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The Star
a day ago
- Sport
- The Star
Cycling-Leader Pogacar keeps ear on partner's progress in middle of Tour stage
FILE PHOTO: Cycling - UCI World Championships 2024 - Men's Elite Road Race - Zurich, Switzerland - September 29, 2024 Slovenia's Tadej Pogacar kisses girlfriend Urska Zigart after he wins the race REUTERS/Denis Balibouse/File Photo (Reuters) -Tadej Pogacar may be concentrating intensely on winning his fourth Tour de France, but in the middle of Saturday's stage eight he was just as focused on how his partner Urska Zigart was performing in the Giro d'Italia Women. Slovenia's golden couple of cycling are engaged to be married and even have a children's book featuring them as the main characters. Reigning Tour champion Pogacar, 26, regained the leader's yellow jersey after winning Friday's stage, and with Saturday's race at a more leisurely pace until the sprint finish, he was kept up to date on Zigart's result by his team. "Today, Urska seventh place at Giro d'Italia stage," UAE Team Emirates told him via their team radio. "And in the General Classification?" Pogacar asked. "Wait, wait, we still don't have info, maybe ninth but we will check when it will be official, we will tell you okay?" his team replied. Zigart actually moved from 10th to eight overall in the Giro after Saturday's penultimate stage, while Pogacar finished safely in the main bunch to remain 54 seconds ahead of his nearest Tour de France challenger Remco Evenepoel. Pogacar and 28-year-old Zigart became engaged in 2021, and at other times in their career it has been easier to keep up to date with one another's successes. In 2020 and 2023 they both became Slovenian National Time Trial champions on the same day. Pogacar withdrew from the Slovenian team for last year's Olympics due to extreme fatigue having won both the Giro and Tour de France but also cited Zigart's omission from the women's team as a factor in his decision. (Reporting by Trevor Stynes; Editing by Andrew Cawthorne)
The Star
27-04-2025
- Sport
- The Star
Cycling-Pogacar claims third Liege victory with stunning solo attack
Cycling - UCI World Championships 2024 - Men's Elite Road Race - Zurich, Switzerland - September 29, 2024 Slovenia's Tadej Pogacar in action REUTERS/Denis Balibouse (Reuters) -Tadej Pogacar claimed his third Liege-Bastogne-Liege victory on Sunday after the Slovenian world champion launched a stunning solo attack 34 kilometres from the finish, just as he had last year. Pogacar launched his attack on the climb at the iconic Cote de la Redoute and put some distance between his rivals, eventually finishing the 252km route with a time of six hours and nine seconds. The UAE Team Emirates rider finished 63 seconds ahead of Italian Giulio Ciccone and Ireland's Ben Healy, who completed the podium after a sprint for second place. "It feels great to finish the first part of the season like this. I'm just happy that the whole season so far went perfect," Pogacar said. "It wasn't the plan (to attack on La Redoute), but it was such a hard pace before that I saw a number of teams didn't have a lot of teammates anymore. "I said 'OK, I'll test my legs a little bit and see if I can get a gap on the top' and then I'll decide if I continue or not. Then I just committed because I had good legs, also on the second climb after La Redoute." Last year, Pogacar finished one minute and 39 seconds after a solo attack with 34km remaining. Pogacar now has nine monument victories which puts him joint-third on the all-time list behind only Eddy Merckx (19) and Roger De Vlaeminck (11). The 26-year-old also became the first rider to finish on the podium in six straight Monument races. Another podium at the Giro di Lombardia in October would make him the first man to finish on the podium in all five in the same year. (Reporting by Rohith Nair, Additional reporting by Vincent Daheron;)
