Smash and grab

 

PREDICTABLY,  the MAN  of the moment, world champion Tadej Pocacar, emerged from his high-altitude training camp too  smash the opposition  for an outright win in the five-day Tour of Switzerland.

He’s a like a hit man, targeting and riding only specific races he wants to win, bagging the spoils at single day Classics – dropping in at the Tour of Romandie to mop  up there then off for high-altitude training before hitting the Swiss Tour. 

The smash and grab in Switzerland began early - on the very first stage -  with another astonishing attack when still 80 kilometres to go. He won by two minutes from Grand Tour winner Richard Carapaz and over four minutes on the rest.

Once again I felt dismay at the impotence of the rest of the field who seldom match this whirlwind. He’s been the subject of every single blog of mine so far this year.

Big hitters like Mattieu Van Der Poel (VDP) and another Grand Tour winner Primus Roglic were among those he left behind in Switzerland, the latter after indicating he would take him on.

He then won the stage three individual time trial, by one second from VDP.  Finally, he topped his wrecking spree up snatching final stage from the under the nose of only man to take him on that mountainous day, France’s Lenny Martinez who was caught within a few hundred metres of the summit finishing line.

Now Pog’s stated aim is to smash the field in the Tour de France and so join the small elite club of five time winners.

Can anyone challenge him? I live in hope.

He won the Swiss Tour by six minutes after five days of racing. If we dare to extrapolate from that to calculate his winning margin in Le Tour which is four times longer, are we looking at 24 minutes?

Why not?

*The greatest time gap since the 1950s is 28 min 27 sec, between Fausto Coppi (Italy) and Stan Ockers (Belgium) in 1952. (Guinness Book of Records),

Surely, rival team managers are plotting together to hatch a plan to combat Pogacar’s incredible show of strength. It’s not just rocket man himself that needs to be contained, but the entire UAE team which sets up the crippling pace that precedes launch.

What’s their secret?

 

Vingegaard joins the exclusive club of triple Grand Tour champions

 

Jonas Vingegaard’s overall victory in his maiden Giro d’Italia which finished in Rome on Sunday opens the door to the world of statistics.

He won five stages and become only the ninth rider to win all three Grand Tours (eight men and one woman) during their careers: the Tour de France, Vuelta des Espana and the Giro.

He joins the other  cycling legends who have won all three: Jacques Anquetil, Eddy Merckx, Felice Gimondi, Bernard Hinault, Alberto Contador, Vincenzo Nibali, Chris Froome and Annemeik Van Vleuten.

 

In doing so he moves one step ahead of his great rival, four times Tour  de France winner Tadej Pogacar who has yet to do so and against whom, he will do battle in Le Tour in July. Vingegaard finished second to Pogacar last year.

 

In addition to the Giro last month, Vingegaard has now won the Tour de France twice (2022 and 2023), the Vuelta once in 2025.

 

Let us indulge ourselves taking in a few more glorious race statistics which single out great riders.  

 

Merckx remains the all-time champion, with 11 Grand Tour victories: Tour de France and Giro five times each, and Vuelta once.

A few years ago a renowned Belgian journalist said that the man to surpass Merckx’ was not yet been born. 

 

No one has won all three Grand Tours in the same year.

 

But if we are talking “threes”, the most esteemed road record of them all is probably “The Triple Crown”.   That is victory in the Giro, Le Tour and the World professional road race championship in the same year.

Only four riders have done so in a single season: Merckx, Stephen Roche, Pogacar and Annemeik Van Vleuten.

 

But you can go dizzy with statistics, so we’ll settle for a few from the Giro just finished.

 

Respect is due the Portuguese star of the Giro, Afonso Eulalio, who took the race leader’s pink jersey on the rain-lashed stage five joining the breakaway and gaining six minutes on the favourites.

He held on with style, holding on to the pink jersey, and defying the odds in the stage 10 time trial, conceding time to the Dane, seeing his lead diminish to 27-seconds at the finish.

The time trial was won by Filippo Ganna.

Eulalio finally gave best in the mountains on stage 14, when Vingegaard took the jersey at last.

