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The Guardian - UK
The Guardian - UK
Sport
Jeremy Whittle

Pogacar rules cycling world with total pedal power after brushing off mid-season blues

Tadej Pogacar is cheered on by fans as he cycles in a lone breakaway in the final ascent before going on to win Il Lombardia for the fifth time in Bergamo on Saturday.
Tadej Pogacar is cheered on by fans as he cycles in a lone breakaway in the final ascent before going on to win Il Lombardia for the fifth time in Bergamo on Saturday. Photograph: Luca Bettini/AFP/Getty Images

Tadej Pogacar’s command of world cycling now seems limitless. The man from Slovenia ended 2025 as he began it, dominating a coveted Italian classic, Il Lombardia, to win the “race of the falling leaves” for the fifth consecutive time.

The 27-year-old started his European season by winning the Tuscan gravel race, Strade Bianche. He closed it having matched Italian icon Fausto Coppi’s record of five Lombardy wins and Eddy Merckx’s achievement of winning three “monument” races, the Tour de France and the world road race title in the same year.

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