Slovenian blitzes competition in Vuelta a Andalucia
Superstar Tadej Pogačar professed himself to be surprised at his dominance at the Vuelta a A ndalucia last week as he won three of the race’s five stages.
Th roughout the week the Slovenian seemed to be shocked at how far ahead of the competition he was. Having won stage one at an apparent canter he said, “I’m surprised a little bit, I k new I’m good but it is a surprise that I’ve won t wo races already,” referring to his near 40km solo victory at the Jaén Paraíso Interior (a sort of Spanish Strade Bianche), just t wo days earlier.
He ’d echo that sentiment when he sat atop the podium at the end of the five days of racing in Spain, adding: “In this race I felt really strong and I hope I feel as strong for the next races.”
W hether he should have been as shocked is another question. The challengers to Pogačar in A ndalucia were not, with all due respect, of the calibre he will likely face at the Tou r, with Mikel Landa and Santiago But rago, both of Bahrain Victorious, filling out the podium, and Carlos RodrÍguez (Ineos Grenadiers) and Enric Mas (Mov istar) making up the rest of the top five.
But Pogačar ’s per formance indicated that whatever opposition he faces in this form, he definitely is the man to beat this year as he rides a startling wave of success.
Since last year ’s World Championships he has raced for nine days and won six times. Of the three where he hasn’t finished first, t wo were breakaway stages he had no pressing reason to trouble himself with contesting. In stage races his record is even more impressive.
Since his breakout Tou r de France victory in 2020 the Slovenian has only lost t wo stage races, last year ’s Tou r (in which he was still second) and the 2021 Itzulia Basque Country. In the other eight he has been victorious.
Even by those standards his victory at Vuelta a A ndalucia was remarkable.
On the first stage, featuring three fi rst-
