Monday, March 18, 2024 at 7:45 PM
Tadej Pogacar let his UAE Emirates teammates lead all day in the opening stage of the Tour of Catalonia, but narrowly missed out on victory in Sant Feliu de Guíxols. The Slovenian was surprised by a late drop from Nick Schultz.
“It was a beautiful day. I really enjoyed it on these good roads with nice weather in a strong peloton,” the two-time Tour winner starts on a positive note. “The team worked very hard for me. Everyone has done their part. In the final… Yes, I can say that I messed up a bit.”
“I should have closed the gap to Schultz immediately. And not having to gamble on someone else,” Pogacar puts his hand in his own bosom. “Unfortunately, I kept thinking that for too long. It then turned out to be no longer possible to overtake Nick. But: he certainly did not steal this victory. His attack in the last kilometer was quite impressive, after good team play from Israel-Premier Tech.”
However, the top favorite for the overall victory is not giving up. “I still had a good sprint and felt strong. Tomorrow there is a difficult stage on the program,” he refers to the mountain stage to Vallter 2000. “That will be a difficult day, but it looks very nice on paper. We’ll see, I’m certainly looking forward to it.”
2024-03-18 18:45:00
#Pogacar #guilty #narrow #defeat #screwed #bit
