2025 was the year Tadej Pogačar himself said he reached his peak. The numbers certainly back him up, as he hit a century of pro wins during the Tour de France, only six and a half years after his first pro victory.
The sport’s Slovenian subjugator has made crossing the line with his arms aloft a habit. In writing Pogačar’s biography Unstoppable, I watched an awful lot of footage: of his interviews and press conferences, but perhaps most of all, his victories.
I’m not including overall Grand Tour or stage race wins. As prestigious and eye-catching as these are, with Pogačar, they invariably come about as a consequence of a stand-out stage win. What’s more, it is very hard to compare a Grand Tour win with a stage or one-day victory in the same list.
10. 2024 Volta a Catalunya, stage 7
We expect Tadej Pogačar to challenge for any stage race, disappear into the distant horizon on any hilly or mountainous profile and finish highly in a time trial too. But when he sprinted to victory from a small bunch at last year’s Volta a Catalunya, it showed yet another string to his overcrowded bow. Just when his adversaries thought they could beat him at something, anything.
It was a thriller to watch, too. In a 23-man finish, after a high-speed descent off Montjuïc hill in central Barcelona, he got the better of Dorian Godon – no slouch, beating the likes of Arnaud Démare and Tobias Lund Andresen this year.
It came the day after a 60km escape to victory on his more favoured terrain and capped the most dominant one-week stage race showing of his…
Click Here to Read the Full Original Article at CyclingNews RSS Feed…