Now it’s official and Tadej Pogacar has won his first Giro d’Italia. The rivals he met on his way were never dangerous and the Slovenian champion ended on a high note in Bassano del Grappa by winning his sixth stage at the end of an extraordinary solo on Monte Grappa.
«It’s been a long three weeksit wasn’t all easy – the Slovenian said in the press conference – I also had some allergy problems after the Naples stage and also in the second week, although there were some rainy days, the allergy did not completely resolve.”
Pogacar won with the joy of having achieved a great feat and the awareness that victories cannot always be easy. «I’m happy with how it went. I arrived here with a good lead, it was a great Giro and a step forward compared to previous years. Every year I improve and I’m happy with where I’ve reached and this means that I’m still growing and my experience is growing too.”
Pogacar decided to change coach and the historic San Millan was recently replaced by Javier Sola. «I changed coach because I felt that after 5 years I needed to renew, we tried new things both physically and mentally and I’m happy with how everything went well.” The UAE Emirates champion said he had had problems in the three weeks of racing, such as difficulty sleeping. «There were some difficult moments, I even had trouble sleepingof the moments when I wasn’t very comfortable on the bike, but it was one of the best grand tours done in my careerthe legs worked well for three weeks.»
Pogacar enchanted the public in his climb up Monte Grappa and as he raced towards victory, he also found a way to give a water bottle to a child on the side of the road.
«During the last climb it was impossible to talk on the radio, there were too many people and so I approached my teammates to find out how they were doing, because I couldn’t hear them with the headset. We planned that attack by talking to each other and on the last climb I found this child and I wanted to give him the water bottle.”
The Slovenian’s show ended at the finish line in Bassano del Grappa, making a bow of thanks to all those who had cheered for him. «I won and morale is high, it was a very positive test, I’m happy, there was a great atmosphere, with lots of people. There was someone in the audience who got too close, they touched me, but the important thing is to stay stable on the bike. A guy with a smoke bomb got too close, I felt the sparks on my arm but it went well in the end.”
Today will be the last stage and Pogacar hopes that his teammate Molano can conquer the finish line in Rome. It won’t be easy and maybe Pogacar will try to guide him towards victory. «The Giro has been almost perfect so far, but not quite yet, because there is still tomorrow’s stage. I would like Molano to win.”
Champions can be recognized for many things, including the way in which they achieve success. Pogacar won with almost 10 minutes of advantage over the second place and for him, the victory would have had the same value even with a smaller advantage. «It’s not important for me to gain 10 minutes on my opponents, even winning with a second of advantage is still a victory. I have no regrets about not wearing the pink jersey from the first to the last stage. I don’t think this is a big deal».
Pogacar will participate in the Tour de France, but reiterated that he will not be at the start of the Vuelta de España.
«I won the Giro and then there will be the Tour. For the moment I’m not thinking about the Vuelta, but one day I want to go there to win it».
