the 2024 Tour of Flanders?

The 2024 Tour of Flanders will take place on Sunday, March 31.

How to watch Tour of Flanders

You can watch all of the action from the Tour of Flanders live on discovery+.

Coverage of the men’s race starts at 8:30 UK time, with the women’s race available to watch from 14:00.

Who is riding the Tour of Flanders?

Pogacar made a solo attack to win last year and deny Van der Poel (Alpecin-Deceuninck) another triumph at the race.

Van der Poel, who has finished first, second, first, second over the last four years at the Tour of Flanders, is the favourite in the men’s race.

Wout van Aert (Visma-Lease a Bike) should also be a leading contender.

Kopecky (SD Worx) looks the one to beat in the women’s race as she bids for a hat-trick of wins.

Team-mates Demi Vollering and Lorena Wiebes could also challenge, while Lidl-Trek’s hopes are on Elisa Longo Borghini, Elisa Balsamo and Lizzie Deignan.

Chloe Dygert (Canyon-SRAM) will continue her comeback from injury.

What is the route for the Tour of Flanders?

The men’s route covers 270.8km, starting in Antwerp and finishing in Oudenaarde.

There are 17 cobbled climbs and the steep Paterberg will be the last ascent with 13km of the race remaining.

The women’s race is shorter at 163km and starts and finishes in Oudenaarde.

It also ends with climbs up Oude Kwaremont and Paterberg before the run to the finish line.

Stream all the top cycling action, including the Giro d’Italia, Tour de France and Vuelta a Espana, live and on-demand on discovery+.

‘Close to something historical’ – Van der Poel aiming for cyclo-cross record in 2025

March 26, 2024

Mathieu van der Poel is targeting the record of seven titles at the Cyclo-cross World Championships next year.

The 29-year-old Dutchman has six to his name with the current record set at seven, and with no signs of slowing down in his career, the Alpecin-Deceuninck rider has his sights on a seventh.

However, Van der Poel first discussed one of the finest wins of his career, in the Netherlands at the 2019 Amstel Gold.

He said of his reaction to the win: “I was a bit lost at first. I knew it hurt. I went pretty deep, so I had to lay down. I was just, it felt like a thousand people standing over me.

“It’s like a football stadium exploding while scoring a winning goal. In the moment itself, you don’t really appreciate, know what is going on. Afterwards, you see the images and it gives me goosebumps.

“It’s super difficult. I get this question quite often – what is your most beautiful victory – they all mean something to me. Some are bigger than others, but I think winning in the national jersey in the only Classic race left in the Netherlands, so maybe it was my breakthrough on the road, so that was something special. It means it was quite a big victory.”

Van der Poel was asked about what inspired him, and he replied that some of his inspiration comes from himself, but conceded that Wout van Aert provided a special challenge to be met.

He continued: “I’m used to it because I’ve already had some big appointments with cycling. In the beginning when I was younger, it got me nervous, but now, I’m kind of used to it and I think nobody puts more pressure on me than I do myself, and I want to perform. I want to win, that’s why I started racing. I really love to win.

“I’m mainly concerned with myself, but to win you have to cause the rivals [to lose]. It keeps me on my edge. The better they are the better I have to be, and I think that’s what comes in sports. With Wout van Aert, of course, everyone knows the history we have. Now, Tadej Pogacar comes to do some classic races as well sometimes, and he’s also good at that. It’s good for me, keeps me on my edge.”

Speaking of the seventh potential rival, he admitted that 2025 would be the year he attempts to reach the record number.

“I have goals but I’ve not changed this,” he answered. “I try to be the best version of myself every year and hopefully, the rest comes. I’m getting close to doing something historical and you get remembered by those kinds of things, so it will be a goal next year to try and break the record. It’s my first passion.”

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Dutch Mathieu van der Poel pictured in action during the men elite road race at the UCI World Championships Cycling, 271,1km from Edinburgh to Glasgow, Scotland

Image credit: Getty Images

He also discussed some of the toughest wins that had come his way, and he reflected on the 2023 World Championships in road racing.

In Glasgow, he crashed heavily – hurting himself and damaging a shoe in the process – but sprung back to his feet in order to get back on his bike, and ultimately claimed an impressive win.

He explained: “Instinctively, I just jumped back on the bike. I hoped everything was okay, luckily it was, and I could continue with the adrenaline. If I had to name one of my best victories, for sure this would be in the top five.

“The way it developed it was one of my hardest races. That day I felt super good and I was thinking about trying to win the World Championship. I think after winning two monuments already, becoming world champion was a year to remember. I will remember last year forever.

“The classics are a big goal again. For me, I have the same races as I did last year, and in the summer… It’s quite difficult with the Olympics, but I still aim to compete in the mountain bikes and road.”

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