Pogačar to ride four monuments in 2022
Pogačar to ride four monuments in 2022
Tadej Pogačar will ride four of the five monuments in cycling next season. The Slovenian rider told national broadcaster RTV Slovenia he will be at the start line of the Tour of Flanders for the first time as well as Milan-Sanremo, Flèche Wallonne plus Liège-Bastogne-Liège and Il Lombardia, two monuments he won in 2021.
Pogačar who was elected sportsman of the year in Slovenia, beating fellow bike rider Primoz Roglič, starts his season in the UAE Tour like he did this year as well. To the delight of the sponsors of the UAE Team Emirates Pogačar won the race after a tense battle with Adam Yates on Jebel Hafeet and the Jebel Jais mountain top finishes.
After the UAE Tour the preliminary program of the 23-year old includes three of cycling’s monuments in a row. It’s a return to Milan-Sanremo for the second time. In 2020 he finished in 12th place. After that, he will line up for the elite edition of the Tour of Flanders for the first time. In 2018 he did take part in the U23 version of the race and finished in 15th place, in the peloton six seconds behind winner James Whelan. Pogačar skips Paris-Roubaix, a race he rode and finished twice as a junior, and returns to the Ardennes to defend his crown in Liège-Bastogne-Liège.
Pogačar opts for the Tour of Slovenia, a race he won dominantly in 2021, as final preparation before the Tour de France where he will try to win a third consecutive yellow jersey. For the first time since 2019, he will then return to the Vuelta a España. This was a breakthrough race for the Slovenian where he finished on the podium just a few days shy of his 21st birthday.
The preliminary schedule as mentioned on RTV Slovenia concludes with the worlds championships in Wollongong, Australia and Il Lombardia to repeat his victory in the last monument of the season.
Read More