It would be an exaggeration to describe the pink jersey as a burden to Tadej Pogačar, a man who floats amiably through his cycling life as though largely untroubled by the effects of gravity. There are, however, aspects of leading the Giro d’Italia that he cheerily admits he could do without.
The novelty of podium ceremonies and post-race media duties has long since worn off for Pogačar, who has spent the bulk of his career donning one leader’s jersey or another. After defending the maglia rosa on the gravel roads south of Siena on stage 6, he dutifully ran through the usual rigmarole of sweaty handshakes and popped prosecco corks on the podium, before running the same old gauntlet of television crews in the mixed zone.
By the time Pogačar reached the press conference truck to hold court before the written press, the end of the daily ritual was almost in sight. “No questions? Ok, bye,” Pogačar smiled hopefully as he feigned getting up from his seat at the top table.
Before the Giro’s trek across the strade bianche, the stage was billed as a potentially pivotal one in the race for final overall victory. Instead, the podium contenders all made it through the 12km of gravel without significant incident, and Pogačar even resisted the temptation to accelerate on the short, sharp climb into the finish at Rapolano Terme, rolling home safely in the main bunch, 29 seconds down on winner Pelayo Sánchez (Movistar).
Indeed, for much of the day, Pogačar and his UAE Team Emirates squad gave the distinct impression that they would have been glad to allow escapee Luke Plapp (Jayco-Alula) enough leeway to take temporary hold of the race lead. The work of Ineos in the finale, however, doomed Plapp’s pink dreams and condemned Pogačar to another press conference.
“I wouldn’t mind losing the jersey,” Pogačar said. “I mean, all these shenanigans here after the podium and this, it would be fine not to do it. I would still wear the blue jersey [of Intergiro leader – ed.], so it wouldn’t be too much difference. But I wouldn’t have minded if Plappy had taken the pink.
“We just rode tempo for ourselves. It was a really hard start, so the team did a really good job to make the breakaway like it was and set the pace, but Ineos tried to go really hard in the gravel sections, so the gap was coming rapidly down. It was a hard day, I’m happy that it’s over.”
The three sectors of sterrato in the final 50km of Thursday’s stage sundered the peloton, but it failed to yield the same drama of the Giro’s last visit to these parts in 2021, when Egan Bernal placed a hefty downpayment on overall victory and Remco Evenepoel’s challenge floundered amid a swirl of dust. Those same plumes of chalk added to the anxiety of the afternoon here, but Pogačar reckoned it was no more stressful than the fraught run to Lucca the previous day.
“Some people don’t want this kind of stage – gravel, cobbles, blah, blah – in Grand Tours, and some people want more of it,” Pogačar said. “You cannot please everybody, but for me, it’s just another stage. For example, yesterday, you needed to be careful as well. Coming to the finish is super stressful, especially for GC guys. When you go 65kph in the bunch, it’s super crazy. Today is just another stage with a bunch of traps along the road. You just need to avoid them and get to the finish.”
Time trial
As a two-time winner of Strade Bianche, Pogačar was the focus of all attention at the start in Viareggio, despite his protestations that this stage was a rather pale imitation of the Classic. Then again, a Pogačar show is anticipated just about every day on this Giro, and the man himself did nothing to dampen those expectations by attacking on each of the first three stages.
“If you look around the media and all the talking since the start, some people want me to win the pink jersey from the start and keep it to Rome, some people want me to save more energy, some people want me to crash… You never satisfy all the people,” Pogačar said. “I just do my race and I try to enjoy it, like always. I go day by day and see how the legs are. Today I was quite enjoying it and I’m looking forward to the next days. But for sure, you cannot win every day.”
Pogačar’s prudent approach to the sterrato was surely influenced by the configuration of this portion of the Giro. Over the next 48 hours, the architecture of the Giro GC will be heavily reworked. First up is the 40.6km time trial from Foligno to Perugia on Friday, which is followed by the summit finish at Prati di Tivo on stage 8. By Saturday evening, Pogačar will surely expect to have more than 46 seconds in hand on Geraint Thomas (Ineos) atop the overall standings.
Those appointments – and, one imagines, the gentle urging of his UAE management – persuaded Pogačar to hold fire on the gravel, but there will be no holding back on the road to Perugia on Friday. He dismissed the idea that a rider could think about trying to keep something in reserve for the following day’s finale at Prati di Tivo.
“I never in my life considered to take a time trial a bit more conservative,” he said. “These days, time trials are crazy fast, so you need to be really good. I’m looking forward to making a full gas time trial.”
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