Tadej Pogačar arrived in Canada on Tuesday excited, confident and ready to race after a long layoff since taking his third Tour de France title in July.
After the highs of becoming the first man since Marco Pantani in 1998 to do the Giro d’Italia Tour double, the Slovenian enjoyed a peaceful, relaxing summer in his home country. But now as he gets set to make his return to racing in Canada at the Grand Prix Cyclistes de Québec and Montréal, he says he's ready for his next huge goal.
Pogačar is now aiming to become only the third man to complete cycling’s triple crown by winning his first road world title in Zurich later this month. Despite being delayed in Paris before the long drag across the Atlantic, he arrived in Québec with a smile and joked that if it wasn’t for team staff talking him out of it, an impromptu trip to Disneyland could have been on the cards before he finally boarded his flight.
"I missed the plane," he said. "A couple of us were stuck in Paris for a while. I arrived and my suitcase didn't, but it’s all good."
"I did want to go to Disneyland," he added with a grin. "It would have been really good. But it was not so convenient in the end. Luke [UAE Emirates press officer] was not really happy with the idea to take a train there and spend three hours on a kid's playground."
With the joking out of the way, it was on to the serious stuff as Pogačar told the gathered journalists that a potential repeat of his 2022 GP Montréal triumph is firmly on his mind as he gets set to test his form before the worlds.
"The World Championships has been a really high, high goal since December," he explained. "I did a recon already. It's a really nice parcours, I think it suits me really well so we'll see what happens.
"I need some race rhythm before. I think even though I've been training really well at home, a race is a race. These races are not small races, they are big, big races and I really love this circuit kind of race. It's kind of similar to the World Championships with the style so it's for sure really good preparation.
"Québec I think is, for me, the tougher one to get a good result. But I'm here for a good race and to try to win both if I can. I'll give it my best shot."
After going close in Glasgow last year, Pogačar said he feels like winning the road world title is only a matter of time. He explained that fortunately for him, the next two championships seem tailor made for a rider of his qualities.
"In an elite World Championships, this is the best that suits me so far," he said. "So I'm more excited than ever before. The goal is there, the wish is there, and the dream. But I think in a few years it will maybe even be better than this one [for me]. But it's all focused on Zurich for now. And if it doesn't happen, there's still some chances, but I would say it's better if the sooner you do it, the better it is."
Pogačar has already grown accustomed to being labelled the favourite for any race that he lines up at. This year’s World Championships are no different. However, despite the noise from the outside already billing him as the winner, the Slovenian warned that plenty of other riders could have a say once the elite men’s race gets underway in just over a fortnight's time.
"I think I just need to do my own race and be good on the day and then we will see who we need to deal with," he said. "I think it's also going to depend on how teams will race because if it's a really open race in Zurich, there can be really long range attacks or just pure power on the shorter climbs. But there's a lot of riders that can suit this course."