 

We could see that Vingegaard was head and shoulders above the rest when he won the penultimate stage alone,  extending his overall winning margin to five minutes 33 seconds on Felix Gall of Austria. Aussie Jai Hindley was third overall a further 63 seconds behind.

 

Of his upcoming scrap with Pogacar in July’s Tour de France, Vingegaard at the Rome finish said it would depend on how he came out of the Giro. If he was tired, he wouldn’t expect to mount a challenge to Pogacar. Then added, tellingly: “I am not tired.”

We miss him. Where is Pogacar?

 

We miss Pog!  Where is he?

SO WHERE is he? His absence has given me “Pog” withdrawal symptoms.

He's all I've been writing about this year.

Where has the great entertainer, Slovenia’s world road race championTadej Pogacar been hiding since dominating the Spring Classics and then running amok in the Tour of Romandy to win that as well?

Gone, like a dancing Will o’ the Wisp. He turns up for targeted races, smashes them, and then disappears.

He does this. He has specific targets and doesn’t ride anything in-between, to recharge his huge energy block. That tells you he is human, that he can’t expect to turn it on for every race. Is it my imagination or does he ride fewer races than most riders? His skill is to carry off the victory when he chooses and with such commanding performances… mostly.

The big exception this season being Paris-Roubaix in
April, when he was outsprinted by Belgium’s Wout Van Aert.

Pogacar, the ever smiling world champion and phenomena who spreads his wings and rides away from opponents like a bat out of hell, is lying low. To the relief of his rivals no doubt.

But where has he gone?

To a hidden retreat in Spain’s high mountains, that’s where. I fancy he’s hanging upside down from the roof of a cave, encased by his folded wings!

Well, perhaps not. But he is in the high mountains certainly; the chosen place to be for riders before the big Tours, for high altitude training. The aim being to boost  haematocrit levels to provide the oxygen muscles demand for the big races.

He will come down to earth again, for the Tour of Switzerland where he will destroy the field in preparation for doing the same in the Tour de France in July, aiming for a record-equalling fifth victory. That’s the plan. Can’t wait.

But who will challenge Pogacar?

Let’s remind ourselves of last year’s Tour de France result.

Pogacar won his fourth Tour, winning four stages in 2025.

Second was the Dane Jonas Vingegaard, the Tour winner in 2022 and ’23,   at 4-24; 3^rd was Germany’s Florian Lipowitz at 11 minutes;

And FOURTH?

Let us not forget Britain’s Oscar Onley, fourth at 12 minutes, after a brilliant performance in only his second Tour.

Vingegaard is seen as Pogacar’s main rival for Le Tour. In fact he is aiming for a Grand Tour double this year, currently bidding to win his first Giro d’Italia. And much will depend on whether he is successful at the Giro, currently into its second week.

Belgian former world champion Remco Evenpoel the double Olympic champion in the road race and time trial is also touted as a Tour rival. He made his Tour debut in 2024 when he was third overall and won the young rider classification. In 2025 he won the individual TT, beating Pogacar into second. But t hen illness forced Evenpoel to abandon.

And what of up and coming French star Paul Seixas, only man to h old Pog’s wheel in Liege-Bastogne-Liege; and winner of the Fleche Wallonne only the week before?

At 19, if he rides, he will be the y youngest rider ever to start Le Tour.  Too young, many will say, to put such expectation on such young shoulders.

Ride a Tour too soon, you may never ride another, goes the health warning.

However, Slovenia’s Primus Roglic, winner of Le Tour four times and the Giro once, will miss Le Tour this year, aiming instead for the Tour of Switzerland in June and the Tour of Spain in September, enjoying family time in-between.

 

 

Pogacar signs off his Classics campaign winning Liege-Bastogne-Liege for a fourth time

 

What now for world champion Tadej Pogacar after his breath-taking lone escape to wrap up his Spring Classics campaign on Sunday, with his fourth  victory and third consecutive win in Liege-Bastogne-Liege in the tough Belgian Ardennes?

It was the fastest ever L-B-L, 44kph for 260km and accumulated 4 000 metres of climbing.

But he would taste a rare defeat at the Tour of Romandie two days later!

First of all, a look at his successful (mostly) Spring Classics campaign.

