Tadej Pogacar celebrated his 27th birthday last Sunday, but there wasn’t much for the Slovenian to celebrate. During the individual World Championship time trial in Kigali, he was overtaken just before the finish line by Remco Evenepoel, which means that we are also heading for a duel between the top favorites in the road race. Pogacar himself explained his feelings about this four days later at the Kigali Delight Hotel.
Rarely have we seen the UAE Emirates-XRG powerhouse look as vulnerable as he did last Sunday, although, in the words of Evenepoel himself, we shouldn’t exaggerate. “Please don’t try to make things more important than they are,” said the Belgian on Sunday after the race, wearing his rainbow jersey. “Tadej will get over this quickly.”
Everything points in that direction. The Slovenian doesn’t have much to lose this season, although, as the current rainbow jersey wearer, that may be a somewhat contradictory statement. What is certain is that he is determined to sell himself dearly to the competition in the tough title race in Kigali. A warned Pogacar counts for two, right?
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