Cycling: imperial and untouchable at the Giro, will Tadej Pogacar also crush the competition at the Tour de France ?

Tadej Pogacar a écrasé la concurrence sur le Giro, qu’il a couru de main de maître. MAXPPP – LUCA ZENNARO

Vainqueur de six étapes, le Slovène Tadej Pogacar s’impose comme le nouveau cannibale du peloton. Il vise le doublé avec le Tour de France.

Veni, vidi, vici: after three weeks flying over the Tour of Italy, Tadej Pogacar entered the Eternal City like a Roman emperor on Sunday to celebrate his success and already turn towards his next objective. : the Tour de France.

Classification of the 21st stage and last stage of the Tour of Italy

21st stage, in Rome

1. Tim Merlier (BEL/SOQ) the 125.0 km in 2 h 51:50. (average: 43.9 km/h)
2. Jonathan Milan (ITA/LTK) at 0.
3. Kaden Groves (AUS/ADC) 0.
4. Fernando Gaviria (COL/MOV) 0.
5. Tim van Dijke (NED/TJV) 0.

Six stage victories, as many as the great Eddy Merckx in 1973, an abysmal lead over his runner-up Daniel Martinez in the general standings, 9 min 56 sec, the biggest gap since 1965, and a disconcerting impression of ease, at the risk of losing a lot of time. rsquo;a certain boredom: the Slovenian dominated the Giro from start to finish, taking the pink jersey on the second day to bring it to the foot of the Colosseum on Sunday.

Palmarès du Giro

The last ten winners of the Tour of Italy, the 107th edition of which ended on Sunday in Rome with the victory of Slovenian Tadej Pogacar, who succeeds his compatriot Primoz on the list of winners Roglic.

In 107 editions since the creation of the event in 1909: 69 victories for Italy, 7 for Belgium, 6 for France, 4 for Italy. Spain, 3 for Russia and Switzerland, 2 for Slovenia, Colombia, Great Britain and Luxembourg, 1 for Canada, Ecuador, the United States, Ireland, the Netherlands, Sweden and Australia.

The last ten winners:
2024: Tadej Pogacar (SLO)
2023 : Primoz Roglic (SLO)
2022 : Jay Hindley (AUS)
2021 : Egan Bernal (COL)
2020: Tao Geoghegan Hart (GBR)
2019: Richard Carapaz (ECU)
2018 : Chris Froome (GBR)
2017: Tom Dumoulin (NED)
2016: Vincenzo Nibali (ITA)
2015: Alberto Contador (ESP)

He follows in the footsteps of Merckx

This triumph from his first Giro adds a new piece to his collection of trophies which is growing day by day: at only 25 years old, the ogre of Komenda already has 77 successes including two Tours de France , six Monuments and a string of other classics and stage races.

More than ever, he follows in the footsteps of Merckx, the greatest runner of all time with whom he shares the same gluttonous appetite. At the Giro, no one came close to him until the last stage, won by the Belgian Tim Merlier in a sprint.

Daniel Martinez has finally confirmed in a Grand Tour and will be a luxury lieutenant for Primoz Roglic at the Tour de France. Geraint Thomas, a brave third at 38, held on but without the slightest illusion against Pogacar, "the best runner against whom I ran and yet I&rsquo ;have known some good ones".

Join Marco Pantani on the list

Pogacar can now devote himself to the second part of his great challenge: winning the Giro and the Tour de France in the same year, which has not been achieved since Marco Pantani in 1998. On the other hand, he has ruled out participate in the Tour of Spain, preferring to target the World Championships in Zurich at the end of September, another major objective.

"Tadej ? It’s Superman"

"Obviously he can do the Giro-Tour double. He is so strong. I am proud to be his teammate", said the Austrian Felix Grosschartner. "Tadej ? It’s Superman", summarized Rafal Majka, his faithful lieutenant at UAE. Some were worried in the run-up to the Tour de France (June 29-July 21) about the state of fatigue of "Pogi" after three weeks of scrapping in Italy in sometimes complicated weather conditions.

A priori, there is nothing to fear, because he still looked very fresh on Sunday, dressed all in pink in the streets of Rome. Certainly he did not particularly save money in Italy – "he can't help but race", noted Romain Bardet, 9th overall – and on Saturday evening Pogacar spoke about "three difficult weeks" where he was a little ill, sometimes slept poorly and had to respond to d&rsquo ;countless requests.

But he also estimated to finish "in good shape" and with "morale at an all-time high"before enjoying a few days of rest, then leaving for an altitude course at Isola 2000. "This victory at the Giro gives me great momentum for the Tour de France", he assures .

Pogacar is favorite to become the eighth rider to complete the Giro-Tour double in the same year

Of the four "fantastic", it is clearly he who presents the most guarantees four weeks before the Tour. Outgoing double winner, Jonas Vingegaard has just returned to training after his multiple fractures at the Tour of the Basque Country, while Remco Evenepoel and Primoz Roglic, injured in the same fall, will only return to competition next Sunday at the Critérium du Dauphiné.

Next to him, we seem so slow.

As it stands, Pogacar is favorite to become the eighth rider to achieve the Giro-Tour double in the same year (after Pantani, Indurain, Roche, Hinault, Merckx, Anquetil and Coppi) and continue his distant duel with the legends of the past, under the often helpless gaze of his contemporaries.

"Jonas (Vingegaard) is the only one to evolve at the same level as him, but he we have to see how he will be (on the Tour de France), analyzed Geraint Thomas. It’s insane how talented he is. So versatile, aggressive, all year round. Next to him, we look so slow."