On the night of Saturday, March 16, a car left northern Italy. A few hours ago the entire podium ceremony and Milan-Sanremo interviews had ended. Only one person was traveling in that car. The driver was Joseba Elguezabal and among other things he had a bicycle in his luggage. Not just any one. But that of Tadej Pogacar. “I drove to the concentration hotel in Sant Feliu de Guíxols so that everything was prepared for his arrival. The next day I went to pick him up in the car at the airport, I took him to Mataró and there he got on the bike to ride 60 kilometers. He is that special,” reveals the Basque masseuse from the UAE, the champion’s guardian angel. And so special. A week later, Pogacar, with that bicycle, won the Volta a Catalunya with the largest difference in the last 40 years.
Since Pepe Recio won in 1983 with more than 4 minutes over Faustino Rupérez, no one had had 3m41s over the second, Mikel Landa. Bernal, the third, left 5 minutes behind. Nothing to do with the 6 seconds that separated Roglic, the winner, from Evenepoel in the previous edition.
From exhibition to exhibition, Pogacar entered the history of the Volta in a big way. He won four stages (more than half) in his debut in the Catalan round. And there were not five because Schultz narrowly avoided him on the first day… and due to a small miscalculation by the Slovenian. His name is already registered in a race that has been won by almost all the greats of cycling: Indurain (1988, 1991 and 1992), Merckx (1968), Anquetil (1967), Gimondi (1972). He couldn’t be any other way.
Dominating the three high finishes, the Slovenian champion is anything but conformist and in the end increased his haul on the Montjuïc circuit. On the penultimate ascent of Alt del Castell he attacked behind Guillaume Martin but when he crested he did not launch himself on the descent. The favorites regrouped and on the last climb, he himself neutralized Stephens, to allow the attack of his teammate Almeida, who also did not consolidate. In the end, everything was decided in a sprint with 20 units and the Slovenian started from the left and was the fastest. He smiles and the others suffer. He celebrates and the rest are disappointed. The faces at the finish line say it all.
Almost out of obligation, Pogacar won, capable of improvising almost without being noticed. Because the team wanted to defer to Marc Soler or give permission to João Almeida. None of that went well. And he had to round out the party, winning at more than 2,000 meters and in Barcelona. Not even the motorcycles, like in Queralt, have stopped him.
“I am very happy with the victory, although it was not the original plan. We wanted to win with Marc Soler, who tried in the first round. I have been in front the entire time and leave behind the rest’s wheels. On the last climb, João made a good attack, opened a small gap and almost reached the finish line. I wish it had been him too,” he explained.
Pogacar thus emulates Mario Cipollini, the last one who won four partial victories in the Volta. It was in 1998. But the double Tour winner is a totally different rider from the Italian sprinter. A total genius who is breaking molds and mental frameworks. With his fantastic Volta, the Slovenian already has 69 hits in his career, one more than Alberto Contador. The Madrid native spent 15 years as a professional. The UAE leader is only in his fifth year.
Now he is looking at Liege and the Giro d’Italia, races he wants to take over before his tiebreaker duel with Vingegaard in the Tour. Maybe the Dane is the only one who can handle him.
