Tadej Pogačar has said there is no room for complacency ahead of his Giro d’Italia debut and is not allowing the favourite tag to go to his head.
After his recent victory at Liège–Bastogne–Liège, and dominance at the Volta a Catalunya, Pogačar is in a rich vein of form and is widely expected to take control of the Giro from day one.
At a press conference on Thursday, Pogačar said that, ominously, he feels that he is "better" than he has ever been before. Nevertheless, he explained that overall victory in Rome in three weeks time is far from being a foregone conclusion.
"There's a lot of good guys coming to this Giro," Pogačar said. "In three weeks there can be a lot of surprises. There are a lot of young guys who are in good shape here. Apart from the young guns I think [Romain] Bardet has shown some good form and [Geraint] Thomas, like always, will be good in this Giro.
"He has done a lot of good prep and I don't think he will disappoint in the mountains and time trials… After the second day we will see already who is there."
"I think that every race I go to I'm considered favourite now," he added. "So I just have to live with it. I just have to race and prepare for this and keep it in mind. In the team we have it in mind that everyone is trying to race against us and we need to control from the start.
"We will try to control it from the start more or less... Everyone will look at us but when you have a good team around you I don't think you feel the pressure."
Mountains feature in this year's Giro from the start. The summit finish at Santuario di Oropa on stage two is seemingly tailor made to Pogačar’s strengths.
However, the Slovenian said that taking an early stage victory and the pink jersey isn’t integral to his plans.
"It’s not something that's a big goal," he said. "The goal is to be in Rome in pink. It doesn't need to be the first day. We will go day by day and see how the legs are and how the race develops. If there is an opportunity to take a win and the pink jersey we will take it but we need to play it smart throughout this Giro."
Unlike the other two Grand Tours, bad weather can often play a part in the Giro d’Italia with its high peaks in the Alps and the Dolomites. Pogačar said he was well aware of the unpredictable nature of the Italian Grand Tour and the surprises that it can throw up.
"Everybody knows how different the Grand Tours are,” he explained. "But I think once you ride it you really know what to expect. I can expect bad weather, long stages and hard climbs with not so hot temperatures at points but on the other hand maybe less stress than the Tour. Each race has their ups and downs and I'll see what the Giro is like after 3 weeks."
“The weather always plays a part. Either it's super cold, super hot, windy or snowy. It plays a part in this race and I think to pass the Stelvio, I don't know how we will do it if there is a lot of snow. It is tougher for the organisers than us… We can see if it stays ok during the Giro so we don't need to get our jerseys dirty too much.”
Despite the risk of bad weather in the high mountains, Pogačar said he was relishing the chance to race up some of the Giro’s most iconic climbs, including the infamous Mortirolo Pass.
“For sure my favourite stage will be at Livigno,” he said. “I’m looking forward to Monte Grappa on the last day too. There are some nice climbs as well in between that I know and they are special to me so it's going to be a really nice Giro racing on these lovely climbs that I know from many years ago and have trained on before.”
