Tadej Pogačar hints at Giro-Tour double in 2023
Two-time defending Tour de France champion says a run at the Vuelta a España should be in the cards in the 2022 after another shot at a third yellow jersey.
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Tadej Pogačar hinted at a Giro-Tour double in 2023.
The two-time Tour de France champion said that the Giro d’Italia is on his radar, but he admits that another run at the Tour takes a priority in 2022.
Speaking to ESPN Brazil, the Slovenian also said he might race the Vuelta a España along with the Tour in 2022.
“It’s a big risk to try next do the Giro and Tour in the same year,” Pogačar said. “I am still pretty young, and I’ve never raced two grand tours in one year.”
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Indeed, in his three seasons in the WorldTour, Pogačar has raced three grand tours. He finished third and won three stages in his debut at the Vuelta in 2019, and then won back-to-back yellow jerseys in the 2020 and 2021 editions of the Tour.
Talk of the Giro-Tour double was revived recently when Giro boss Mauro Vegni suggested that Pogačar should take on the challenge. Speaking to La Gazzetta dello Sport, Vegni said that he thinks that Pogačar could be the first rider since Marco Pantani in 1998 to pull off the rare double.
“Maybe next year I can do the Tour and Vuelta,” Pogačar said. “Then we can think about the Giro-Tour combo in the next two or three years.”
Pogačar had the Vuelta on his radar in 2021, but decided to give the Spanish grand tour a pass following a busy summer that included a Tour defense as well as an Olympic medal in Tokyo.
The 23-year-old bounced back to race the road world championships, and won Il Lombardia in October, to go along with his victory at Liège-Bastogne-Liège in the spring.