The arrival of Jebel Hafeet al UAE Tour has done nothing but confirm the almost unassailable nature of Tadej Pogačar. Slovenian is on another planet right now. Perhaps only the big beasts... Van Aert or Ganna They could put him in difficulty on extremely fast routes. Perhaps… So where could he attack?
Such a situation would discourage anyone. Even the toughest fighter, the samurai of the situation. Even El Diablo, the legendary Claudio Chiappucci It may have its difficulties.
And yes, that Chiappucci was dealing with a certain.... Miguel Indurain, He wasn't exactly a last-minute finisher. The Spaniard dominated the time trials and controlled the climbs, giving the impression that, if he wanted, he could have dropped everyone there too. And in some cases, he actually did. Claudio always attacked him. Even when he didn't have any, even when he knew he would most likely crash into a "wall". Sometimes a crack opened up in that wall. A crack that on some occasions turned into a collapse..
Claudio, how do you attack Pogacar today? How would you attack him?
It's hard to say now. I should be next to him, study him, get to know him… Because watching him on TV is one thing, and watching him live is another. Tadej gives the impression he can do whatever he wants. And the whole team seems to be on its way now.. Yesterday I also saw that everyone is going strong in UAE Team EmiratesThey shoot, sprint, and work for him. And when it's like that, it's not easy.
Are there any similarities between Pogacar and Indurain?
They're both incredibly strong! Jokes aside, it's a different situation. Miguel had the numbers going up too, even if he didn't show themAnd it had the long individual time trials on its side, which no longer exist today. Put yourself in my shoes: two long time trials and a prologue, which was almost like a modern time trial. Indurain was already well ahead of everyone else, so it was a natural instinct for me to attack.
And so you attacked him anyway…
And what could I do? As I said, I was starting with "three less stages." When I was taking pictures I was working incredibly hard, but I thought that others were doing the same. and many times I managed to gain ground. I always thought the best defense was offense.I told myself: let's see what happens. I preferred to anticipate, put them in difficulty and above all create confusion to break the patterns and the teams' dominance.
This would be an excellent attacking strategy: breaking the teams' dominance, their control, and "opening up" the race. But is it still possible?
Mmm – exclaims Chiappucci skeptically – There's too much, too much technology. The little radios, the TVs in the team cars (plus support cars along the route, ed.), the little computers with watts... The rider is an automaton. This limits instinct and prevents the athlete from emerging. The rider emerges when he is alone, when he goes beyond the tactics set by the teamWhen he comes up with a solution during the race, even if he doesn't have time to talk to his teammates and the sports director. And then there's something else.
What?
Today, races are shorter. Shorter races and more organized teams: it's really hard to make a difference. It's hard to know where to attack. Today there are 5-6 phenomena. You really don't know what to do. Take Van Aert. He wins everywhere: time trials, climbs, sprints, and cross-country. And Pogacar himself is strong in time trials, in the classics… and even in cross-countryBesides, they do a lot all year round. And they used to get on my nerves—Chiappucci gets something off his chest—because they said I did too much, that in the winter I even did cyclocross…
Earlier, Diablo, you mentioned time trials. If they were to go back to longer stages, would it be more spectacular? Maybe even a Van Aert could really fight for a great Giro and attack him...
I don't know if longer time trials would enhance the spectacle, but something certainly needs to change. At least I'm not very keen on this high-tech cycling. Rather than long time trials, I would remove the earphones. I may be out of tune, but they're completely different from me. Let's watch the World Cup change.
How does it change?
For me, running changes. Runners are less prepared for the unexpected. Instincts emerge in the moment. And anything can happen without planning it. The famous traps like the fuel supply attack, the fan... You could do it. But how do you do it these days if there are people watching the race on TV from the flagship car?
So Pogacar is making a surprise attack?
Exact.
Would Diablo ambush Pogacar then?
It could be, yes. I certainly wouldn't wait for the climb to attack.I would try to do it on varied, winding, winding paths. Also because when you attack him, you have to think about attacking his team tooThe first thing would be to isolate him and maybe encourage others to attack as well. In short, you have to do something different than usual. I always knew who I was dealing with and I adapted to his running style, trying to figure out where to attack. For example, going downhill, especially if it was raining.
Your craziest attack?
Milan-Sanremo 1991,” Chiappucci replies dryly. “I hadn't planned that attack. I didn't know how it would go. See what I was saying before? When I saw it was raining and everyone was afraid of the wet descent, it came to mind. I understood that they were afraid because before the Turchino tunnel they had started sprinting to take her in front. Everyone knew I could cause trouble and I really wanted to cause havocBut Sestriere's attack at the Tour was also pretty crazy. I attacked simply thinking: let's see what happens...
So it takes a bit of a crazy spirit to try to undermine Pogacar. Which might seem doubly crazy, given the technology of cycling. But if you don't step out of line with Tadej, who is stronger, unless he's having an off day, you won't beat him. If anything, the issue isn't so much attacking Pogacar at an unexpected moment, but being willing to risk being blown away...
