Tadej Pogacar won the Giro d’Italia by the largest margin in 59 years and in just over a month he will begin a bid to become the first cyclist since 1998 to win the Giro and the Tour de France in the same year.
Pogacar, a 25-year-old Slovenian, dominated the three-week event in Italy, considered by many to be the second most prestigious stage race after the Tour de France.
Pogacar won six stages, including a time trial and four mountain stages.
He took the lead in the second stage and maintained it until the 21st and final stage on Sunday, prevailing by 9 minutes, 56 seconds over Colombian Dani Martínez.
The margin of victory was the largest in a Grand Tour (Giro, Tour de France, Vuelta a España) since Laurent Fignon won the 1984 Tour de France by 10:32 and the largest in the Giro since Vittorio Adorni won the edition. from 1965 for 11. :26, according to ProCyclingStats.com.
“I think he’s the best I’ve ever raced with, and I’ve raced with a lot of good guys,” said Geraint Thomas, the 2018 Tour de France champion who placed third in the Giro at age 38. Versatile and aggressive all year round too.”
In his Giro debut, Pogacar added his first Giro title to his Tour de France victories in 2020 and 2021. He was runner-up in the Tour the last two years behind Dane Jonas Vingegaard.
In six career Grand Tour starts, Pogacar has finished in the top three every time.
He now hopes to become the eighth cyclist to win the Giro and the Tour in the same year and the first since Italy’s Marco Pantani in 1998.
The Tour begins on June 29 in Italy and will cross to France in the fourth stage.
Vingegaard has not competed since breaking his collarbone and several ribs in a racing accident on April 4 and undergoing surgery.
In a video published on May 7., Vingegaard said he hoped to ride the Tour. He can hope to join a select group of men to win three consecutive Tours, most recently Chris Froome, Miguel Indurain and Eddy Merckx.
“We don’t know exactly what my form will be like and what my recovery will be like, but I will do everything I can to get there in my best shape,” Vingegaard said.
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Taylor Knibb won the national title in the time trial to qualify for Olympic cycling in Paris after already qualifying in the triathlon.
