It’s cut like a crossbow, but claims to crush its sport like a tank. By setting off this Saturday, May 4 for his first Giro, Tadej Pogacar does not just want to win it. This ambition is reserved for humans. And the Slovenian, so agile as soon as the route gains height, sees further. For him, the Italian roads will be similar to those delicious antipasti, lining the tablecloths of trattorias. He wants to devour them but save himself a place for the rest of the meal. Because then, he will aim for a third victory in the Tour de France. In order to achieve this feat that we thought, in this cycling that had become so hard and exhausting, condemned to doze in memories and archives: the Giro-Tour double in the same year.
There are seven men in history to have succeeded. The immense Fausto Coppi, Jacques Anquetil, Eddy Merckx, Bernard Hinault. Plus Miguel Indurain and Stephen Roche. The last of the seven is Marco Pantani. A downside will always accompany his record, because it was in 1998. Perhaps the hottest years of cycling’s lead, notably with the Festina affair. Even if the sequel had proven, with Lance Armstrong, that the taint of a sport could be even deeper.
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