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The Slovenian flew over the Italian classic this Saturday, ahead of Alejandro Valverde by around forty seconds at the finish. The Valaisan Sébastien Reichenbach climbed to 15th place.
Tadej Pogacar crossed the finish line alone.
AFP
An insolent demonstration: Tadej Pogacar flew over the Strade Bianche, the Italian classic which takes stony paths, to win on the Piazza del Campo in Siena following a solitary breakaway of more than 50 kilometers.
Double winner of the Tour de France, Pogacar pushed back his next, the Spaniard Alejandro Valverde (41), regarding forty seconds in the heart of the medieval city of Siena. The Dane Kasper Asgreen took third place at the end of the 184 kilometers of this recently created race (2007) but very popular in the peloton.
Pogacar was caught in a big fall which affected part of the peloton a hundred kilometers from the finish. But he was able to continue the race, just like the world champion Julian Alaphilippe, author of a spectacular cabriole.
Unafraid of the distance to the finish, the Slovenian went on the attack in a long gravel sector to secure an advantage of almost a minute and a half over the peloton, with Spaniard Carlos Rodriguez intercalated.
If he lost around thirty seconds on his first pursuers before the last 20 kilometers, he then managed the gap both on the stony sectors and on the bitumen. He even offered himself the luxury of clapping in the hand of one of his supporters at the foot of the final ramp.
Reichenbach ferme le top 15
“It’s incredible!, relativized the outgoing winner of the Tour in relation to his superiority. I was always looking behind where the others were, it was really very intense. Asked regarding his long range attack, he explained: “I tried to give my all and no one might follow. So I continued…”
“I find it difficult to realize, he added. It’s the first time I’ve done something like this. But, in cycling, you never know how it will turn out.
In the absence of the two previous winners (Wout van Aert in 2020, Mathieu van der Poel in 2021), Pogacar achieved a number comparable to those of Fabian Cancellara in the cobblestone classics of the early 2010s, van der Poel and van Aert more recently.
Winner last year of two of the five Monuments (Liège-Bastogne-Liège, Tour of Lombardy), he plans to run four of these great classics this season, the next being Milan-Sanremo on March 19.
At 23, the Slovenian won his 4th success of the year. From his first race, he dominated the UAE Tour, with two stage victories in the two summit finishes, and therefore continued with the Strade Bianche, a race he was competing for the fourth time (30th in 2019, 13th in 2020, 7th in 2021).
Pogacar continued the raid of the UAE team, which triumphed throughout the week. After the Italian Matteo Trentin in the GP Samyn in Belgium, the Emirati team led by Matxin Fernandez scored a hat-trick in the Laigueglia Trophy, an Italian semi-classic, on Wednesday.
Note that the Valaisan Sébastien Reichenbach (Groupama-FDJ) finished in 15th place.
(AFP)
