In line with his historical performances, Tadej Pogačar could be the third rider to win the Giro, the Tour and the UCI Road World Championships in the same year.
“To win each Grand Tour is a major goal of mine,” Tadej Pogačar told us right after he conquered the Giro d’Italia in dominant fashion only a few weeks ago… And the Slovenian went on to deliver historic performances in the Tour de France: a third overall triumph (the youngest rider to reach this landmark, at 25 years and 10 months), with six stage wins (no winner of the Tour had reached such a tally since Frenchman Bernard Hinault 45 years ago), becoming the rider with most stage wins before the age of 26 in the history of the Tour (17; two more than Great Britain’s Mark Cavendish and Luxembourg’s François Faber), and reviving the Giro-Tour double – achieved for the first time 75 years ago, and not witnessed in the 21st century until now…
“Even if I never come back to the Tour de France I will be satisfied,” Pogačar could say with a smile on Sunday, after victory in the last three stages of the race, itself a feat not seen since 1930. It’s hard to imagine him never returning to the event that powered him to the very summit of cycling: after storming proceedings in 2020 and 2021, the Slovenian returned to his dominating ways in the last three weeks.
“This year, everything went to perfection,” Pogačar added. “I’m super happy, it’s incredible. This is the first Grand Tour on which I have been totally confident every day. Even on the last Giro I had one bad day - I won’t say which one. This Tour de France has been amazing. I have enjoyed it from day one until today.”
“I cannot describe how happy I am”
Day one was already a hard one, with the hills leading from Florence to Rimini and stifling temperatures for the Italian Grand Départ of the Tour de France. The French Grand Tour has a special relationship with transalpine cycling and so does Tadej Pogačar, whose Junior career and Elite achievements are also intimately linked with these roads and legends.
Sunday was also a home triumph for Pogačar, with the final time trial of the Tour starting from Monaco, where he lives, to Nice, where he conquered Paris-Nice in 2023: “It was lovely to start from the F1 grid of the best F1 circuit ever!” Pogačar could celebrate, as everything seemed to go his way, contrasting with the last two seasons, in which he still racked up many prestigious successes (16 wins in 2022, 17 in 2023) but had to settle for second behind Denmark’s Jonas Vingegaard in the Tour de France.
“I cannot describe how happy I am after two hard years in the Tour de France, in which we always made some mistakes that cost us the race,” Pogačar reflected on Sunday. This time, it was a flawless ride, and the Slovenian star is now up to 21 victories in 2024.
“We have to enjoy this beautiful era”
All these successes have come at UCI WorldTour level, from Strade Bianche to the Tour de France, passing by the Volta Ciclista a Catalunya, Liège-Bastogne-Liège and the Giro d’Italia. Only one race resisted him so far this year: Milano-Sanremo. He came third in the Italian Monument, where he has been continually improving his results, finishing 12th in 2020, 5th in 2022 and 4th in 2023.
Pogačar points to the depth of the new generation of cyclists: “These last few years we have been hearing that this is the best era of cycling. If I was not competing, I would say the same. This kind of competition with Remco [Evenepoel], Jonas [Vingegaard], Primož [Roglič]… is just incredible. And many young guys are coming, more and more. We have to enjoy this beautiful era of cycling.”
Next up, after a very short rest, is the Paris 2024 Olympic Games and, his main remaining goal of the season, the UCI Road World Championships in Zurich, Switzerland: “I know that Mathieu [Van der Poel] looks good in the rainbow jersey, but I want to take it from him.”