For the former winner of the Tour de France Jan Ullrich, “Tadej Pogacar is ahead of his time”

Like everyone, Jan Ullrich is amazed by the achievements of Tadej Pogacar. The German won the Tour de France in 1997 and the Vuelta two years later. He then fought in vain for a second yellow jersey on the large loop. But his hunting ground was more or less limited to that, like the vast majority of leaders of his time. Except that cycling has changed, by the prism of Slovenian, in particular, which rebels all the maps and walks all the diagrams of the end of the 20th century and the beginning of the next one.

“What he shows us is incredible, Judged Ullrich Tuesday in remarks reported by our colleagues from Eurosport Germany. Pogacar destroys all the certainties that existed in the past. In my time, we focused on certain events, but last year, he succeeded in the double Giro – a tour when everyone has repeated for years that it was too much“. Pogacar was indeed the first to win the two tests since Marco Pantani in 1998.

But he has gone even further than that in recent months by showing himself on all fronts, whether it be the big stages races or the main classics, including the world road championship. He even tackled in Paris-Roubaix for the first time in April, ending in 2nd place behind the Dutch Mathieu Van der Poel. “”For cyclingunderlines Ullrich, The fact that a winner of the Tour tries to win Paris-Roubaix is ​​fantastic.”

There is the bottom, but also the form. There too, the native of Rostock is seized by the case “Pogi”. “”I am particularly impressed by the way he approaches his sport and his profession. We feel fun, pleasure, even if there is a lot of work and efforts behind“, Adds Ullrich again. For the German,”Tadej Pogacar is simply a Mega-Talent. He constantly improves. It is the Eddy Merckx of our time. He is ahead of his time.”

Having decided this time not to line up on the GIRO after a very busy start to the season since he has played all of the major classics in particular, the strong man of Team UAE is now targeting a 4th final victory on the Tour de France. “”He can decide to win where and when he wants, said Jan Ullrich again. Obviously, he will be the big favorite of the Tour, but in cycling, many things can always happen.”

But without extra-sporting problem, like a fall or a injury, it will be necessary to be very strong and very inventive to prevent Tadej Pogacar from swapping in July his iridescent world tunic for an additional yellow jersey.