From five races ridden he won four, beginning with Strada Bianchi which although not a classic (yet) set the tone for what was to come, in the four Spring Monuments: lst in Milan San Remo, 1^st Tour of Flanders, 2^nd Paris-Roubaix and 1^st Liege-Bastogne-Liege.

Oh no, cry those weary of these demonstrations of supremacy, who dare to say his masterful display  has become "boring", who long for the other “great” names to at least hold his wheel and maybe, maybe, beat the boy wonder on the line.

But do not despair, for if the old guard cannot raise their game (with the exception of Wout Van Aert who beat him in Paris-Roubaix) a new name has burst clear of their jaded ranks to challenge Pogacar.

This is of course the young French hope Paul Seixas, the 19-year-old who stayed with Pogacar in Liege-Bastogne-Liege when he attacked clear of the field on the Cote de la Redoute with some 34km to go. He withstood the forced pace set by Pogacar, but eventually gave best on half-way up the Cote de la Roche-aux-Faucons with 14km to go to take a fine second place.

 

Before this he made the headlines winning Fleche Wallonne the week before, atop the feared Mur de Hoy.

For me, I still delight in watching Pogacar set about routinely giving the rest a pasting, waiting with bated breath for his attack after his UAE team have set the pace.

Waiting for the moment when Pogacar surges ahead with apparent ease. And watching, hoping in the name of competition, that someone will go with him. They may do for a few hundred yards, before imploding under a pace too fast for them. And then I watch in wonder as Pogacar surges ahead.

There will be still a long way to go, that’s what grabs us, raises the pulse of us sofa watchers. So we may be disappointed top name rivals fail to hold him, but equally we can but marvel at the seeming ease, the speed, of this phenomena powering away as if drawn by some invisible force.  

But he didn’t have it all his own way in Paris-Roubaix when Belgian star Wout van Aert beat him in the sprint finish to deny Pogacar one of his two main aims this Spring.

Those aims, he said, were to win the two Monuments that had so far eluded him, Milan San Remo the opening classic in March which he nailed this time, narrowly beating Britain’s Tom Pidcock; and then the notoriously tough cobbled classic Paris – Roubaix in April where Van Aert denied him a most coveted victory.

That race was run off at an unbelievable 51kph, in the record time of 5 hours 16 minutes and 52 seconds for the 258 kilometres including some 30 sections (some 55km) of the dreaded cobbles.

I recall a TV commentator, a former pro, remarking how the heavier Van Aert was more adept than Pogacar at cornering, of choosing the right line over the roughest cobbles of this, the most challenging of all the classics. Perhaps this cost  the lightweight Pogacar energy?

And in this edition all the favourites suffered delays and/or falls due to mechanicals, sapping their strength, and clearly Pogacar this time lacked fire power when needed the most.

The week before Roubaix, on cobbles not so rough, Pogacar had won his third Tour of Flanders leaving the field for dead and finally dropping Van der Poel on the second and final ascent of the cobbled Oude Kwaremont.

So Pog as now won 13 Monuments. Still some way to go to equal Eddy Merckx on 19!

What next?

The focus now turns to stage races and this week Pogacar started the Tour of Romandie on Tuesday where, surprise, surprise, despite looking as fast as ever, he could only finish sixth in the short prologue time trial. He conceded seven seconds to French winner Dorian Godon of INEOS on the 3.5km course.

And UAE teammate Ovo Olivera also beat his boss, taking third!

I read the day previously Pogacar had a brand new lighter time trial bike!

So - he is HUMAN….afterall. A two day break after Liege wasn’t enough for recovery, if you ask me. We must remember he has only had five racing outings this season.

Nevertheless, let history name the five men who can now boast that in Romandie, they had the beating of Pogacar by a few seconds.

And here they are: Dorian Godon (INEOS), winner; 2, Jacob Soderqvist (Lidl-Trek); 3, Ovo Olivera (UAE); 4, Mauro Schmid (Jayco-Alula); 5, Axel Zingle (Visma Lease-a-Bike); 6, Tadej Pogacar (UAE).

