What a postcard, what an advertisement, what a spot for the world. Big day in Volta and Berguedà. You don’t need a movie to make an area fashionable, to turn a place into a pilgrimage center. All you need is a bike and the right hero. Cycling met Pradell. Kuss put everyone on the track and Pogacar, always generous in his effort and willing to share a show, put Berga and the Sanctuary of Queralt, back on the map, after a long time, with an announcement victory. There is no better slogan than Pogacar.
Being the leader, he didn’t think about it, when there were two passes left. He didn’t need it but he was motivated to put his name in a place where he had won the Caníbal Merckx or the Diavolo Chiappucci. Turisme de Catalunya sponsors the franjiverde jersey of the Volta. He couldn’t have chosen better. Because the Slovenian from the UAE is always the best protagonist to film an unforgettable attraction.
A human hallway of people. Applause, cheers and encouragement. The motorcycle opening the way to the Pogacar pass, which advances amidst the shouting for its third stage in the Volta. The dream image. For Rubèn Peris, president of the race, and for Ivan Sànchez, Mayor Berga, when they decided to set up this tappone, with five passes around the region on Saturday, so that the fans would take to the streets. The Slovenian champion did not miss the opportunity to score the queen day, his third victory in this Volta, where he has won in the three finals at high altitude. He celebrated it like a rocker. That’s what the stars are like.
This time Mikel Landa (Soudal) was not second but third, because he did not compete for the position with Egan Bernal (Ineos), who took the third step of the podium. Enric Mas wanted to get there and had the Basque and the Colombian close but they went away and he lost two minutes in Queralt. When Sepp Kuss, defeated in his area, with pain in his heart and legs, entered the finish line almost four behind… Pogacar was already doing a roller and loosening his legs.
Imagine mixing the slopes of the Italian Mortirolo, with an enthusiastic fan base that had nothing to envy of the Basque or Dutch fans, and add the mystique and expectation of the first time you climbed the Angliru. They will have the atmosphere and the party that was experienced on the sides of the last three climbs, all crazy, at the pace of the cyclists.
Pradell’s unprecedented and long-awaited coll did not leave anyone indifferent. Impossible. In history it will always remain that Chaves was the first to attack there. But when the road steepened from Vallcebre and the cyclists stayed at pure pace, without the need for anyone to speed up. He climbed one by one. The port put everyone in their place, as in a natural selection. And he taught strength and misery.
Kuss wanted to impress the people of the region. The American is very loved in Berguedà and was perhaps the one who knew Pradell best, since he even put him on an urban Brompton as a joke among his wife’s friends. He had the record for the climb on Strava, achieved in a 2020 training session, but he collapsed before time. The desire to please played tricks on the winner of the Vuelta a España and on all of Visma, who had tried to catch two veterans like Mollema and Carthy before the big climb, because when the third climb of the day was crowned there was no no yellow jersey among the 12 cyclists who passed in the lead.
It was Marc Soler, one of the two companions that Pogacar had, who was the first to cross the top of Pradell. Movistar also had three cyclists while Landa was alone but they did not get involved. As if it were the Tour and they were in July, a chase for Visma against the UAE was proposed. Condemned to always see each other’s faces. Up front, Soler did not give everything. Behind, the three Visma (Kuss, Uijtdebroeks and Kruijswijk) counted on the collaboration of Israel to cut the minute of disadvantage at the top and connect right at the gates of the Collada de Sant Isidre.
There Movistar did want to be ambitious with Sosa y Mas but before they could do anything, Pogacar started like a flash. First five followed him, then there were three (Landa, Tiberi and Mas) who were able to follow his wheel until in the end he was left alone. “For a moment I have been close. I thought I could catch him but then he turned on the gas and it was impossible,” Landa acknowledged.
There were 29 kilometers left but the Slovenian champion is not afraid. He threw the blanket around his head and did not wait for anyone as Indurain would have done, to gain allies. He went all the way. To sentence the Volta. To offer the imagined image. A postcard to remember.
