Tadej Pogačar’s tilt at the maglia rosa this May will have repercussions for the entire peloton, says Felix Lowe
Just as things were winding down ahead of the festive fortnight, Tadej Pogačar delivered his season’s greetings: he will target the mythical Giro-Tour double in 2024. And Milan-San Remo and Liège-Bastogne-Liège.
Oh, and Olympic and World Championships gold for good measure.
The 25-year-old is no slouch. Rumours had already been circulating of a Giro d’Italia debut for the two-time Tour de France champion before he dropped the bombshell. Some say it’s effectively an admission that he cannot get the better of rival Jonas Vingegaard in the Tour. I say that’s baloney. Besides a huge pay cheque from Giro organiser RCS, it sets up a cerebral skirmish that may prove the defining moment of the coming race season.
Pogačar’s decision to mix things up will have made for an uneasy Christmas for some. Take Geraint Thomas or Wout van Aert. The Welsh veteran’s hopes of avenging his pink jersey heartbreak in 2023 just got that huge bit harder. As for the Belgian – any flirtation with a push for GC will be nipped in the bud. And while Pogačar won’t be defending his Tour of Flanders crown, he will be a major obstacle for Van Aert et al at San Remo.
This is a rider who – for all his undoubted Grand Tour prowess – has won three of his last five Monuments and has only ever finished outside the top five twice (in his first two of 12 appearances to date). The last time he finished fourth in a Monument won by Mathieu van der Poel (Flanders in 2022), he went on to win it one year later. And where did he come in La Classicissima last spring when the Dutchman triumphed? Fourth.
His multi-disciplinarian streak is what we love about Pogačar, and it’s in total contrast to the more robotic, calculated Vingegaard. But if riding the Giro is a canny move for Pog it’s also a totally understandable one. As he watched last year’s edition while recuperating from injury, he’d have probably given his crocked left hand to be racing. Twelve months on, his push to add pink to his palmarès could even open a pressure valve ahead of the next Tour.
Yes, a maglia rosa will inescapably write Pogačar into the narrative for the yellow jersey, but everyone will now expect Vingegaard to make it three in a row rather than Pogačar to beat him to a rare hat-trick. This could really play into the hands of a rider who arrived at last year’s Grand Départ unde
