Our Giro man, Renate Schuti, opines that Pogacar is not really ‘happy’: ‘He’s not that hard to get to in this Giro’

“Yesterday, Jonatan Narvaez stole the pink off Tadej Pogacar. That was a world-class achievement, because Narvaez was sidelined for 41 days after suffering a concussion in a fall in Ghent-Wevelgem.”

“Pogacar wasn’t amused after yesterday’s stage. He was a little more friendly today, but he wasn’t very happy yet.”

“He does everything on autopilot. Then the question is: Does Pogacar also want to win this Tour of Italy on autopilot? This is of course not easy, because it is a 3-week race and not a one-day race.”

“Today we saw how quickly it happened: Pogacar had a puncture at the front and crashed, which was partly his fault. He is therefore lucky that he was able to immediately return to the bike without any serious injury.”

“After that fall, Pogacar did Pantani, although it couldn’t compare to the broken Pantani series on the same mountain (25 years ago). Pantani then passed 49 riders.”

“Pogacar did better: he passed the entire peloton today. In a different way, of course. He was tracked down first by his teammates, who brought him back to the front of the peloton.”

“In terms of breadth, the UAE team is on the right track. But here and there questions are already being raised about its strength.”

“Yesterday Pogacar himself said that he could only make the difference in San Vito with one man.”

“Today he can take the isolation more quickly on the final climb.”

“But after Majka passed the puck just over 4 kilometers from the finish, Pogacar was able to pull away from the collected competition.”

“At the moment of attack, you had the feeling that Pogacar would take a minute. He ran well, but in the end the difference was only 27 seconds. This suggests that the last kilometer was a little slower for Pogacar.”

“Is Pogacar untouchable in this Giro? Everyone says so. Everyone thinks he will now keep the pink jersey until Rome.”

“I say ‘no, it’s not difficult to get close’, because the race is still very long. Pogacar is wearing this pink jersey now, but it will also cost him about an hour of time at the finish every day (the podium ceremony and the interviews).”

“That’s less of an hour to recover, sometimes up to an hour and a half. You carry that with you on such a big tour.”

“Then Pogacar may still be the superman, but he is just a human being.”

“Because of the special dynamics of this Giro, with an uphill finish on the second day, we will definitely see surprises in the final week and riders who fail.”

“Cian Uijtdebroeks’ debut at the Giro was absolutely positive, with the white jersey as a bonus. That’s great, also because of the way it was done. On the final climb, Uijtdebroeks took the lead with the chasers.

“If you try, like O’Connor, to follow Pogacar first, you take a risk. In the end, O’Connor crossed the line, cursing loudly.”

“Behind Pogacar, Geraint Thomas (2nd) and Daniel Felipe Martinez (3rd) immediately emerged as the favorites for second and third place.”

“They have more experience than Cian Uijtdebroeks. But our compatriot is fourth at the same time as Einer Rubio (fifth).”

“Is Lorenzo Fortunato (vi) A goalkeeper in the top ten? “This could be it.”

“Juan Pedro Lopez (7th) Of course he did a great Tour of the Alps, and there is always someone from this race who reserves his own Tour in the 3 weeks of the Giro. This could be Lopez this year.”

“Jean Hirt (8th) is the type of rider who can easily finish in the top 10 here. Esteban Chavez (9th) has previously finished on the podium in Grand Tours.”

“Places 2 to 12 are the men who currently qualify for the podium. As the Giro progresses, we will remove the names.”

“So you have 11 candidates for the other two podium places and one rider (Pogacar) is ahead of the rest.”

“The end of the Giro will provide the outcome as to whether it is a head and shoulders affair, with flying colors or a bit conservative with the Tour in mind.”