Pogacar warns peloton in Romandie - 'Every stage looks pretty good to give it a try'

The Tour de Romandie is one of the so called “Big Seven” one week stage races that the UAE Team Emirates-XRG rider has yet to win, alongside Itzulia Basque Country and the Tour de Suisse. The Slovenian is also set to line up in Switzerland later this season, as he continues his pursuit of completing the sport’s most prestigious list of victories.

A day after his victory in Liège, Pogačar spoke to the media in Switzerland and made his intentions clear ahead of his first stage race of the season.

“I want to win, and it’s no secret that we want to win here in Romandie as well. We will try our best,” he said. “At the same time, every race is different and it’s difficult to fight for the win. We’ll see how it goes through the week. If I don’t win, it’s not going to be the end of the world.”

The race gets underway on Tuesday with a short prologue against the clock, although Pogačar would have preferred a greater emphasis on time trial kilometres.

“I think it’s a pretty hard race. When we planned it back in December, I was hoping there would be two time trials like normal,” he explained. “But it’s just the prologue, so that’s one less big challenge in this race.”

That opening effort will still demand a full effort. “It’s all out for three kilometres. It’s going to be really painful for the legs and lungs.”

From there, Pogačar expects a week of aggressive racing. “After that, we go more or less day by day. Every stage is a good chance to attack, but I think the other teams are thinking the same,” he said. “There are so many opportunities through the week, maybe even for surprise attacks. Every stage looks pretty good to give it a try.”

Words that are unlikely to be welcomed by the rest of the peloton, coming from the 27-year-old who has raced only five times so far this season but won four of them at Strade Bianche, Milan–San Remo, Tour of Flanders and Liège–Bastogne–Liège.

It marks a very different return to the region compared to his first experiences there as a junior. More than a decade ago, racing the Tour du Pays de Vaud, Pogačar endured a difficult week that has stayed with him.

“I suffered a lot because I had a very bad crash,” he recalled. “I still have a scar on my Achilles from that crash, from the chainring.”

“I wasn’t very good there and we had a double stage. In the afternoon I had stomach problems as well. It was a week where every day something went wrong,” he added. “In the end, I managed to get into the top 10 on the final stage, so I was happy with that. But overall, it was quite a terrible week for me.”

It is a version of Tadej Pogačar that feels almost unrecognisable now, given everything that has followed since and what still lies ahead.