Besides Jonas Vingegaard, if there is one rider who knows well the power of Tadej Pogacar’s attacks, it is Remco Evenepoel. At the end of the season the Belgian saw Pogacar get away with victories at the World Championships, European Championships and Il Lombardia, and simply not have the legs to respond in these critical moments.
And after finishing a solo second on three weekends in a row against the rainbow jersey, Evenepoel knows exactly what Pogacar does and is surprised by it. In words to Het Laatste Nieuws, he described: “I have seen it live a few times now, and I don’t feel like he shifts at all. He starts his attack at a slightly lower cadence, then suddenly increases it to an incredibly high rhythm. It is a power effort that he executes perfectly. Really impressive to watch.”
With Pogacar simply having a better power-to-weight ration, it doesn’t make a big difference in which way he attacks, but over the past two years he has significantly switched more to a seated-attack approach ont he climbs. At the Passo di Ganda, Evenepoel simply did not have the legs to respond to that, even if he was on a great day. “When Tadej attacked, I had to go into survival mode. It was not even the steepest part of the climb. It is special to see how he can still accelerate despite that brutal opening tempo from Vine.”
Evenepoel rode a steady pace up the climb and had strong power at the summit to still drop a few of his rivals off, but his best efforts could only stabilize a gap that had already grown beyond a minute in favour of the UAE Team Emirates – XRG rider. “At breakfast, I checked the Strava times on the Passo di Ganda. I think I was not far off, but Tadej still rode almost a minute faster.”
Be the first to comment