Tadej Pogacar, grand favori pour prendre le maillot arc-en-ciel, est bien arrivé à Zurich pour ces Championnats du Monde. Après une saison déjà exceptionnelle, marquée par le doublé Giro-Tour, Pogacar voudra mettre la cerise sur le gâteau avec ces Mondiaux. En conférence de presse ce jeudi, en compagnie de Primoz Roglic et du sélectionneur national Uros Murn, le Slovène a affiché ses ambitions.
Photo / Video : Vid Ponikvar - Slovenia Cycling
Photo / Video : Vid Ponikvar - Slovenia Cycling
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00:30in the last rounds on Sunday?
00:32Yeah, he looks super good on the time trial.
00:35He handled also the pressure pretty good, I think.
00:39With the chain drop and the stop line,
00:41and what I read, he didn't have power,
00:44so I guess he's really prepared well,
00:48especially for the time trial.
00:49It's his discipline where he shines the best, I think.
00:55But yeah, on Sunday, it's a different game.
01:00What is it about a World Championship race?
01:19Is it different than other races?
01:22And in what way?
01:23Yeah, obviously, it's a very different race.
01:26It's a one day race.
01:30With the national team, which we don't ever do, almost.
01:34And yeah, after last year,
01:36I must say it was one of the hardest races I've done
01:39because it was not a course really suited for me.
01:43And it was too explosive
01:47in the last three hours of racing.
01:51So I was really exhausted after the race.
01:54But this year, the course is much better.
01:57And yeah, we'll see what the race holds for us this year.
02:02But this is a World Championship race.
02:03Is it more difficult than a normal one day classic?
02:09I think, yeah, I think yes.
02:12We race all year with the team and monuments
02:17you can compare with World Championships.
02:18But yeah, then there you race with the team where you know
02:22the guys maybe better than the national team.
02:25So it comes to dynamic in the world and also the radius.
02:30You don't have the radius in the race.
02:31So and normally it's a circuit race,
02:35which also makes the difference than racing from A to B.
02:39What would a rainbow jersey mean for you?
02:41I mean, you have these other victories in your career already,
02:43but how important is a World Championships?
02:47Yeah, I mean,
02:49yeah,
02:51rainbow jersey is something really special in cycling.
02:56The most unique jersey.
02:58Everybody wants it, I think, I would guess.
03:01And yeah, you can, you wear it all year, all year long.
03:05And yeah, it defines you as the best rider in the world.
03:10So obviously it's a big goal for me since a couple of years.
03:15And yeah, I will strive for that.
03:20If not this year, then in the next years.
03:23Yeah, that's about the tactics and these things.
03:26I think I'm not the guy to ask our coach.
03:29He has all the scenarios, what can happen and how we will react.
03:35But yeah, looking to myself, obviously, like with today,
03:41I mean, he's winning all the one day races
03:45or he's one of the best ones with this for sure.
03:50Myself is like, I mean, at the end,
03:54I do just a couple of them per year.
03:59Not even, yeah.
04:01So it's a nice challenge.
04:04And yeah, the challenge is, I think, also on us then
04:06to try to get the best out with the guys.
04:09Because I mean, on the paper, we can be strong names.
04:15But yeah, I prefer them to be strong on the parkour, on the road.
04:21That's, I think, the important one.
04:24Do you think he will be there in the last round?
04:27And if not, how will you get rid of him?
04:34Yeah, you did a little mistake there.
04:37Matthew will be, I think he's in good shape now.
04:41And he wore the rainbow jersey really good in the last year.
04:50Really amazing victories with that jersey.
04:55But Sunday, it's another, he needs to defend the title,
05:00but it's a bit harder race for him, a bit more climby.
05:05But I think, yeah, I listened somewhere,
05:09he lost one and a half kilo or something.
05:12Maybe he was really preparing just for that now,
05:16which I can believe.
05:18And we'll see how he'll go.
05:22For sure, we cannot count him out because it's a more climby parkour.
05:26So yeah, we keep him in mind for sure for the final.
05:29He can be dangerous.
05:30If he has a good day.
05:33On the parkour, there's many climbs.
05:37It's a tricky parkour
05:39because none of the climbs are really, really long.
05:42But also after the climb, maybe you don't have straight downhill,
05:46so there's not a lot of time to recover.
05:49And I can see a lot of scenarios
05:53going through all the parkours, all the laps.
05:57There's so many space for open attacks,
06:01long range attacks and make race hard.
06:05So it's really hard to say if he's the first little climb
06:11big enough to make a difference.
06:14But I think the difference will be in the end, the kilometers
06:17and just in total racing and how the other nations will race.
06:24And yeah, the second question is, yeah, we have a really strong,
06:28strong team, big names.
06:31Big team, I would say,
06:33one of the best in the world ever.
06:35And we have two very strong or maybe even three
06:40very strong cards to play in the final for the race.
06:43So, yeah, I think we have advantage in that.
06:48So, but we still have to be careful and play it smart.
06:55I'm feeling fine, I mean, now.
06:57How I will feel after 250k is a different question.
07:02For sure, not as good.
07:04And I try to think about it.
07:07Yeah, just how to
07:11to get there to the finals.
07:13I mean, it's, you know,
07:17at the end, I did what I could, at least,
07:19yes, for this week to try to prepare to get there.
07:24And I mean, I've done that.
07:27OK, almost.
07:29So, yeah, it's now just up to the race.
07:34All right, guys, question for both of you.
07:36We are on Sunday in the last lap.
07:38Everybody is dropped.
07:39You two guys are in front.
07:41What are you going to do? Primoz first.
07:46Yeah, I guess one will be first and one will be second, no?
07:50But how?
07:53Oh, yeah, I don't know.
07:54Yeah, we will play a game and we see.
07:59Tadal?
08:01Yeah, rock, paper, scissors, no?
08:03It's a standard protocol.
08:07Uros knows, he's the boss.
08:10Tadal, do you know what a triple crown of cycling means?
08:14No, can you explain?
08:16That's winning the Giro, the Tour and World Championships in one year.
08:21Do you know which three riders are members of that club?
08:26One female, two male?
08:28No, I don't know.
08:30You don't know? No.
08:32Well, it's Eddy Merckx.
08:37You do know, right?
08:39OK, it's enough.
08:41Thank you all. Thank you, Uros.
08:43Thank you, Primoz.