Tadej Pogačar reached a new milestone last week, taking his 117th career victory with his 20th overall title in a stage race when he won the Tour de Romandie. It’s one that checks off another box on the Slovenian’s eye-watering palmarès and begs the question: what’s left?
Pogačar’s decision to target the Tour de Romandie this year was an interesting one. He has never before ridden the Swiss stage race, and chances are he never will again. The race is in trouble for next year from a financial standpoint, but now Pogačar’s name is on the roll of honour, is there any real need for him to return?
Romandie comes at an awkward point in the calendar, with Pogačar hiring a private jet to Switzerland to start the race fewer than 48 hours after winning Liège-Bastogne-Liège. It was a bit of an add-on to his Classics campaign and it doesn’t serve much purpose with a view to the Tour de France as he’ll have to wind down then ramp back up, next racing in mid-June. Pogačar adjusted his schedule this year with no stage racing in the start of the season, but that likely won’t be a new blueprint to be repeated every year.
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What’s becoming increasingly clear is Pogačar’s desire to buttress his palmarès and not simply add the same races over and over again but check off as many of cycling’s most prestigious titles before his storied career is all said and done.
“There’s still a lot of big races left, but let’s go one by one and see how far we can come,” Pogačar said after winning Romandie. So, how far is there to go?
Ticking off week-long stage races
Pogačar’s stage race selections this year also point to that narrative. As well as Romandie, he is also set to make his debut at the Tour de Suisse in June.
There is no clear ‘major stage race’ status or label as we have with the Monuments for the Classics, but beyond the three Grand Tours there is a vague hierarchy of a ‘big seven’ group of week-long races. There’s even a…
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