Now that he has a lead of 2:40 over his rivals at the Giro d’Italia, Tadej Pogačar says he is already thinking about how to win the Tour de France in July as he bids to become the first man since Marco Pantani in 1998 to win both in the same year.
The Slovenian has seemingly been untouchable at this year’s Giro. He has already won three stages in Italy, including stage seven’s time trial in Perugia, and is likely to target even more. The race is far from won, but he already has a significant advantage.
Speaking on Monday afternoon during the race’s first rest day, Pogačar said that he feels he can now ride defensively to a certain degree, but would still fight for further stage wins if the opportunity presents itself to do so.
"For sure it's in the back of my mind," Pogačar said when asked if he was already looking ahead to the Tour. "That's why I'm happy that I now have a bigger gap so I don't need to try and push too much over the limit to take time on the other guys. Now it's more defensive riding and using the team as much as possible to bring me to the finish line.
"If someone told me that I'm leading with 2:40 [by the first rest day] I would have signed it right away."
Bora-Hansgrohe's Dani Martínez is in second place in the general classification with Geraint Thomas (Ineos Grenadiers) in third.
"Luckily the first week went super well for me in the climbs and in the time trial so I could take some good time on the other competitors," he added. "But I really think we can be prepared, especially in the third week, for big attacks from the others, especially Ineos who have big cards to play with Thymen Arensman and Geraint Thomas.
"It could be really hard racing on the stages to come with climbing, so anything can happen and I just need to be ready for it, to have the right mindset for the different stages and to keep pushing to the end, even if I'm having a bad day. It's great to have such a time gap for now."
Pogačar explained that he had enjoyed every minute of his first taste of the Italian Grand Tour.
"The favourite win of my three stages would be the time trial or stage two at Santuario di Oropa," he said. "All three were kind of special with a different story for each one of them, but I think maybe the time trial was probably the biggest I would say."
Before the Giro got underway, Pogačar said that he thought it was "bullshit" that the media had largely suggested the Giro would be a one-man show. In Monday’s press conference he also suggested that his UAE Team Emirates teammates hadn’t always been given the respect they deserved.
"I am just used to it now that the media and competitors try to undermine them," he said. "Everyone can say this but we will show otherwise. We’ve proven over and over again that we’re one of the best teams, even if we’re not full of the biggest names."
The Giro continues on Tuesday with another mountain top finish at Cusano Mutri. Pogačar refused to rule out taking it easy and letting the breakaway fight it out for the win, even with the fearsome Mortirolo pass to come next weekend.
"If there’s a similar situation to Prati di Tivo tomorrow, we can aim again for victory. We’re thinking day by day and keeping each other together as the last day of this week might possibly be the hardest I've ever done.
"I’m super excited to go to Livigno over the Mortirolo, where I've trained a lot before so I'm really looking forward to that stage."
