Pure dominance

Pogacar triumphs like hardly anyone before at the Giro!

Tadej Pogacar

(Bild: AFP)

Tadej Pogacar dominated his first Giro d'Italia like hardly anyone before! The 25-year-old Slovenian almost celebrated a start-to-finish victory, taking the pink jersey from the second stage onwards and never giving it up again.

On Saturday, he took the final mountain stage and thus his sixth stage win. A feat that not even cycling legend Eddy Merckx had achieved in a Giro before him. "Maybe I didn't need to win today, but I wanted it for myself and my team," said Pogacar before the final stage on Sunday. This was won by Tim Merlier in a bunch sprint in front of the Colosseum ahead of the Italian Jonathan Milan. The Belgian thus celebrated his third stage win, only Pogacar has won more this year with six stage wins.

Cycling prodigy wants to win the Giro and Tour
If the 25-year-old wanted something in these three weeks of the Giro, then he simply took it. An incredible 9:56 minutes separated Pogacar from the second-placed Bora captain Daniel Martinez. There hasn't been a bigger lead since 1965, and only three in the post-war period anyway.

However, victory in the Tour of Italy for Pogacar, who followed Primoz Roglic as the second Slovenian winner in the history of the first Grand Tour race of the year, is only half the job done. Just under six months ago, the cycling prodigy announced that he wanted to try and win the Giro and the Tour. The last time Italy's icon Marco Pantani succeeded was in 1998, and in this day and age such a task is actually considered impossible.

"A win is a win, even if it's only by a second!"
It was already clear before the start in Turin that Pogacar would win the Giro if he didn't crash or fall ill. After all, the rest of the world's best cyclists were concentrating on the Tour de France. And so it was generally expected that Pogacar would go into administration mode as soon as he had pulled out a reassuring cushion on the second-placed rider. A massive misconception ...

The uber-talented all-rounder from Komenda simply won as he pleased. "A win is a win, even if it's only by a second. In this Giro, it just happened that way," said Pogacar. In the end, he simply wanted to finish the race with high morale and good legs. "It was supposed to be a good test for the summer. I managed to do that, so I'm happy."

Now also favorite for the Tour de France
The chances of the double have even increased after the Italian demonstration. Not only because of the condition Pogacar is in. The fact that his toughest rivals Jonas Vingegaard, Remco Evenepoel and Roglic all crashed at the beginning of April also plays into his hands. Evenepoel and Roglic will start next week at the Dauphiné, the classic Tour dress rehearsal. Whether two-time Tour winner Vingegaard will be there is completely open. After such a long injury break, it is questionable anyway whether the Dane would be a match for Pogacar.

He seems to have made another leap forward in his development, which actually seemed impossible given his qualities. In the spring, he won the difficult Strade Bianche gravel race with an 81-kilometer solo, followed by his superior triumph at the Giro.

"He's the best I've ever ridden with!"
A change of coach in the winter is said to have been the trigger for the next level of performance. After five years, Pogacar parted ways with Iñigo San Millán and switched to his Spanish compatriot Javier Sola. The latter's profile on the X platform reads "Human performance". "Human performance". It might seem rather alien to the competition. Or as Geraint Thomas, third in the Giro, commented: "He's the best I've ever ridden with. It's crazy how talented he is. In terms of physical ability, he's unique."

The result of the 21st stage:
1st Tim Merlier (BEL) Soudal-Quick-Step 2:51:50 hrs.
2nd Jonathan Milan (ITA) Lidl-Trek
3rd Kaden Groves (AUS) Alpecin-Deceuninck
Further:
40. Patrick Gamper (AUT) Bora-hansgrohe
88th Felix Großschartner (AUT) UAE - all same time
104th Rainer Kepplinger (AUT) Bahrain +41 sec.
113th Tobias Bayer (AUT) Alpecin-Deceuninck +1:15 min.

The final standings in the overall standings:
1st Tadej Pogacar (SLO) UAE 79:14:03 hrs.
2nd Daniel Martinez (COL) Bora-hansgrohe +9:56 min.
3rd Geraint Thomas (GBR) Ineos +10:24
Further:
31. Felix Großschartner (AUT) UAE +1:56:06 hrs.
64th Rainer Kepplinger (AUT) Bahrain +3:23:14
86th Patrick Gamper (AUT) Bora-hansgrohe +4:14:45
96th Tobias Bayer (AUT) Alpecin-Deceuninck +4:25:27