What if Tadej Pogacar started the Tour de France exactly as he had started the Giro d’Italia which he later dominated, that is, going on the attack already in the first stage? The reality is that no one would be surprised. Both because the first stage of the Boucle – the day after tomorrow, 206 kilometers from Florence to Rimini for the first historic departure from Italy in the 111th edition – offers the terrain to do so: 7 second and third category Gpm, 47.2 km of climbing in all before the last 26.3 between uphill and flat. And because the opportunity for the Slovenian to immediately “test the pulse” of his rival Jonas Vingegaard, who hasn’t raced since April 4th due to the accident at the Tour of the Basque Country, is tempting. Let it be, finally, what Pogacar himself said yesterday through the official website of the UAE-Emirates, who published a long interview with him entitled “Chasing history”: “Compared to the Giro, I seem to have taken a new step forward, the shape is even better than I expected. I did some good training, I tested myself and, honestly, I have never felt so good on the bike. Let’s see, it worked at the Giro, the first two days of the Tour are hard…”. It is difficult to be clearer than this, at a time when the number one in the world is preparing to attempt the double with the Giro which he has not managed since Pantani 1998.
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Exactly one month ago, on May 27, Tadej Pogacar was still in Italy. He had woken up in Rome the day after the conclusion of a triumphal Giro d’Italia, on his debut: 6 stages won, 20 days out of 21 in the lead, sidereal gaps over the rest of the world and the awards ceremony between the Colosseum and the Arch of Constantine. And today he has another immersion in the great beauty of our country planned: between 7.22pm and 7.42pm, with his teammates from the UAE-Emirates, he will parade in Florence, between Palazzo Vecchio and Piazzale Michelangelo, for the presentation of the teams. All this could not leave him indifferent: “Winning the Giro was an incredible experience, I enjoyed it, and the way I did it is one of my greatest successes so far. The fact that this year the Tour starting from Italy is extraordinary, I can’t wait for it to start, it will be special.”
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Since June 4, Pogacar has been preparing at altitude for about 3 weeks, in France, at Isola 2000. Mauro Gianetti, team principal of Uae-Emirates, told the Gazzetta that last week “Tadej had a cold for a couple of days, but nothing that forced him to change his training plan.” In the background there is also a further extension of the contract with the Emirati team, a topic on which an agreement has already been reached. The announcement could arrive by the end of the Tour: extension until 2030 (from 2027), salary to rise to 8 million euros per season and maxi-clause of 200. While the great rival Jonas Vingegaard will speak for the first time this afternoon with the press after the accident: according to the rumors going around, the Dane would be in really good shape despite the stoppage and therefore ready to defend the title won in the last two editions. Tadej also thinks so: “We should see him at his best, and the same goes for Primoz Roglic and Remco Evenepoel, remaining only the main rivals. It will be a very competitive Tour, but you can’t know who the contenders will really be. Our bodies are unpredictable “.
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Pogacar hinted that last year, in the run-up to the Tour, not only the injury had held him back: “Many things didn’t go well after the fall in Liège, I saw who was there to help me and who wasn’t. Around there was negative energy for me, I didn’t have one hundred percent confidence. Immediately afterwards, at the World Championships, everything went wrong (despite the bronze in the road race; luckily I recovered.” To the point that he has never appeared so strong, and to “exclude the Vuelta this year after the Tour. There’s the Olympics, and then the World Championship, which I’m aiming for. The rainbow jersey is a dream.” But in the meantime, he’s heading to the Tour: “Also because I’ve come from two second places, and this gives me more wood to put on the fire”. It means more wood to put on the fire, it means being hungrier and more motivated than ever. It means being Tadej Pogacar.
