From February to October. The Tadej Pogacar’s dominance in 2021 has spanned nine months, ranging from the UAE Tour to the Giro de Lombardia. And at only 23 years old, the Slovenian treasures two Tours de France and two monuments, Liege and Lombardy.. A hunger as voracious and a murderous instinct as those that El Caníbal showed in his time. Eddy Merckx does accept the comparisons with Pogacar, as opposed to his compatriot Remco Evenepoel: “You have already won important things at a young age. The other, no ”. The Belgian, who arrived with a candidate sign, succumbed as soon as things got serious in Passo di Ganda. More ammo for Merckx.
Pogacar he attacked on that climb, more than 35 km from the finish line. Vincenzo Nibali, Romain Bardet and Pavel Sivakov tried to follow him, who gave in as soon as he launched a second acceleration. Deceuninck took responsibility for the pursuit, and thanks to their superior numbers Fausto Masnada left on the descent. In a team with Evenepoel, Almeida and the rainbow, Alaphilippe, Masnada, the lowest quality, took on the stripes. Born in Bergamo, he knew the terrain perfectly. “I usually train on these roads,” he said in the preview. In 2015 he won the Piccolo Lombardía, for the Sub-23. In 2021 he settled for second place of the elders. He did not relieve Pogacar and held out well on the ascent to the medieval part of his hometown, but he lacked gas for the sprint.
Adam Yates took the third position of the drawer, the best in the small group of favorites, in which Roglic also entered, fourth; Valverde, fifth; Alaphilippe, sixth; Gaudu, seventh; Bardet, eighth; and Woods, ninth. Almost nothing level of the final test of the World Tour. In the tremendous pulse that the two Slovenians sustain, the two have 13 victories this season. Roglic, with the Olympic gold of chrono and La Vuelta. Pogi, with Liege, the Tour and Lombardy. Only three riders in all of history had signed up for Tour and Lombardy in the same campaign: Coppi, in 1949; Merckx, in 1971 and 1972; and Hinault, in 1979. Names of legend, with which Pogacar not only rubs shoulders … but also bless him.
