Says Tadej Pogacar, in a soccer simile, that “the best defense is a good attack”. That is why yesterday, in the last stage of the Paris-Nicehit a claw on the Col d’Eze 18 kilometers from the finish line, when he was wearing the yellow jersey, without his two main rivals, David Gaudú and Jonas VingegaardThey could do anything to prevent it. He did not need the boast to round off the general, but pogacar He doesn’t know how to run any other way. And if he knows how to do it, he usually doesn’t feel like it either. His cycling is attacking. Almost always for the good, although sometimes also for the bad. The show, in any case, appreciates it. pogi He has nine victories this season in 13 days of competition, which clearly demonstrates his voracity.
His latest success in race to the sun issued a double message, because one of his victims was Vingegaard, his executioner in the past Tour de France. The Slovenian and the Dane had scheduled different routes to go to their expected duel in the Big Bouclebut finally Tadej he changed his pace to face his rival four months earlier. Pogacar not only beat Vingegaard on the final podium of Nice, but tortured him throughout the trip. A moral blow. There are classic voices that are beginning to question whether this brutal mastery is the best method of preparing for the main objective of the year, the Tour, and whether it is necessary to waste so much gunpowder on the way to the Elysian Fields. There’s still plenty of time left, so we’ll see. It is true that last year he did pay for his expenses during the Tour, a quality that became a weakness, well used by the Jumbo, who knew how to delve into the wound. The Slovenian took note of the mistakes of that time and surely this year he will displace France a more competent team. But it is not foreseeable that he will change his way of competing. Pogacar, we said, only knows how to attack. Run where you run It is the house brand.