Days pass, but the echo of the extraordinary Tadej Pogacar's world championship feat it doesn't go away, especially given how it arrived. For the dynamic that has exalted on the one hand his madness, on the other his sensational superiority over the competitionComparisons with the greats of the past have begun again, and some are already claiming we are dealing with the greatest cyclist of all time.
Going further into these discussions of comparison that always leave the time they find, we wanted to dust off Pogacar, the early days of the professional world, the twenty-year-old Slovenian who revealed himself to the world at the 2019 Vuelta with a third place and three stage victories. Giuseppe saroni, who contributed to his arrival at UAE Emirates, remembers well who he was then and the differences with the current one.
The boy who surprised everyone
«I would go even further back in time, to the year before and his victory at the Future Tower which has always been the most important race in the lower category. Already then we received testimonies about this Slovenian is beautiful in his gait, in his position on the bike, even in his clear face even under stressYou could see that he had uncommon qualities, on the climbs he outdistanced riders who were already in the professional ranks.
«Those who were present at the French race – he continues – told us of feats that made many people's eyes pop out and Pogacar began to be talked about very frequently. We had already contacted him and from the following year he was under contract with us. As soon as he moved up a category, he quickly settled in and won even among the big names, especially in the small stage races, conquering those in the Algarve and California, but above all he did it with a disarming ease, which left the sports directors of the opposing teams astonishedHe was proceeding step by step, but it was clear that he was rushing ahead and so we decided that it was already mature enough to gain experience in a Grand Tour. So we took him to the Vuelta and there the champion we know blossomed."
The risk of changing the rules
At that time, however, Pogacar was used to waiting until the end of the stages, placing his thrust in the final kilometers, but even then there was the impression that that way of racing almost bored him: «It's a hypothesis, only he could give a comprehensive answer. The principle is that when you're feeling good and have potential like his, you feel drawn to do even illogical things like the one on Sunday. You're so superior that you can even change the rules of the race. An action like that was risky, you couldn't know what would happen behind, whether they would have organized themselves, and also whether you had enough forces to carry it out. Now we all know how it went…».
Saronni lived with Eddy in his early career Merckx, to whom everyone compares the Slovenian with the Cannibal, who has even said that he is superior. Making comparisons between different eras is difficult, but Beppe knew them both well, how do they differ? « «We cannot put them face to face, the periods, the techniques, the science of time are too different.Back then, we didn't talk about preparation, training schedules, nutrition—all topics that are the order of the day today. I have a couple of photos with Eddy, taken at the 76 World Championships won by Moser, which I treasure: back then, Merckx was no longer a threat, yet he had charisma, he deserved enormous respect for what he had done.
The desire to always win
«We can compare them from a character point of view, yes: we all know that Merckx always wanted to winFor him, the world championship and the local race had the same value, and he ran them with the same goal. Tadej is perhaps the rider who most resembles him from this point of view., he never participates just for the sake of participating, every time he gets on his bike he wants to do something, be seen, have a go, regardless of the route».
In his post-World Championship statements, Pogacar admitted that he fears he has an Achilles heel in Sanremo, which Merckx also won 7 times: «The Classicissima It was very different back then for the very reasons stated above: the technique of the means available, the differences in the riders, preparation... The Sanremo route also allowed for those differences that are impossible today, both because it's a very simple track, both because at the start of the season the riders are uniform, coming from winter training, they are all ready and at their best. But be careful: precisely because it is simple, the Sanremo is a very difficult race to interpret because even someone like Tadej doesn't know how to express his superiority, there's no way to do it, even the Poggio is too low. It's no coincidence that those who have won it wearing the rainbow jersey can be counted on one hand..."
Roubaix is better than Sanremo…
And Roubaix? Tadej will do as Hinault, who ran it and won it only once and then didn't want to know about it anymore? «Tadej has already raced it as a junior, he knows what it is and he also knows that in some ways it is even easier for him than the Sanremo. I believe that when he wants and prepares properly, he can win it, especially in extreme weather conditions like those that were almost always present when I was racing, but which have become quite rare now. I repeat: the Roubaix has those characteristics that can enhance his technical and tactical superiority. Sanremo remains a puzzle, which is why it is fascinating and will be even more so».
