Tadej Pogacar: "I learned a lot from my mistakes on the Tour"

Tadej Pogacar

has just landed after a few weeks of total disconnection in Colombia, where he wanted to spend a different vacation with his girlfriend,

, also a cyclist .

He needed it.

His 2022 was especially intense, from the opening win of the UAE Tour in February to the culminating win in October at the Giro de Lombardy.

In between, the Strade Bianche, the Tirreno Adriatico, his debut on the Flanders pavé... Another historic season, also because the Slovenian genius knew for the first time what it was like to feel defeated in that Tour de France that he had already won twice without turning 23 years old.

«This year the postseason has been a little different than normal.

I would say that I have relaxed my mind a lot and also my body.

But I have also learned a lot, because I had other things to do, great adventures [

was your host].

It's been a great break from the bike.

But yes, now I am more than ready to start training and winter », he comments, as if wanting to send a warning that his hunger is still intact, in the outline of a 2023 that he anticipates to be reconquered.

In a central hotel in the capital of Spain, where he played the new Madrid Criterium on Sunday, surrounded by journalists and fans looking for his autograph and

,

does not lose his patience or smile.

Neither is the flush on the cheeks of a 24-year-old boy who has already touched the sky of cycling.

No bike, no trace of his voracity.

In his conversation with THE WORLD, the eloquence of those who do not regret anything appears.

He assures that he will not change his way of running to the attack.

But the lost Tour with

Did he leave you a lesson? Yes, of course.

I learned a lot.

There were several bugs, some things that could have been different, that I personally could change or do better.

But nothing special, nothing catastrophic.

Just little things.

In every race you compete, good things and bad things happen.

Then you put all this together and go to the next race better prepared.

So I think by 2023 I can be very, very confident and motivated to be even better than this year. Will there be any changes in his preparation? More or less it will be the same.

Because I have always prepared the grand tours in a similar way and I think those training plans have worked.

I think I shouldn't change much, because it has gone well.

No change [reiterates]. Is revenge the biggest motivation for you? I don't know.

I don't think about revenge, it's just sport.

It is only a game.

You don't need to take revenge for anything.

You play and if you lose, you lose.

If you win, you win.

I always try to be better, the best of all.

And improve myself.

No, it's not about revenge. The third time, he lost the Tour.

Do you feel as if that defeat, due to the way it occurred, has further enlarged your figure? It may be.

I do not know.

It was a great Tour.

Being second for me was a new experience, a new adventure.

I do not accept that it is a defeat.

I also made new fans of course.

I think I can be happy with how things went.

All of that gave me a lot of positive things.

It was the best way to lose a Tour.

Because of the way it was produced, has it further enlarged your figure? Maybe.

I do not know.

It was a great Tour.

Being second for me was a new experience, a new adventure.

I do not accept that it is a defeat.

I also made new fans of course.

I think I can be happy with how things went.

All of that gave me a lot of positive things.

It was the best way to lose a Tour.

Because of the way it was produced, has it further enlarged your figure? Maybe.

I do not know.

It was a great Tour.

Being second for me was a new experience, a new adventure.

I do not accept that it is a defeat.

I also made new fans of course.

I think I can be happy with how things went.

All of that gave me a lot of positive things.

It was the best way to lose a Tour.

The aesthetics of that defeat increased his legend.

The fateful day of the Granon, the indefatigable and desperate subsequent attacks in search of the comeback to Vingegaard that was not.

Attack cycling at its best in a Tour to remember.

Pogacar assures that he learned.

From his impotence before the power of the Jumbo Visma, for the moment, a much more powerful UAE looms.

At his side he will now have

Juan Ayuso

is also on the Tour

, the brand new podium of the Vuelta, whom he looks up to as a mentor even though he is only a handful of years older than him.

“I think in the next few years we will run a lot of races together as partners… We are building a very strong team.

We will see how the races go and what the directors decide”, Pogacar advances just a few meters from the Spaniard.

After the successful gig in Madrid in which the Slovenian won in the rain, there is no turning back.

Directly to La Nucía, where the entire UAE Emirates team, with the new additions, will do their first training camp.

All with a view to the Tour and without ruling out its presence in La Vuelta.

«Maybe...».

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