{"id":192812,"date":"2025-10-06T06:01:13","date_gmt":"2025-10-06T06:01:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/192812\/"},"modified":"2025-10-06T06:01:13","modified_gmt":"2025-10-06T06:01:13","slug":"pogacar-explains-why-he-attacked-so-early-again-and-pays-tribute-to-one-day-racing-thinking-back-to-his-battles-with-other-top-riders","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/192812\/","title":{"rendered":"Pogacar explains why he attacked so early again and pays tribute to one-day racing, thinking back to his battles with other top riders"},"content":{"rendered":"

Tadej Pogacar<\/a> won his first European title. The Slovenian won the corresponding champion’s jersey after a<\/a>no<\/a>ther impressive solo. Just like at the world championships in Rwanda, the super talent attacked early and was eventually joined on the podium by Remco Evenepoel<\/a>, representing Belgium, and Paul Seixas, representing France.<\/p>\n

With 75 kilometers to go, Pogacar set off on another long solo breakaway. Evenepoel was the only rider who could keep up with the world champion, but even the Belgian had to let go. \u201cI then kept the gap at around a minute,\u201d Pogacar explained in his flash interview after the race. \u201cThat was a comfortable gap for me.\u201d<\/p>\n

And so we saw the same situation as at the World Championships: Pogacar finding himself alone early on. \u201cI don’t think it was that dominant,\u201d said the brand-new European champion. \u201cRemco was good and chased me the whole time. He put me under pressure. I had to keep pushing, but now I have another title.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Pogacar deliberately attacked early to neutralize Evenepoel<\/p>\n

Pogacar admitted in his first interview after the finish that his early attack had been carefully considered. \u201cI thought the third time up that tough climb would be decisive, but Belgium attacked on the second passage, and I quickly lost teammates. I saw four or five Belgians, and I was isolated. Then it was better to attack myself rather than stay in a group that could have attacked me.\u201d<\/p>\n

So it was a bit of a desperate attack? \u201cI don’t necessarily like a long solo, but I knew it was a risk to go over the last long climb with a larger group, with the strong men who still had teammates. I attacked to thin it out a bit, but I’m glad I was able to do it this way,\u201d said the multiple winner in the press conference.<\/p>\n

However, as mentioned, Evenepoel made him work hard for it; he confessed to Cycling Pro Net<\/a>. “You have to pace yourself well, especially when they’re riding together behind you. When Remco went after me alone, I never knew if he was getting closer or not. He can be so aerodynamic, especially into the wind, that it remained very difficult to maintain the lead.\u201c<\/p>\n

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\"tadej-pogacar-2\"\/<\/p>\n

Fiancee Urska Zigart got a hug from Pogacar after his European Championship title<\/p>\n

Pogacar is well aware of what he is accomplishing<\/p>\n

\u201cI am glad that this is over and that I have won another title,\u201d the 27-year-old rider continued. What dreams does the UAE Emirates-XRG rider still have? \u201cEvery year, I want to become a better version of myself, and I want to try other races. I am happy to win, but I have to keep enjoying it.\u201d Or as he put it: \u201cEvery year I say this is my best season, but every new year it gets even better.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI’m over the moon with every season I’ve done, and this year is no exception. I realize very well that I’m lucky to be able to win all these races, and if I get the chance for some other experiences\u2014like this year in Paris-Roubaix\u2014it would be a dream to win those kinds of races too. I have to understand very well what I already have and be happy with that.\u201d<\/p>\n

Continue reading below the photo<\/p>\n

\"EvenepoelPogacar may prefer one-day races to stage races<\/p>\n

\u201cIt will soon be the case that I will no longer be able to top it,\u201d said Pogacar, with perhaps some good news for the competition. Because for them, the breadcrumbs have been left over for several years now. And you can bet that in 2026 he will be going for the World Championship title again, as well as the European Championship in Slovenia. \u201cIt is an honor to have such a race in my own country.\u201d<\/p>\n

The one-day races are becoming more appreciated by Pogacar. On the one hand, because he has not won a few of them yet, but Pogi also says he simply enjoys going all-in on a single day. \u201cIn a Grand Tour, you have to suffer for three weeks, but in a one-day race, it’s only one day. A classic is more of a pure race, especially if the climbs are not very long or difficult.\u201d<\/p>\n

He also keeps an eye on his rivals, who are often considered to have no chance in advance due to the challenging courses. Men like Mathieu van der Poel and Wout van Aert weren’t even there at the World Championships. Pogacar would prefer to see things differently. \u201cIn classics, there is more room for all kinds of riders to attack and be competitive. They are a lot of fun to do and have a little more glamour for me, without wanting to say that I don’t like Grand Tours.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Tadej Pogacar won his first European title. The Slovenian won the corresponding champion’s jersey after another impressive solo.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":192813,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[569],"tags":[64,63,784,85],"class_list":["post-192812","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-cycling","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-cycling","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/192812","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=192812"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/192812\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/192813"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=192812"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=192812"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=192812"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}