Source :- PERTH NOW NEWS
Tadej Pogacar may have all but sealed victory in the Vuelta a Espana in just the first week after blowing away the field for his biggest ever solo victory in a Grand Tour.
The amazing Slovenian, who race-by-race keeps stamping himself as the greatest road cyclist in history, took off on the opening climb of the stage around Andorra and simply rode away with more than 50km of the 104.8km left and ended up a remarkable two minutes 39 seconds clear.
The five-time Tour de France winner put another record-breaking notch on his belt by surpassing his previous longest solo triumph in a Grand Tour when he kicked for home 42.7km from home on the sixth stage of this year’s Tour de France between Pau and Gavarnie-Gedre, winning then by 2:38.
It meant that after just four stages, with two wins already under his belt in three days of completed stages, the 27-year-old has extended his overall lead to 3:21 over old Slovenian rival, four-time champ Primoz Roglic, and already looks assured of his set of Grand Tour triumphs, barring injuries or illness.
In an absolute league of his own, the UAE Team Emirates-XRG leader decided to go it alone after rivals Decathlon CMA CGM, riding for Felix Gall, tried to make it a disruptive and awkward race for him at the front.
Aided by his Australian lieutenant Jay Vine, Pogacar just took the race by the scruff of the neck at the start of the second climb, soloing away and relentlessly extending his advantage over 20km more of climbing in the last 50km.
“I didn’t have to go from so far out, but the pace was super high on the first climb and then the second, we were going almost from the bottom, and when Jay let me pass on the wheel of Decathlon, I knew ‘okay, I don’t want to be isolated against the GC riders’, so I tried with an attack and hoped that I can survive,” explained ‘Pogi’.
He did more than survive — even having time for a cheery handshake with his old teammate Adam Yates at roadside during his astounding exhibition — and now really could be the first man since Italian Gianni Bugno, at his home Giro in 1990, to lead from start to finish in a Grand Tour.
“You never know, but now is a good gap so we’ll give our best to control it every day,” said Pogacar, when asked about that possibility. “It’s gonna be tough but we’re a really strong team here and we’re ready.
“Any gap is more than enough, but it’s super-good because now I can be calm and confident for the next days.”
Recalling how he won his first Grand Tour stage in Andorra in this race seven years ago, Pogacar. now a 37-time stage winner, admitted he could never have envisaged that he would become the seemingly unbeatable champion he’s turned into.
“No, never, I never thought I would ride like this,” he admitted.
The rest already appear to be battling for second place, with Vine still handily placed as the top Australian in 10th place, 4:11 behind his team leader.
