'The best defence is to attack' - Pogacar starts as he means to go on in Romandie

After focusing on one-day racing so far this season – winning Strade Bianche, Milan-Sanremo, the Tour of Flanders and Liège-Bastogne-Liège – Pogačar belatedly toggles into stage racing mode in Switzerland this week.

This race marks the formal beginning of his Tour de France preparations, and before the start, Pogačar had jokingly suggested that the 8km ascent of Ovronnaz would be something akin to an FTP 20-minute test.

And it did amount to something like a public training ride for Pogačar, who accelerated 4km from the summit after his UAE Team Emirates-XRG squad set the tempo. Lenny Martinez (Bahrain Victorious) and, eventually, Florian Lipowitz (Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe) would come with him, while Jørgen Nordhagen (Visma | Lease a Bike) bridged across after scrambling down the descent.

That quartet would fend off the chasers all the way to Martigny, where Pogačar was an emphatic winner in the sprint. He moves into the yellow jersey with seven seconds in hand on Lipowitz.

“I did not plan anything, but it was nice to take the win against the youngsters,” Pogačar said as he warmed down afterwards. “It was a really nice race, a really quick day and I’m happy with the sprint against the four guys.”

Lipowitz opted against contributing to the pace-making of the break, citing the presence of teammate Primoz Roglič in the chasing group, and Pogačar pointedly heaped praise upon Martinez and Nordhagen for their efforts on the flat run-in to Martigny.

Pogačar was still left to lead all the way through the final 2km, but the result never really looked in doubt. He smoothly shut down Nordhagen’s attempt to jump from distance before unfurling a crisp sprint.

“Of course, the last 22k was headwind and to try to do something [alone] would be very stupid so I was happy to have two young eager guys to pull with me,” Pogačar said. “They are super strong and they did a very good job, so we managed to stay in front. 

“It was still difficult. With only three of us and with one guy sitting in the wheels, it’s always harder to stay in front against a group behind. We can be proud, all of us that were in the front.”

The victory was Pogačar’s fifth from seven race days this season. He is making his debut at the Tour de Romandie, and he is the overwhelming favourite to add the race to his palmarès on Sunday.

“Every win is important but today to win a first stage of a stage race this season, to do it here in Romandie on a nice parcours and a nice country, I really enjoyed,” said Pogačar, who hinted that he would be on the offensive again as the week progresses and the terrain grows more rugged.

“The team did a super job. We saw today it was all on us all day. I’m super happy to take yellow. We will try to defend it every stage and the best defence is to attack. 

“We’ll see how we approach the next days. We have a tough week ahead of us, but we have a strong team to defend the yellow.”