 

 

Van Aert denies Pogacar in gruelling Paris-Roubaix

 

“NEVER SAY DIE” that could be Wout Van Aert’s motto following the Belgian’s terrific victory in the fastest ever edition of the cobbled classic Paris – Roubaix on Sunday,  dishing out a rare defeat to world champion Tadej Pogacar,  outsprinted on the line.

The race was run off at 51kph,in  the record time of 5 hours 16 minutes and 52 seconds for the 258 kilometres, after dishing out mechanical problems to one and all.

Belgian Jasper Stuyven was third as three times winner Mathieu Van der Poel, the joint favourite with Pogacar, struggled in fourth, one of many to lose out.

Victory was sweet for Van Aert so often denied by falls and injuries and punctures. He has nevertheless remained steadfast, has never given up,  overcoming such setbacks to land memorable victories, with the exception of those races in which Pogacar has held an unassailable position ahead of him and everyone else. 

Until this day when fate levelled the playing field with extraordinary ruthlessness which saw the expected punctures and falls extended to include all

the favourites  halted during the course of the day.

We saw some famous names stopped at the roadside waiting for assistance before pulling out all the stops to  clawback lost time in the choking dust and over the bone jarring cobbles.  

So it was that only two of them, on their last legs nonetheless, Van Aert and Pogacar, both having rejoined the action after delays, raced into the lead together over the final kilometres.

Then to fight it out  on the velodrome where Van Aert put a couple of lengths into his rival who for once struggled to find an answer.

Bad luck for Van der Poel, who had been attacking at the front when he punctured twice in the Arenberg cobbled sector and needed three bike changes.

So Van der Poel, bidding for a fourth consecutive Paris – Roubaix in race pitched as a duel between him and Pogacar seeking his first here, was cruelly denied. He had attacked off the front while Pogacar was chasing back from earlier bike changes which occurred with 120km to go. That he made it back to take over at the head of race as Van Der Poel had his turn of misfortune, may not have surprised us, but clearly the effort ate into  his reserves.

Pogacar had hoped that victory in Roubaix  would complete his set of five monuments to go with his victories in Milan San Remo Tour of Flanders, Liege-Bastogne-Liege and the Tour of Lombardy. It was not to be.

It was Never Say Die Van Aert who at last dealt Pog the killer blow, so denying the phenomenon of the Tour de France and Classic road races from taking a cherished prize.

During his career
Van Aert has won over fifty professional road wins including ten stage victories at the  Tour de France betweem 2019 and 2025, plus the green jersey of points classification in 2022.. He won the 2023 Tour of Britain.

He also won  Milan–San Remo in 2020 and was third this year. The media declared him to be the most complete cyclist of his generation".

His  rivalry with Mathieu van der Poel in cyclo-has seen one of the greatest rivalries in the sport.

Belgium's finest brutally destroyed by Pogacar in Flanders epic

 

You know this of course. I merely add a few words of my own, to keep up with the fairy story which leaves us all, including the other World Tour riders spellbound and us couch potatoes glued to the TV, reaching for another a beer  - Belgian this time,  of course.

And yes, Tadej Pogacar crushed his four main rivals – all four of them classics winners, world and Olympics champions in their own right – to win his third Tour of Flanders on Sunday.

It was his 11th “Monument” victory (correction, 12) of his career, adding to his first win this year in Milan – San Remo, and before that, his fourth Strada Bianchi.

Never before have we seen a world road race champion demonstrate such crushing superiority week after week.  Be it in his four Tour de France victories so far, or the classics he chooses to ride to  win.  Such unearthly power, such sudden bursts of acceleration to leave rivals, at best clinging on for a while, before being blown away.

There were no tactics in Flanders, one of the most difficult of the five Monuments, one of the biggest road classics, and Belgian’s biggest race of all. Philippe Gilbert in 2017 was the last home winner.

Could either Wout Van Aert or Remco Evenpoel be the next?

It was not to be.

A monumental brutal show of brute strength by Pogacar at the end of this 278-kilometre marathon though the Ardennes saw to that.

In the fifth hour, after the early breakaway was caught, with some 60km to go, Pogacar simply attacked and, as commander of the sizeable group which was quick enough to go with him, he began to weed them out in the wind and on the terrible cobbled climbs which included three ascents of the most difficult of them all, the Oude Kwaremont where most damage was done. 

