“It is,” came the response.
“And what’s his name?” she continued.
“Tadej Pogačar.”
“It is,” came the response.
“And what’s his name?” she continued.
“Tadej Pogačar.”
During his repeated visits to the podium, Pogačar was also presented with the blue jersey of king of the mountains and the Trofeo Bonacossa, a sort of special merit prize. Earlier, he had climbed onto the podium bearing the flags of both his native Slovenia and that of his primary sponsor, the United Arab Emirates, and there was a sizeable delegation from Abu Dhabi present in Rome to watch him complete the first leg of his planned Giro-Tour double.
The sun had already begun to set by the time Pogačar had run the full gauntlet of podium presentations. His next task was to beat a path to the mixed zone through the tifosi and tourists swarming Via di San Gregorio, now that the Giro’s road crew had already begun to dismantle the barriers.
“It’s getting to be a long day now,” Pogačar protested politely when he began his sequence of television interviews. “I think I don’t realise yet what it means to win the Giro. Let’s get through this day, all the media and everything, and then we will slowly realise what I achieve now. It’s a bit crazy.”
Pogačar’s has been a victory foretold, of course, and he has had ample time to digest the coming triumph, having led the race since Oropa on stage 2 and effectively ended the contest in the Perugia time trial five days later. Indeed, long before he was feted in Rome on Sunday evening, the conversation had long since moved on to his next campaign north of the Alps in July, when he seeks to reconquer the Tour de France from Jonas Vingegaard (Visma-Lease a Bike).
“Let’s switch off for a few days, and then switch on 100% focus and go for the Tour,” Pogačar said when asked about the next instalment. “I’m on the right road to the Tour de France.
“In the last few days, I had amazing legs. For the third week, it was really good, and I can recover really good from these efforts, so the legs can be the same – or even better.”
The next stop of Pogačar’s itinerary was Piazza del Campidoglio, where the press room was housed in the Capitoline Museums. In recent years, the pink jersey of the Giro has spoken with the written press each day via video link rather than making the trek to the sala stampa.
The tradition of appearing in person before the fourth estate on the final night of the race has been maintained, and a small platoon of Slovenian journalists followed Pogačar on his journey past the Colosseum and beyond the Victor Emmanuel Monument. He paused for another photo opportunity above the Forum, before climbing the steps into the press room.
By the previous standards of this occasion, the press conference was perfunctory, but then Pogačar had already said more or less all he had to say on this Giro, having worn the pink jersey for 20 days, annexed six stages and won the whole race by just under ten minutes. After three weeks of effervescent performances on the bike, there was a sign of mental fatigue here.
“Oh, this one’s difficult. I don’t know. I’m tired,” Pogačar smiled apologetically when asked how his Giro debut had changed him as a man, though he politely tried to summon up some kind of an answer all the same.
Asked about the significance of winning the Giro, Pogačar smiled again. “I will be super happy when everything is over,” he said. “Now is the last push with everything. Let’s think in two or three days, when everything is going to be perfect.”
With that, Pogačar was finally freed of his official obligations, at least until Monday morning, when his presence is required at Giro sponsor Eataly’s store in Ostiense for another round of interviews.
It’s hard to shake off the sense that the aftermath of the Giro was more taxing for him than the winning of it.
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