Cycling: hunting for the fourth tour triumph – Pogacar: “I’m ready”

Tadej Pogacar also treated himself to a relaxed coffee trip with his fiancee Urska Zigart on the Côte d’Azur, then the bike star started in a good mood to the north of France. After an “almost perfect preparation”, the Slovenian exceptional group can hardly wait for the Grand Départ of the 112nd Tour de France in Lille. “It will be a hard fight to Paris, but I’m ready,” said Pogacar, who wants to continue his impressive hunt for the records of Eddy Merckx and Co. with the fourth triumph.

After a year of superlatives, the question arises more than ever who can stop the world champion. Jonas Vingegaard, the tour champion from 2022 and 2023, was not able to do so on the Dauphiné tour. Rather, the Dane even felt the breath of the vertical starter Florian Lipowitz, who gives German fans hope for a great cycling summer-even if the Slovenian old star Primoz Roglic was in his Red Bull team.

In 2024, Pogacar pushed the competition on the tour with six stage wins and more than six minutes ahead of Vingegaard in the overall ranking. “I have to be better than two years ago,” says the challenger, who focused on the tour completely this year.

In contrast, Pogacar left almost no classic in the spring and celebrated impressive victories on the tour of the Flanders and Liège-Bastogne-Liège. He cheered again eleven times this season, the next victory is his 100th career success at the same time. “It resembles me the most, but you shouldn’t compare the generations,” said Merckx about the new cannibal in the peloton.

With the fourth overall victory, Pogacar could draw the same with the British Chris Froome – just at the age of 26. Nobody has succeeded before him. Then he would only lack a success up to the elite circle of five -axis winners Merckx (Belgium), Jacques Anquetil, Bernard Hinault (both France) and Miguel Indurain (Spain).

It will be difficult to beat him, says Red-Bull team boss Ralph Denk, who, unlike some colleagues, does not consider the superiority of the Slovenen to be damaging to the business for cycling: “I would say that this is a really big sports man, which is really good, really well.”

Five mountain arrangements and Olympic feeling on the final day

Pogacar still has some challenges to overcome by the next tour triumph. Five mountain arrangements are on the program this year, including the notorious Mont Ventoux, where the Briton Tom Simpson once died because of the intake of stimulants. The Col de la Loze is also in the program.

Pogacar in 2023 experienced a historical slump there. That was “one of the worst moments” of his career. Even on the final stage, something is still possible if it goes three times over the Montmartre rise, which was a big highlight at Olympics.

Pogacar also relies on Nils Politt’s helper services, which is impressed by his captain. “He is a relaxed loose driver who is confident, but also works extremely hard for himself,” said the Cologne. It was also Politt that the last time was a German tour stage win in 2021.

Of the ten German starters, this time, however, the eyes are primarily aimed at Lipowitz’s tour debut, which has penetrated the top of the world within one year. Seventh at the Vuelta, second at Paris -Nizza, third at the Dauphiné – and now? Team boss Denk does not want to build too much pressure. “We see so much good in the boy that we really want to go very carefully. On the tour, he has the goal of reaching Paris,” said Denk.

Do yellow cards lead to fewer falls?

To the finish line on the Champs Élysées, it is 3338.8 kilometers. Many flat stages are waiting in the first week, so many drivers win the chance of yellow. “It will be extremely chaotic. I hope that we will complete the first week with as few falls as possible,” says Politt. With the introduction of yellow cards for male driving maneuvers, the World Association UCI wants to counteract this. The expansion of the so-called three-kilometer rule to four or five kilometers should also help. Then the top stars can use the sprint hustle and bustle earlier.

A mass sprint can be expected on the first stage in Lille, as at the last arrival in 2014, when Marcel Kittel triumphed. In the spring of Pogacar’s last business trip to the north of France, he had to be satisfied with second place behind the Dutch ex-world champion Mathieu van der Poel after a memorable race in spring. A rare feeling for the all -rounder.