WWant to feel like a lousy mortal? Good. Gather ’round and leave your CO rebreathers at coat check.
We all know that pros ride at speeds that are unfathomable for a muggle. We watch the races on TV and drop our jaws when they dance on the climbs.
The blur of Pogi
Imagine going for a little spin in Spain and being passed by arguably one of the greatest cyclists in history, Team UAE Emirates’ Tadej Pogačar.
The Slovenian was training with his team on the Coll de Rates in Spain, a famous climb that Jonas Vingegaard was recently training on. In fact, that’s the climb where the Dane rose to fame after breaking the KOM in 2018 when riding for the Continental team ColoQuick-CULT. Vingegaard broke the Strava record on an impressive day.
His UAE Team Emirates, the top-ranked team in the UCI World Tour, recently announced a 6-year partnership with XRG, an international energy and chemicals investment company. Starting in 2025, the team will be called UAE Team Emirates XRG, with XRG as co-title and official energy partner.
XRG’s focus on cleaner, more efficient energy aligns with the team’s goal of reaching Net-Zero emissions by 2030. The Road to Net Zero initiative will optimize travel logistics and adopt energy-efficient technologies.
The Coll de Rates
The climb is a Category 2 ascent stretching 6.5 km with an average gradient of 5 per cent. Starting at 270 metres above sea level and finishing at 626 metres, riders gain a total of 356 metres in elevation.
Pogi hit the climb on his 205-km training ride, and yes, of course he took the KOM.
After one of the greatest seasons in cycling history, Pogačar is poised for another incredible year. In 2024, he won the Giro d’Italia, the Tour de France, and the road worlds — the first rider to take the Triple Crown since 1987, when Stephen Roche did that. The other male rider to achieve such a feat was the great Eddy Merckx.
Judging by the way Pogi is riding, 2025 could be even more spectacular. But what will he do? God only knows.
Sit back and watch what it looks like when Zeus rides up a hill.
This is how Tadej Pogačar took the Coll de Rates KOM. Wow, what a speed 🤯 pic.twitter.com/0a31izLDu3
— Lukáš Ronald Lukács (@lucasaganronald) December 20, 2024
Click Here to Read the Full Original Article at Canadian Cycling Magazine…