Tadej Pogačar: 'It’s a little bit shit' when the media says I can’t be beaten at the Giro d’Italia

Slovenian accepts favourite status but points to strong opposition as excitement builds for opening weekend

16:35, Thursday 2nd May 2024

Matilda Price

Racing News Editor

Tadej Pogačar and UAE Team Emirates will be hunting overall victory in Italy

Tadej Pogačar thinks that his UAE Team Emirates squad will have to control the Giro d'Italia from the start. He also thinks that they have the strength to do so.

Speaking to the media two days out from the start line, Pogačar said he knows all eyes will be on him once the race starts in Turin this Saturday. However, after being touted as the favourite for so many races, this is not a daunting prospect:

“I think now every race I go to I'm considered as a favourite, so I just start to live like this and go to races prepared for this,” he said.

He said the team are acutely aware that they will be the ones to beat, and will be racing accordingly:

“I always have it in mind, or as a team we have in mind that everybody races against us and we need to control the race and take the race from the start. I think the Giro will be the same – we will have to control more or less every day, especially in the start, because everybody will look at us. But when you have a good team around you, you don't have so much pressure.”

The team is indeed strong, but not as strong as it could be. UAE Team Emirates are saving their very best riders like Juan Ayuso, Adam Yates and João Almeida for the Tour de France. Some questioned whether the team was good enough for the race, but Pogačar said he is confident with the Giro squad:

“Of course, you are isolated a bit sometimes, but I think I can be really confident in Rafał Majka, Felix Großschartner and also Domen [Novak] and Mikkel [Bjerg], they can do a really good job in the mountains. Then also we have a really big train, Vegard Stake Laengen, for the flat, so this means that other guys can relax a little bit, so I'm pretty confident in this team. Also [Sebastián] Molano and Rui [Oliveira] can help with positioning us, so if everything goes normal we have a really good team spread out through all the Giro."

Spreading out those resources, and energy in general, is of particular concern for UAE Team Emirates. With a hard pair of stages to open the race, including a summit finish on stage 2, there’s every chance Pogačar could take the race lead early on, and even potentially stay in pink all the way through the race.

“It's not something that is a big goal. It needs to be pink in Rome, it doesn't need to be the first day,” he said about taking the race lead early. “We go day by day, we see how the legs are in the first days and how the race develops. If there's an opportunity to take the win or the pink jersey you take it, but still we need to play it smart throughout the Giro.

“Everybody more or less follows our lead. Maybe they can try sometimes something, but we always need to follow our own way and our own plan and calculate everything so that we still have something in the last weeks of the race, in the last stages, so that we're not completely emptied out.”

‘It’s not respectful to the other riders’ says Pogačar

Though much of the pre-race conversation has been dominated by talk of Pogačar, with many suggesting he is virtually unbeatable in this race, that’s something he rebuffed, calling for more respect for his competitors.

“It's a little bit shit, not nice, because it's not respectful to the other riders I would say,” he said. “It's not all about me and UAE Team Emirates, because there's not so much difference when it comes to big mountains and long races. Everybody is prepared for this, every team wants to go for the victory, and I think it's possible. In [the] media, it's a lot of the time just bullshit.”

Having won three of the four races he’s started this year, including a hugely dominant performance at the Volta a Catalunya, Pogačar acknowledged where that perception of superiority came from, but again pointed out how his approach is different.

“Maybe it's my fault as well. I picked out only a few races this year, I prepared for them really good, and yeah I won them, but I didn't race like the others – some preparation races, some races to build up form – I do much less race days, so you need to see the full picture,” he said.

As to who his key competitors are, Pogačar was open-minded about who may threaten him over the next three weeks, but expects to know more after the first weekend of racing.

“There are a lot of good guys coming here to the Giro. In three weeks there can be a lot of surprises, a lot of young guys are coming in good shape here,” he said. “Apart from the young guns, I think [Romain] Bardet showed really good form now, and Geraint Thomas, like always, he will be good this Giro, he did good preparation. I think he will not disappoint in the mountains and time trials, so there's quite a few. We will see already after the second day who is where.”

Reportedly feeling good after some rest and training after his Liège-Bastogne-Liège win, Pogačar is primed and ready for the Giro d’Italia and his first assault at the pink jersey, on a course that should suit him well.

“I'm looking forward already to the first stage, just to get racing started,” he said. “Then the second day on Oropa should be a good finish. I like to start the Grand Tours with hard stages, but then for sure one of my favourite stages of this Giro is the stage to Livigno, and for sure I'm looking forward to Monte Grappa on the last hard day. There are some nice climbs in between that I know, they are special to me also, so it's going to be a really nice Giro.”

For everything you need to know about the 2024 Giro d'Italia, from the history of the race to this year's route and start list, be sure to check out our dedicated race hub.