The majority of his team can be impacted in an early crash. His first attack can fail, then his second, and even his third. But eventually, Tadej Pogačar will win. Because that is what he does. Normal rules do not apply to the UAE Team Emirates-XRG rider – whether he is outnumbered, outplanned or out of position, the top step of the podium is where he belongs, despite it all.
“We just have to accept he is the best cyclist in the world right now,” second place finisher Mads Pedersen shrugged after the Tour of Flanders today.
This was the sentiment at the finish in Oudenaarde as Pogačar’s rivals came across the line – over one minute after the Slovenian rider had celebrated triumphantly, basked in the golden glow of Belgium’s afternoon sunshine. There was a sense of dejected helplessness among his rivals; they’d done what they could. They had emptied themselves on the cobbles and bergs trying to follow Pogačar’s back wheel, but still he disappeared into the distance, rainbows fading into the horizon. His second De Ronde victory in just three participations. Realistically, that was always how it was going to be.
Pogačar had said in his pre-race press conference that he wanted to make the race hard and he spoke candidly, not even attempting to hide his ambition or plans. This meant everyone knew when the attack was going to come. The 26-year-old’s strength is so great, however, that this doesn’t really matter. Even if the peloton knows what to expect, it doesn’t mean they can do anything about it.
“The plan was to go from the Kwaremont and it was just that we followed the plan, even though we had some crashes in the team, but we made it and we finished it off,” Pogačar commented after the race.
For him, that’s how simple it really is. Other teams attempted clever tactical plans, designed from in-depth pre-race analysis, but Pogačar is just too good. Even if things don’t go exactly as he envisions, like in De Ronde when an early crash hampered his teammates, UAE Team Emirates-XRG never needed a ‘plan B’. Pogačar is always ‘plan A’ and it almost always works.
“In these kinds of races, nothing goes perfectly, but I’m really happy with the team. This is a dream come true. I enjoy racing with my team so much and they gave more than one hundred percent for today’s plan,” he said. “Sadly we lost Jhony [Narváez] and Tim [Wellens] in the crash, and Florian [Vermeersch] was chasing back the whole race, so it didn't go perfectly but in the end, it worked.”
The rest of the bunch can take some solace, at least, in the fact that they made it difficult for Pogačar to win his eighth Monument today. Unlike after some of his other famed solo tirades, the Slovenian rider crossed the line in Oudenaarde with suffering etched over his sweat stained face. He had to work hard for this one, Pogačar admitted afterwards.
“The guys were so strong the first time I attacked, and then many climbs after as well. It was really tough to figure out if I can do it, but I just had to try every climb to do my best and to make this race hard and try to give it my all on the last time up the Kwaremont, and it worked,” he said. “I was not certain until I came out and onto the main road and saw that nobody was behind me.”
The very existence of Pogačar in the bike race changes the game for everyone else. He may be a small, slight climber, but his presence is looming – he’s a warning sign, a danger, a reason for others to step up. He’s changing the game one competition at a time, all because of what he can do on two wheels.
“I think we have a really nice generation of cyclists. The bunch, the top competitors, all the guys, I like to race against them,” the Slovenian rider commented after the race. “They are big champions, good guys. Today was amazing because of them, because of the fans, and because of my team. Just a perfect day.”
For Tadej Pogačar, it seems like as long as he’s on his bike, life is always pretty much perfect. He races like he was born to do it, making the most absurd feats look simple, distilling a complicated sport into its purest, rawest form. How do you beat him? It’s a question that his competitors will be asking themselves for some time yet. For the man himself though, as the sun sets on Pogačar’s “perfect” day in Flanders, it’s time to let it all sink in. Another historic victory to add to the list – and as much as we might have expected it, we shouldn’t forget how hard it is to pull off winning the biggest bike races in the world.
“The goal was to win but in the end it’s hard to realise it. It is really big, it's hard to describe how much it means to me,” Pogačar grinned. “I cannot be more proud of the team today and how we raced, even though we had some bad luck. In the end all was good and I am so happy to win in this jersey in this race.”
