Tadej Pogacar has won the Tour of Catalonia for the first time and is one step closer to the next milestone in his career. The Slovenian cycling star won the final stage to Barcelona on Sunday. Previously, success in the 103rd edition of the race could only be taken away from him in theory. In the end, the 25-year-old was 3:41 minutes ahead of the Spaniard Mikel Landa.
Pogacar used the tour to prepare for the Giro d’Italia, which he wants to win outright in May on his first participation. In Catalonia, the exceptional driver won four of the seven stages.
“I want to check them all off”
Pogacar has now won the third of the seven most important one-week races after Paris-Nice and Tirreno-Adriatico. During the week, Pogacar had made it his career goal to win each of these tours at least once. “I want to check them all off. But it will take a while because of the racing calendar,” said the two-time Tour de France winner. Pogacar is still missing victories in the Tour de Romandie, the Tour de Suisse, the Tour of the Basque Country and the Critérium du Dauphiné.
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He is also aiming for victories in all five of the so-called monuments of cycling. So far only the Belgians Rik Van Looy, Eddy Merckx and Roger De Vlaeminck have achieved this.
Pogacar has already triumphed at the Tour of Flanders, Liège-Bastogne-Liège and the Tour of Lombardy. Successes at Milan-Sanremo and Paris-Roubaix are missing. He is the only currently active driver who is believed to be able to win all the monuments.
