Tadej Pogačar and his Slovenian team have promised to make Sunday’s elite men’s road race at the UCI Road World Championships as hard as possible to give him the best possible chance of taking on the likes of Wout van Aert and Mathieu van der Poel and so winning the rainbow jersey.
After riding Sunday’s time trial, Pogačar had suggested it wouldn’t be possible to drop the Classics riders and fast finishers but was more upbeat when he spoke on Thursday after riding several laps of the Wollongong circuit on the official training day.
“I think the course is really good for them, for these kinds of riders, they have such great power at the end of the races that is hard to match. But it’s a long, a hard race, in the end it will be a race of attrition and tired legs. We will see what will happen in the race,” Pogačar warned.
“The course is super hard, already before the laps in Wollongong. There’s the big climb [Mount Keira – Ed.] which is really hard. The legs will already get tired after 50km of racing. Then when you get to the circuit, there is no moment to rest in the final laps.
“So after 250km of racing, the legs will be tired and the final steep climb on the circuit will be extremely hard. It’s going to be a long race and a race where, one by one, there will be less people in the peloton.”
“We’re thinking about victory. A perfect result would go with a perfect day, so we wait for Sunday and see how the race goes. I think we’re capable of doing good things.”
Pogačar said he had overcome any jet lag problems, using Sunday’s time trial as a chance to test his legs. He finished sixth, between Stefan Bissegger and Filippo Ganna and so has kept the form that saw him beat Van Aert and win the GP de Montréal.
Pogačar made his WorldTour debut with UAE Team Emirates at the 2019 Tour Down Under and his special relationship with Allan Peiper has made him a fan of Australia. He also learnt the importance and significance of the World Championships.
“When I was a junior or an under-23 it was a big deal but I never realised how important it is. When I did my first elite worlds in Yorkshire then I saw that it is something special. Since then I want to do it every year and try to do something,” Pogačar explained.
Slovenian only has a six-rider team after illness and crash injuries meant Primož Roglič and Matej Mohorič were unavailable. Jan Tratnik, Domen Novak, Jan Polanc, Jaka Primožič, and David Per will do what they can to help…
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