Tadej Pogacar's amazing start to the year

How not to compare.

The inevitable stalks

, since no one has ever had

such a desire for victory since

On any terrain, on any occasion, it doesn't matter if it's the beginning of the course or in the middle of the Tour de France.

The Slovenian tusk is always ready.

But what about this beginning of 2023 begins to call history, as if enraged by the defeat in the last edition of the Grande Boucle.

This Saturday, at the Col de la Couillole, finishing off a very brave

and adding another small victory over

-whom he joined in the dispute for a Paris Nice that, in principle, was not in Tadej's plans-, the one from the UAE raised his arms again.

Her

final

It has been a month of competition since he debuted in the Jaén Paraíso Interior Classic and he has already repeated it, the victory, seven times.

Out of 12 possible.

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Cycling.

Pogacar humiliates Vingegaard: in two kilometers of ascent he leads him in 44 seconds

• Writing: PABLO DE LA CALLE

Pogacar humiliates Vingegaard: in two kilometers of ascent he leads him in 44 seconds

Although it is convenient to analyze when he did not succeed, the rarity.

There, at the Baeza finish line, the

between olive trees, a brutal attack with 40 kilometers to go in an area that the day before he struggled to study, Pogacar signed his first crown of 2023, on February 13.

It is true that there were not too many important rivals, but, just in case, he wanted to leave his stamp.

return to Andalusia

Three days later, still in Spain, he faced the Vuelta a Andalucía.

Already with

like

... The Slovenian took the first two stages, in which he already practically sentenced the general classification.

The third, ending in Alcalá de los Gazules, was offered to his new teammate,

, controlling everything he had to.

The next one he won again, ahead of

.

And the fifth and last one was for

.

In addition to the global triumph, he also added that of regularity.

Absent from the Strade Bianche - and from the Tirreno-Adriatico led by his compatriot

- who had competed in the last four years and won last year, Pogacar opted for his debut in Paris-Nice, providing a reunion with Vingegaard.

And, back in France, there where they staged the electric duel of the last Tour,

went with everything against his rival.

He did not win any of the first two stages, resolved in a massive sprint, like the fifth;

nor the third, a team time trial.

But the two who had land for it, he did not forgive.

Spectacular was the ascent to La Loge des Gardes last Wednesday, where Pogacar countered a wild attack from Vingegaard, which he finished off later, 43 seconds ahead.

This Saturday the Dane was closer, but his Nemesis did not forgive.

This Sunday, on the way to Nice, in a leg-breaking final stage with the Col d'Eze 15 kilometers from the finish line, he will try to keep the 12-second advantage he enjoys over Gaudu to also take the overall.

Pogacar, whose next challenge will be the Belgian classics, is 24 years old and has 53 victories already to his credit.

Eddy Merckxs, not counting the criteriums that amused him so much (and filled his pockets so much),

.

"He didn't just beat his opponents, he crushed them," writes his biographer William Fotheringham.

According to the criteria of The Trust Project

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