Pogacar clarifies its planning for the rest of the season: “It’s crazy”

Tadej Pogacar (UAE), recent winner of the Giro d’Italia, You have set your next goals after three weeks of glory in Italy; the Tour, where he will seek a third crown, and the World Cupare on their target, but not the Vuelta España, a “very crazy” challenge at the moment.

“It has been an incredible Giro. When we arrived in Turin I never thought it would be like this. Of course, we expected and dreamed of winning, but winning six stages and wearing the pink jersey for 20 stages across Italy was an incredible experience. Something I will never forget,” reflected Pogacar in an interview on the UCI’s official website.

Pogacar says the hardest part of the three weeks of the Giro, apart from the road battles, are the commitments that come with wearing the pink jersey.

“The biggest challenge is everything that surrounds the pink jersey and the responsibilities that come with it.. All the extra interviews and protocols require a lot of energy every day, but it’s something you’re used to too. It’s also part of the job and something I understand,” he explained.

The way he won, with total authority, was due, according to Pogacar, to the fact that he “luckily came to this Giro with almost perfect preparation”, so he was able to perform as he wanted, “be offensive, aggressive and looking for victories” . “My teammates played a very important role here because without them none of this would have been possible,” he highlights.

I PREFER NOT TO CATCH RECORDS

Winner of 3 grand tours (2 Tour and 1 Giro), the comparisons appear automatically and the records fly in his head, although the Slovenian does not want to be obsessed with it.

“I prefer not to chase records, but I am very attracted to new challenges and, above all, to doing races that I have never done before.. It’s no secret that I wanted to win this Giro, and competing in the stages in the pink jersey was also special. “I’ll let the historians take care of the records,” he said.

For Pogacar, “history is something that is quite difficult to define… Perhaps it is something more than athletic ability and something more human quality.”

Apart from cycling, the winner of the Giro is attracted to all sports, and announced that he hopes to go to Paris to watch some competitions at the Olympic Games, such as athletics.

“Any sport played at the highest level is always an amazing sight.

Winner of 2 Tour de France, Pogacar believes that cycling is going through a “good, very good” periodand features “battles with some great horsemen.”

“The riders certainly play a big role in running the race, not just the course. I feel in cycling we have a good mix of personalities and talents, which has been very entertaining.”

TOUR AND WORLD BIG OBJECTIVES

Among the challenges, winning the Giro-Tour double and then the World Cup could be one of them, but That feat has so far been accomplished by only two runners, Eddy Merckx and Stephen Roche.

“Obviously, the Tour and the UCI World Championship are two big goals for me. Not just this year but every year. I don’t feel too much pressure, I’m still young but I’m very hungry to win them one day ,” he says.

Pogacar says he likes new challenges and doesn’t close himself off from anything, but he prefers to be realistic.

“I am realistic knowing that it is not only about arriving and winning: cycling is a sport with many specialties, and different races and terrains favor different athletes and others Different preparation. Ask any rider, for many achieving a professional victory is something very important and you need to be in incredible shape, regardless of the race.

What Pogacar really forbids is doing the Giro, Tour and Vuelta this year.

“I can safely say that it is not planned this year. Winning every grand tour is one of my main goals one day, but doing it all in the same year… Maybe it is too crazy,” he concluded.