The Tour de France and the Tour of Flanders are two very different races, but it’s all the same for Tadej Pogacar. Everything is cycling. It doesn’t matter if you climb the highest peaks of the Alps or the Pyrenees while the summer sun hits the back of your neck or run on the cobblestones in the Flemish spring. It’s about getting on a bike and winning.
And that is what the Slovenian knows how to do best. Win, win and win and win again, as Luis Aragonés said. He only needed two attempts to prevail for the first time in the Tour of Flanders. It is his fourth victory in three different monuments. He also won the Liège-Bastoña-Liège and twice in Lombardy.
At 24 years old, Pogacar is a total cyclist, capable of winning throughout the year and on all terrains. As did Eddy Merckx, the original Cannibal. The two of them and Louison Bobet are the only three cyclists capable of winning the Tour de France 6 the Tour of Flanders.
Pogacar prevailed in the Belgian classic with an insulting authority. He attacked everywhere he could. First on the climb to Kwaremont, with fifty kilometers to go, and with him went Van der Poel and Van Aert. The great favorites were together. In the Kruisberg he had to resist Van der Poel’s attack that left Van Aert on the way. It was in the last pass through the Kwaremont, with 18 kilometers to go, when Pogacar decided that all company was in his way and that it was time to go after Mads Pedersen, the only survivor of the original break that remained ahead.
The Dane resisted as much as he could, but nothing could stop Pogacar. Not even Van der Poel, who was coming from behind and that despite his efforts he saw how the Slovenian’s difference continued to increase little by little.
Pogacar raised his arms and put his hands to his head, as if he himself did not believe what he had just done, which is not very different from what he does every day. There are already ten victories that he has this season since its spectacular premiere at the Clásica de Jaén. For him there is no calculation, the same as for Evenepoel or his rivals in Flanders Van der Poel and Van Aert. He does not understand the mentality that was installed in cycling from the 90s of betting the entire season on a race. And that allows him to be the best rider in the world without having to be the last winner of the Tour.
«I will never forget it”, said the Slovenian after resting the victory. “He knew what he had to do at the Kwaremont,” she added. And she did. “I’m super happy and proud,” she says. It is to be.
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