What a talent! Just 48 hours after winning the final time trial in Nice and taking home the yellow jersey at the 2024 Tour de France, Tadej Pogačar won again. The Team UAE Emirates rider flew into the small town of Surhuisterveen, The Netherlands, and took an incredible win at the post-Tour criterium.
Outsprinting the best
Less than 48 hours after being celebrated in Nice as the winner of the Tour de France, Pogačar departed from Nice airport on Tuesday and landed at Groningen Eelde Airport. In nearby Surhuisterveen, at 7 p.m., he faced off against riders such as Jasper Philipsen, Bauke Mollema, Danny van Poppel, Bart Lemmen, Bram Welten, Marijn van den Berg, Cees Bol, Elmar Reinders, Ramon Sinkeldam, Nils Eekhoff, Danny van der Tuuk, and Hartthijs de Vries. Mollema, Philipsen, and Van Poppel took home secondary prizes, while the yellow jersey triumphantly led the pack across the finish line. Philipsen and Poels stood beside him on the podium. It’s beyond impressive that the Slovenian, despite being fatigued from the Grand Tour, out-smarted one of the best sprinters in the world, Philipsen!
Tourwinnaar en Girowinnaar Tadej Pogacar doet het onmogelijke en wint ook met overmacht het criterium van #Surhuisterveen. #Pogacar pic.twitter.com/7bbuxzozMN
— Sietce Wierda (@Sietce) July 23, 2024
An incredible 2024 just got better
After the win, Pogačar returned to Slovenia, most likely exhausted from the efforts of the circuit race. There, he was feted at home for his other accomplishments of 2024, the Giro-Tour double. Although he has ruled out riding the Vuelta a España, Pogi definitely will be aiming for the Road Worlds in Zurich. The tough course favors the 26-year-old as he aims to become the first winner of the Triple Crown since Stephen Roche in 1987. The only other rider to do so was Eddy Merckx, who, by the way, won the Road Worlds that year in Montreal. Pogi will also be racing in Quebec as part of his rainbow jersey bid. He will race next at the Grands Prix Cyclistes de Montréal and Québec.
The Slovenian also recently announced he won’t be racing the Olympics. Initially, he cited fatigue, but another factor was that his partner, Urška Žigart, wasn’t selected. Clearly, it’s solely the latter given that he must be fresh as a daisy to win the crit!
No matter how the rest of his season goes, he’s already accomplished a lot: the Surhuisterveen victory will surely…
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