Behind great success in sports is not one, but many keys. There is no single reason that serves to explain the big victory for Tadej Pogacar (25 years old) in the 2024 Tour de Francewhere he also swept, winning six stages and where he led the race in 19 of the 21 stages.
To try to analyze how this success was created, MD spoke Joxean Fernández Matxin, sporting director of UAE Team Emirates, mentor and truly bet on the talent of a young Slovenian, the youngest of four siblings who thankfully stopped kicking the ball to focus on pedaling, showing his class even at a young age, and whom we must always thank for his kindness .
“I think the keys to Pogacar’s success in the Tour are the choice of calendar, assume Giro and Tour as goals, do fewer competition days at the start and go into the Giro without too much pressure. Maybe in the Giro he is not at 100%. We want to be perfect on the Tour. We tried to prevent him from spending a lot and we organized as much as possible the stages that were important to have time. After altitude trainingn Island 2000 We have seen that he has improved, that he has made a perfect recovery and that in numbers he is slightly better, as he showed in the Tour,” explained Matxin.
And he added, “the secret in the Tour is not to focus on the first and second weeks, as we did last year to try to win. This year they are important, but not key. We are not obsessed with finding victories in stage. , we do it as much as possible in the time trial, but to defend ourselves as much as possible on the gravel We want to win the Massif Central stage and maybe there. Vingegaard It’s better. The Pyrenees days were key and a morale booster to get to the Alps safely.”
He also emphasizes that “we have a luxury team. Politt He was the best together. yachts, What do I say? Almeida 4th ago. Three in the top ten is a real luxury. commonly done This is a guarantee of security. Sivakov It serves both to win and to run. They were perfect, and in Galibier Fix it helped. Too bad about Covid.
And, like Pogacar, Matxin has already got the next great challenge: “The next goal we want for Pogacar is the World Championship. Ceiling? You can always improve and do things better, although for to me Tadej is perfection as a cyclist.”
Source: La Verdad
I’m Robert Maynard, and I am a passionate journalist with experience in sports writing. For the last few years, I have been writing for Today Times Live. My main focus has been on sports-related stories and features. With my strong background in journalism and extensive knowledge of the industry, I am able to provide readers with well-crafted pieces that are both informative and engaging.
