Vingegaard, Roglic, Evenepoel… The competition will be stronger on the Tour de France than on the Giro for Tadej Pogacar. And that’s pretty good, because the Slovenian says he himself is better than in the Tour of Italy, where he relegated his runner-up, Daniel Felipe Martinez, to 9’56. “I have the impression of having progressed further since the Giro,” he says on the website of his team, UAE. My form is even better than expected. I trained well and was able to test my legs. To be honest, I’ve never felt so good on a bike. »
After his first victory on a grand tour other than the Great Loop, Pogi had to alternate phases of recovery and training to maintain a minimum of mental freshness. Operation successfully completed. “I went to relax a little after the Tour of Italy. I rested mentally,” commented the Slovenian, who will attempt a Giro-Tour double unprecedented in the 21st century (Marco Pantani was the last to have achieved it in 1998).
Pogacar does not give himself up to be a winner before his time
Despite all this, he refuses the sign of ultra-favorite. “Everyone thinks I’m going to win the Tour de France every year yet I haven’t won the last two. » Certainly, but Jonas Vingegaard did not arrive with a truncated preparation, and Pogacar was not as strong.
