In 2021, Tadej Pogacar won Il Lombardia, the last monument of the season, on the same course that cyclists will face this Saturday. It’s an ambitious goal as it faces stiff competition, but he hopes to compete for victory one last time before the long winter ahead.
“It’s a long and tough race with steep climbs, and you really need to be in top form to finish well. I won on this course two years ago, so it suits me. I like long races with a lot of elevation gain. The finish is also good,” said Pogacar to the Belgian website In de Leiderstrui.
Legs and head are tired.
“One-day races require more concentration, are harder to predict. The preparation is different; you don’t think about the next day like in multi-day competitions. It’s the end of the season, and the legs and the head are tired.”
Pogacar rarely fails to perform at his best. However, in the Giro dell’Emilia, he was outdone by Primoz Roglic at the top of San Luca. He then finished fifth in the Tre Valli Varesine, where he couldn’t make the difference on the climbs. Weeks before that, he also appeared near the front but didn’t win Coppa Sabatini and the Giro della Toscana. All of this is certainly a sign that he’s not at his best level.
Comparison with Jumbo-Visma
“We want to finish this season as the number one team in the UCI ranking,” Pogacar adds, an important goal for the team. “The team is growing with new riders. We seek improvement and think about all aspects, how we can grow, how we can enhance small details. Our rival has more significant wins than us, but if we compare Jumbo-Visma’s season and ours, they are quite comparable.”