MAGNIFICENT POGACAR polishes off his fourth Strada Bianchi

 

“IT’S NOT MUCH FUN” said Britain’s Tom Pidcock as

Pogacar sailed to an unprecedented fourth win a row at Strada Bianchi on Saturday.

I agreed with him. But for a different reason.

Pidock was referring to his misfortunes,  – he had unshipped his chain while trying to close on Pogacar and that was that. The past winner finished a gallant seventh.

No, the fun aspect for me went out of it watching the classy opposition

outclassed yet again by this phenomena  – unable to raise their game to stop the runaway.

 

As for Pog, he opened his season as he left off in 2025. Then it was with decisive long lone break to his take fifth consecutive Tour of Lombardy in October.   Now, five months later, he opens his 2026 campaign exactly as he left off – with a show of force which defies explanation.

For  Pogacar’s has once again destroyed the opposition with his trademark warp factor acceleration. And he won this 204-kilometre tough gravel classic in Tuscany attacking alone with 78km to go.

Only the impressive second place by 19-year-old Paul Seixas one minute behind promised a regime change in the near future – a real French prospect.

Pogacar's UAE Emirates-XRG team-mate Isaac del Toro was third.

 

It is so clear Pog is off a different class altogether. Maybe from a different galaxy. He’s probably got a saucer parked in an underground garage somewhere.

 

As brilliant and so impressively strong as he is, I admit a race reduced to a one-man band is  no longer that much fun.

 
What a pity Holland’s star Mathieu Van Der Poel opted not to ride. He’s also from a different  galaxy, probably.

He’d  have challenged Pog. He might have reached him, given him a fright.  The pair have been at each other hammer and nails in the classics before.

 I’d read he was put off because of an extra long climb in this year’s edition. Didn’t suit him.

But on the day we learn there was no extra climb.

Anyway, with Pog, it’s like watching a first cat destroy a third cat race and that’s no disrespect to other pros.

 

Perhaps organisers should handicap Pog and  his UAE team. Load their bikes with saddlebags filled with sand.

Or set the field off f ive minutes in front and let’s see how long it is before they catch up.

 

“Ha, ha. Titter ye not”, to borrow a catch phrase from t he late comedian Frankie Howard.  For there is race like this in Pog’s home country, where their hero is held back behind a field of hopefuls  before being unleashed to see if can catch up and still win.

He usually does, but  last year he was upstaged – if that’s the word – by an English rider!

 

This fun challenge takes place on Pogacar’s home roads in Krvavec, Slovenia. This is the  annual Pogi Challenge charity race, against 1,189 cyclists up a 15km climb with 1,189m of elevation gain.

Pogačar passed every participant with the exception of four-time British hill climb champion, Andrew Feather, 40,  from Bath.

The charity ride started with a non-timed 9.1km warm-up, before participants head up the timed climb itself. Sportingly, Pogačar gave them a six-minute head start and Feather held him off.

The thrill for the opposion is the antipication of  feeling that rush of air as the star rockets by!

 

Chabbey wins women’s Strada Bianchi in thrilling finish.

The women’s Strada Bianchi was far more unpredictable, as five riders battled the famous uphill finish in Siena, where Swiss champion Elise Chabbey won for the first time following a thrilling finish to the 133km race.

 

Seven riders sped onto the Via Santa Catarina, the final ascent through narrow streets to the Piazza del Campo finish, where three were dropped in the power finish.

Italian road champion Elisa Longo Borghini whose earlier breakaway had drawn top rivals to give chase and join her, was still full of fire and led most of the way up.

But in shoulder to shoulder battle for the last but one corner, Borghini gave best to Franziska Kock and Katarzyna Niewiadoma, as Chabbey, marking her time, shot down the inside and clear for victory .