For some time now, rumors have been circulating that Tadej Pogacar has expressed the intention of lining up at the start of the Tour of Italy next year and attempting a Giro-Tour double, sparking several reactions in the world peloton. If this were confirmed, it could above all be seen as an admission of weakness from the Slovenian champion. Explanation.
In recent days, the hypothesis that Tadej Pogacar be lined up for the Tour of Italy before the Tour de France has been raised with insistence, the Slovenian rider having expressed the intention of being at the start of the Giro at the beginning of May. Asked about the subject on the site globalcyclingnetwork.comhis teammate Rafal Majka did not reject the idea, far from it: “ Tadej’s program? The Giro? I didn’t watch the course closely, but I was told it was pretty cool with lots of time trials. There are six or seven very hard days in the mountains. As for Tadej, I don’t know, you have to ask him. Maybe he will want to do the three great Tours ».
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“I would be very surprised if UAE agreed to field Pogacar in the Giro”
In the process, Matt Whitethe team’s Irish rider Jaycoexpressed his doubts about GCN regarding a participation of Pogacar at the Giro, where he does not believe that the organizers have softened next year’s route, a little less steep than other years, to bring him in: “ Unless there is a secret agreement, I doubt that the Giro organizers have made the course any less difficult for a rider. I still think it’s possible to do both the Giro and the Tour, but there’s always a risk in going to the Giro first, without knowing what the weather will be like or how far you’ll have to draw to win. . We haven’t seen the Tour route yet, but rumors are circulating that there will be a very difficult mountain stage in the 4th stage. You will have to be on top from the start. It’s a risk if you do the Giro before. And then, at UAE, they have to manage several stars. They have Adam Yates, Joao Almeida, Juan Ayuso… Only big racing programs. They don’t manage a single great runner. They have a lot of stars, so if Pogacar does both the Tour and the Giro as leader, what does that leave for the others? The Giro-Vuelta double works, it is a safer option and if there were to be another double, then it would be Tour and Vuelta. I would be very surprised if UAE let Pogacar run the Giro ».
The sign that Pogacar does not feel capable of beating Vingegaard at the Tour…
In any case, these reflections of Tadej Pogacar on participation in the Giro tend to demonstrate that the Slovenian is now afraid of Vingegaard on the Tour and that he fears not emerging victorious in a direct confrontation, which leads him to want to race the Giro in order to “secure” a victory in a Grand Tour next year. Furthermore, if he competes in the Tour of Italy, Pogacar will still be able to argue for his participation in the Giro if he were to be beaten by the Dane on the Grande Boucle.
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