In the end only five were left at the head of the race. Then there was only one, Himself. Pogacar as expected was tearing along and going further away from his opponents, as if propelled by a gale.

Two times winner Mathieu Van Der Poel, Olympic road champion Remco Evenpoel, the Belgian favourite Wout Van Aert and Mads Pedersen, were outgunned. Is executed too strong a word?  And so Pogacar powered away to victory. 

Suitably, these four main challengers – big names all - rolled in to the finish in splendid isolation in his wake. One by one they took their curtain calls from the crowd applauding their efforts, futile it must be said. Van Der Poel, second; Evenpoel third; Van Aert fourth; Pedersson fifth.

Pogacar embraced them all, smiling at them, after another nice day out.  Of them all he appeared to have been most wary of Evenpoel, admitting he knows that the world time trial champion and Olympic road champion can find that extra kick at the line if allowed to stay.

A few moments after finishing, Van Aert, with a broad grin, leaned in close to Pogacar and said something.

Probably: “Look, how much do you want not to start Paris-Roubaix next Sunday?

Van der Poel won last year, with Pogacar second on his debut,  after a flat tyre.

Bring it on. Paris-Roubaix, April 12.

 

 

 

 

Pogacar just snatches Milan - San Remo from super Pidcock

 

It was the most exhilarating finale fans could have wished for as Tadej Pogacar recovered from a crash to produce another scintillating performance to win his first Milan – San Remo, the opening spring classic of the season on Saturday.

But My Oh My!  This was edge of the seat stuff to the very end!

For the crash which took down the favourites with 32km to go put the “Battle of the Giants” on hold in Saturday’s gripping 298km Milan San Remo, as Pogacar’s big rival, Mathieu Van Der Poel,  was injured in the melee.  

But nothing could stop Tadje Pogacar from picking himself up to regain the field and score a scorcher of a victory – his first in this classic, after twice taking second. He did so holding off Britain’s Tom Pidcock by half a wheel after nearly seven hours racing. A few days before,   Pidcock had won the Milano-Torino classic and was flying.

As for Pog’s big rival, the two times winner Van Der Poel – winner in 2025 and 2024 when Pogacar was third  -  he injured  his hand in that fall and couldn’t respond to his rival’s attacks on the final  climb, the Poggio in last few kilometres.

 The other big name in that crash was 2020 winner Wout Van Aert who had an extra delay waiting for a replacement bike and yet still recovered to take a magnificent third place while Van Der Poel (VDP) was placed 8^th.

Wow. So Pogacar!!!!

Twice third here behind VDP, he finally triumphed, his trademark warp factor acceleration leaving all but one of his rivals for dead  – the first time not to  attack from the front, as usual - but to re-join the main field  now 52 seconds ahead of him after his crash with 32km to go.

Having regained the field, he threaded through them with ease,  to attack again, to soar ahead - as planned - half-way up the 5km Cipressa climb. In doing so he pulverised all but the multi-talented Pidcock and Van Der Poel who, though able to respond to this as the road emptied in their wake, was too hurt to hold on up the final ascent, the Poggio. 

So instead of VDP, Pogacar had Pidcock to deal with and the Briton came so close to landing the biggest classic victory of his career.  This was surely the most unpredictable finish we could have hoped for, in doubt to the very last?

Pogacar, his world champion’s rainbow jersey torn and his leg grazed, wasn’t sure if Pidcock had pipped him, so close were they. After crossing the line he needed to look across at PIdcock to satisfy himself job done before punching the air in triumph.

So, the first part of his major aim for 2026 is accomplished, to win the two remaining Monuments which have eluded him. With Milan – San Remo in the bag, next up is Paris – Roubaix in April where he was second- with a flat tyre - on his debut last year to Van Der Poel.

Will this be Battle of the Giants resumed?

Pogacar has won Tour of Flanders twice; Liege-Bastogne-Liege three times, and Tour of Lombardia five! Counting his recent Milan – San Remo victory, that makes 11 Monument wins so far.

Eddy Merckx holds the record of most Monument wins in his career, 19.