Pogačar defends last year's victory in Strade Bianche race
Siena, 8 March - Slovenian cycling superstar Tadej Pogačar (UAE Team Emirates XRG) won the Strade Bianche one-day race in Tuscany, Italy on Saturday despite suffering a nasty crash 50 km from of the finish line, to defend his last year's victory in the race starting and finishing in Siena.
Nice, France
Slovenian rider Tadej Pogačar, three-time winner of UAE Tour, three-time winner of Tour de France and winner of Giro d'Italia.
Photo: Anže Malovrh/STA
File photo
The 26-year-old finished the 213-km route, which includes 71 km of white gravel road sections, almost one minute and a half ahead of Tom Pidcock of the UK (Q36.5 Pro), for his third victory in the Strade Bianche race after 2022 and 2024.
Pogačar mounted an astonishing come-back after he slipped during a fast descent some 50 km from the finish line, crashing badly on the road and then falling deep into the roadside grass.
The world road race champion quickly hopped back on his bike, later replaced it with another bike, while losing some 40 seconds compared to the leader of the race in that moment.
He needed only six kilometres to catch up with Pidcock, and then continued towards the finish line together with the Briton.
The decisive moment came some 19 km from the finish line, on the penultimate gravel section on the way to the Colle Pinzuto Hill, when the Slovenian mounted an attack and got rid of Pidcock after a few hundred metres of fierce cycling.
Pogačar crossed the finish line one minute and 23 seconds ahead of the Briton and two minutes and 11 seconds ahead of the third-placed Belgian Tim Wellens, his teammate from UAE Team Emirates XRG.
"I enjoyed it until I crossed the finish line, and now the adrenaline has worn off and everything really hurts. This is not the best way to win, but I hope it's not a big deal and that it looks worse than it really is," Pogačar said about the crash.
He said that he had overestimated the turn a little bit. "I know these roads well, I've ridden them at least 20 times in my life. I slipped, it happens," he added.
This is his fourth victory of the season and the 92 career victory in total. With his third victory in the Strade Bianche, the Slovenian ace joined Swiss Fabian Cancellara (2008, 2012 and 2016) at the top of the all-time rankings in the Siena race.
Pogačar, who will have the honour of one of the white gravel road sections being named after him as of next year's race, said that "it was a pretty good race" and that it is "amazing that a section will be named after me."
Interestingly, Pogačar's fiancée Urška Žigart (AG Insurance-Soudal) also crashed in the women's Strade Bianche race, to finish 51st, 15 minutes and 17 seconds behind the winner.