Tadej pogacar He said it bluntly: "Now I'm putting everything on the World Cup." His goal is to achieve the Giro-Tour-World Championship hat-trick, which he has only achieved twice in the past.. The first to Eddy Merckx in what was his last great season, 1974. The second to Stephen Roche, the Irishman from Carrera who had a magical year in 1987, never to be repeated.
Today the Irishman passionately runs his hotel in Sainte Maxime, on the French Riviera, but he still remains tied to the old world. He knows well that that hat-trick has remained historic, also for how it came about, especially for the load of controversy that it brought with it in its first stage, the Giro d'Italia won against all odds.
Between the Giro, the Tour, and the World Championships, which was the most difficult race to win and the one that gave you the most satisfaction?
Each of the three is very difficult to win. I won the Giro having problems with some of my teammates who raced against me.It was very, very difficult mentally because I found myself in the absurd situation of having to convince the Italian public that I wasn't a bad guy and that I honored the country that was hosting me and giving me work. What happened with Roberto Visentini was something that happened, there was no bitterness between us, but clearly many Italian fans were against me. Every day I fought with the media and my teammates, so it was very complicated.
You won the Giro without the support of your team, with only Schepers on your side. What was the atmosphere like on the team outside of the race, in the evenings, or before the stages?
After the first day or two, we sat down. The team wanted the pink jersey. Visentini was the defending champion, and I was coming off a victory in the Romandie. But a three-week tour is something different. The agreement was to protect both of us, but mainly to bet on me because I had shown that '87 had been a good year for me, I had been competitive since February. So the team decided to give me my chance. But the atmosphere was difficult between me and my teammates. But then things slowly improved because I was also performing well. As I said, the team was interested in winning because victories bring in funding. Clearly, however, everything that happened came at a cost; the balance was shattered.
I read that Panasonic sided with you. How did you reach an agreement with Millar's team, and do you think it's possible to do the same today?
Many people in '87 were a little disgusted by the reaction of the Italian people and by what was happening to me. Millar He was a good friend of mine, so he wanted to win a stage and thought it would be a good compromise to help me achieve his goal. Which happened, so we both gained. I think that today, yes, this can and will happen again. Everything and nothing we've done has been exceptional.
Pogacar is aiming to repeat your feat. Do you think he can do it?
I think honestly, yes, there have been riders in the past who were able to do it like Indurain, Armstrong, Pantani. They could have. But to be able to do these three things with three wins, everything has to go hand in hand, you have to plan well. You also have to be lucky enough to find a suitable route: if you are strong on climbs and you find yourself in a flat World Championship, everything becomes complicated.This year we have him, who has already won the Giro and the Tour and is having a very, very undulating World Championship in Zurich. So yes, I think anything is possible for him this year because he's showing incredible strength in recovery and he's also a classics man. Of course, there will be no shortage of competition with people like evenepoel e Van Aert. He has to have the weather on his side. He has to be lucky, he has to avoid punctures. He has to have a team. Everything has to match.
Given his superiority in the Giro and the Tour, would you try to win the Vuelta in his place?
In Ireland we say, 'The graveyard is full of dead heroes,'" Roche says, smiling. You can go and try to win, but then if it doesn't work, then it could be more harmful to him physically too because he's only 25 years old.He's already accomplished so much in his short career so far. He shouldn't risk burning out prematurely. People might think winning the Giro and the Tour wasn't too difficult for him; there was no opposition. Perhaps, but despite that, he did it by racking up thousands of kilometers, heat, and fatigue. I think that might be a bit too much. It's much wiser to focus on the World Championships now.
Do you follow Irish cycling and do you think it's improved in terms of quality compared to your times?
Yes, our cycling has grown a lot. We have strong people like Healy, Ryan. OK, Sam Bennett It's going down a little bit, but there's some good guys there coming up in theEF Education EasyPost that give hope. And I think the federation is working well, we will have more and more guys to talk about in the futureHealy impresses me, I say he will soon win a big race too.
Is today's cycling a type you like?
Yes, I think cycling today has changed a bit compared to the last generation. Cyclists are more aggressive, they are a little more instinctiveThey're strong on climbs and time trials, in one-day races and stage races. So I think we'll see some really good cycling over the next couple of years.
Looking back, how would you rate your cycling career?
I look at my entire career and say, OK, I can say this year was good. That year wasn't, that year was terrible. Overall, it was a positive experience. You know, it's very easy to say I should have, I could have... But it's not something I could change.. Looking back, the only thing is that I wouldn't have left Carrera at the end of '87. It could have been better, but I'll never be sure.
