{"id":195282,"date":"2024-03-25T12:23:15","date_gmt":"2024-03-25T12:23:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.welovecycling.com\/wide\/?p=195282"},"modified":"2024-03-25T12:23:52","modified_gmt":"2024-03-25T12:23:52","slug":"the-road-to-the-tour-pogacar-rules-volta-a-catalunya","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.welovecycling.com\/wide\/2024\/03\/25\/the-road-to-the-tour-pogacar-rules-volta-a-catalunya\/","title":{"rendered":"The Road to the Tour: Poga\u010dar Rules Volta a Catalunya"},"content":{"rendered":"

Tadej Poga\u010dar is using the 2024 season to make a statement \u2013 several statements, in fact. One of them is that 2023 was an aberration in the career of one of the greatest cyclists of all time. The UAE Team Emirates leader\u2019s victory in the Volta Ciclista a Catalunya wasn\u2019t merely dominant; it was extraterrestrial. The final GC standings show that he won the race by 3:41 over second-place Mikel Landa (Soudal Quick-Step) and 5:03 over Egan Bernal (INEOS Grenadiers), but big as the gaps were, they don\u2019t really tell the story.<\/strong><\/p>\n

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Poga\u010dar won four of the race\u2019s seven stages, including the bunch sprint in the final stage, though he could have won five but mistimed his late run after stage 1 winner Nick Schultz (Israel\u2013Premier Tech) and came up inches short. The 25-year-old Slovenian was untouchable on the mountain stages, and was so strong on the ascents that he slapped a security motorcycle that was slowing him down as he surged up the final climb on stage 6, to the summit finish at Queralt (6km @ 7.2%). That grueling stage had five categorized climbs on its 154.1km route, including the Beyond Category (HC) climb of the Col de Pratell (14,6km @ 7%, with the final 5.5km at 11%). Poga\u010dar won the stage by 57 seconds over Bernal and Landa, with Enric Mas (Movistar) and a small group of other excellent climbers finishing more than 2 minutes behind him.<\/p>\n

The race was good news for Remco Evenepoel (Soudal Quick-Step) and his hopes for a good showing in the Tour de France. Landa, who will be his super-domestique in the Tour, looks in terrific form and was very much the second-best climber in the race. The Catalunya was also good for Bernal, who looks to be returning to form after suffering horrific injuries in a training crash two years ago. He may be INEOS\u2019s best climber now, but still no match for Poga\u010dar. So his team has to decide how and in what race he could be most useful.<\/p>\n

As for Poga\u010dar, when the crossed the last finish line of the race, he held up four fingers to let everyone know what they already knew: That he had won four stages, that right now there is no better road racer in the world and that last year \u2013 when a crash in the Li\u00e8ge\u2013Bastogne\u2013Li\u00e8ge cost him the Tour de France, and he ended the year without a Grand Tour win \u2013 was a fluke. He finished second in the Tour, won two Tour stages, won the Paris-Nice and several Classics, so it could be considered a very good year for any cyclist \u2013 but not for Poga\u010dar, who clearly is not any cyclist.<\/p>\n

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Un podi de luxe per tancar una setmana inoblidable!\ud83e\udd29<\/p>\n

\ud83e\udd47 @TamauPogi<\/a>
\ud83e\udd48 @MikelLandaMeana<\/a>
\ud83e\udd49 @Eganbernal<\/a> #VoltaCatalunya103<\/a> \ud83d\udeb4\u200d\u2642\ufe0f pic.twitter.com\/vhNFqTNAK9<\/a><\/p>\n

— Volta a Catalunya (@VoltaCatalunya) March 24, 2024<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n