{"id":195623,"date":"2024-05-06T09:27:25","date_gmt":"2024-05-06T09:27:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.welovecycling.com\/wide\/?p=195623"},"modified":"2024-05-06T11:19:44","modified_gmt":"2024-05-06T11:19:44","slug":"pogacar-takes-giro-lead-but-it-wasnt-easy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.welovecycling.com\/wide\/2024\/05\/06\/pogacar-takes-giro-lead-but-it-wasnt-easy\/","title":{"rendered":"Poga\u010dar Takes Giro Lead \u2013 But It Wasn\u2019t Easy"},"content":{"rendered":"

A funny thing happened to Tadej Poga\u010dar on his first step on the road to a crushing victory in the Giro d\u2019Italia: he lost. The overwhelming favourite to win the first Grand Tour of the year was upset in stage 1 by a cyclist most, if not all, commentators had not seen coming, the Ecuadorian INEOS Grenadiers rider Jhonatan Narv\u00e1ez.<\/strong><\/p>\n

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When the UAE Team Emirates leader made his expected move on the final climb of the 140 km stage, the steep but uncategorised 4 km Bivio di San Vito, he must have been surprised to find that he could not shake off the determined Narv\u00e1ez who seemed very comfortable in resisting the Slovenian\u2019s attacks. Not only that, a rejuvenated Maximillian Schachmann (BORA-hansgrohe) was also hot on his wheel. Three times Poga\u010dar tried to rid himself of his pesky pursuers and while he did distance Schachmann temporarily, Narv\u00e1ez stuck to him like a coat of paint.<\/p>\n

The three riders came into the final 500 m together, with Poga\u010dar in the lead and Narv\u00e1ez clearly poised to attack. And when he did, the two-time Tour de France winner had no response, apparently fatigued by his repeated attacks. To add insult to injury, he was even pipped at the line by Schachmann.<\/p>\n

Poga\u010dar had clearly planned to take the pink jersey on the first day of the Giro and hold it for the remainder of the race. So he was clearly disappointed by his defeat, the more so because he\u2019d planned to dedicate the stage win to a member of his junior Pogi team who had died on Friday in a kayaking accident. This was the reason he wore a black armband during the stage.<\/p>\n

\u201cUnfortunately, on the last climb, I had to attack from the foot where Narv\u00e1ez was also very strong and could follow my wheel,\u201d he said after the stage and blamed his loss on the fact that he had been forced to chase the breakaway. \u201cThe gap to the group in front of us was too big and I had to give everything to close it,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

That only tells part of the story, however. The real reason he did not take the race leader\u2019s jersey was overconfidence, both his own and his team\u2019s. As a result, most of his support riders had been used up in driving the peloton for much of the stage, on the assumption that he would blow everyone away on the final climb. And so, after Rafal Majka eased up on the pedals, Poga\u010dar was alone on that final ascent.<\/p>\n

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Goodnight friends, see you tomorrow\ud83c\udf1c<\/p>\n

\ud83d\udcf8 Zac Williams#GirodItalia<\/a> | @ENIT_italia<\/a> pic.twitter.com\/D8poJdB0nO<\/a><\/p>\n

— Giro d'Italia (@giroditalia) May 5, 2024<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n