He amazed everyone. Starting with Eddy Merckx, the first to achieve the Tour of Italy-Tour de France-World Championships triple, as Tadej Pogacar has just done. But the Slovenian was also surprised. Starting 100 km from the finish, to everyone’s surprise, the winner of the last Grande Boucle produced a resounding feat, to which Mathieu van der Poel and Remco Evenepoel were unable to respond. He will now wear the rainbow jersey.
What was going through your head when you attacked with 100 km to go?
TADEJ POGACAR. I don’t know. After leaving, I said to myself: but what are you doing? You’re shooting yourself in the foot. Then I saw Jan Tratnik waiting for me and that gave me hope. He’s a machine, he pulled big relays. I was really happy he was there. But there were still plenty of tricks to complete. Afterwards I ran into Pavel (Sivakov). We were able to collaborate a little. When he let go, I told myself again that I was stupid.
So your attack was not premeditated?
That wasn’t the plan, it was just stupid. You don’t decide to do something stupid like that. It was completely unthought out. That’s why it was stupid. But it worked. Amazing. In the end maybe it wasn’t so stupid after all (laughs).
Did you wait for Pavel Sivakov for a while, was it to take advantage of his help or to help him?
Both. I needed him because we were still far from the finish, and he needed me to try to get a medal. Taking a ride with a friend made things easier and I thank him for that. I would have liked him to win a medal. I’m sad for him because he deserved it.
Were you afraid at the end, when the gap narrowed?
I counted the miles in my head. I really broke down. It was very hard because the tank was empty. I was starting to no longer see clearly, I could barely hold on to the pedals but I gritted my teeth. I had to do it.
Were you aware of the discrepancies?
Yes I had good information, every two kilometers or so, thanks to the slate and also from the assistants when I took a bottle or the car. I asked for the gap and who was driving behind or not. It helped me know when to push hard and when to recover a little. 45 seconds on a course like this isn’t bad. I knew that they were cooked behind too and I hoped that it wouldn’t collaborate too much, as is often the case.
What does this title mean to you?
When I was a kid, I didn’t even dare to dream of wearing this rainbow jersey one day. I imagined myself at the start of the Tour de France or a World Championship but not winning it. In recent years, I chased victories in the Tour, the Giro, the Tour of Flanders, without ever making the Worlds a real objective. But this year, I knew that, given the course, I had a great opportunity and I prepared accordingly. It’s more than a dream come true. I can’t wait to wear this jersey racing and have fun.
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