There are planners like Jonas Vingegaard and his team. And there is Tadej Pogacar. A revolutionary on a racing bike, a free spirit who dares to do crazy solos and gets through them. The cycling year 2024 was his alone – almost.
Strade Bianche
Tadej Pogacar used the race, which took place on March 2nd over white gravel roads around Siena in hilly Tuscany, as a first demonstration of his surreal strength. He had previously announced that he would attack in a heavy gravel sector called Monte Sante Marie, 81 kilometers from the finish. That’s actually what happened, no one was able to follow despite the warning, Pogacar ran away and won the race with a commanding lead of almost three minutes over the Latvian Tom Skujins. Incredible, part 1.
Pogacar at Strade Bianche
The four monuments of spring
Milan-Sanremo, the difficult first monument of cycling, somewhat surprisingly went to the sprinter Jasper Philipsen from Belgium, who was able to withstand all the attacks from the all-rounders around Pogacar in the hills ahead. However, Pogacar made it to third place. The Tour of Flanders was won by the Dutchman Mathieu van der Poel, a fast-paced rider and specialist in one-day races, who later also confidently won Paris-Roubaix, the queen of the classics. Liège-Bastogne-Liège, in turn, was secured by Pogacar, again with an attack that he launched well before the goal. This time he resorted to the infamous one Côte de la Redoute around 35 kilometers from the finish – and won decisively.
Giro d’Italia and Tour de France
Two races, one course: The irresistible Pogacar won six stages and the overall ranking in both major three-week national tours. He was unrivaled in the mountains, and he also won a time trial at the Giro and the Tour. His lead after the final stage in Rome was extraordinary, almost ten minutes ahead of the Colombian Daniel Felipe Martinez. Incredible, part 2.
Tadej Pogacar attacks Jonas Vingegaard at the Col du Galibier
In the Tour, Pogacar already won the fourth stage, which led over the Galibier, both sections of the Pyrenees and finally two daily classifications in the Alps in a row and the final time trial from Monaco to Nice. Vingegaard, who had just returned from a serious fall injury, was also unable to keep up this time. In Nice he was 6:17 minutes behind Pogacar. Marco Pantani recently achieved the double of winning the Giro and the Tour. Incredible, part 3.
Mark Cavendish also immortalized himself in the Tour history books. In Saint-Vulbas, the Briton won a Tour stage for the 35th time, overtaking the legendary Eddy Merckx.
Olympic Games in Paris
The men’s time trial and road race were won by the Belgian Remco Evenepoel in Pogacar’s absence. He also belongs to the category of exceptional drivers. Evenepoel is probably the best rider at the moment in the fight against the clock, which, like Pogacar, enables him to endure long solos. In the road race in Paris, Evenepoel won in front of an almost ecstatic crowd on Montmartre despite a defect shortly before the finish. His gesture of celebration shortly after the finish line became iconic: his bike raised against the backdrop of the Eiffel Tower. Given the completely euphoric spectators, this Olympic day in Paris, August 3, 2024, was an unforgettable one.
Pogacar officially withdrew from the Games due to exhaustion. Unofficially, however, because his fiancée Urska Zigart, Slovenian time trial and road champion, had not been nominated for Paris by her association.
Track bike
From a German perspective, the track cycling competitions in Paris did not go as hoped. The series world champions and gold favorites Lea-Sophie Friedrich, Pauline Grabosch and Emma Hinze finished the team sprint in third place. Friedrich also won silver in the individual sprint competition. The Dutch Harrie Lavreysen caused a sensation at the Paris Games, who played on the track Saint Quentin en Yvelines won gold three times: in the team sprint, in the individual sprint and in the keirin. In the women’s category, New Zealand’s Ellesse Andrews surprised with victories in the sprint and keirin and also took silver in the team sprint behind the British women.
Women’s Tour de France
The women’s Tour of France, which has been running again since 2022, experienced the most spectacular finale of the season. As a result of a fall on the fifth stage, the Dutch top favorite Demi Vollering, left alone by her team SD-Worx, was 1:15 minutes behind Katarzyna Niewiadoma from Poland before the final challenge, a mountain finish in Alpe d’Huez. Only four seconds remained at the finish. Vollering attacked early and quickly closed the gap to Niewiadoma, but the Pole fought desperately and made it to the finish line as the winner. Vollering, disappointed by the discord at SD-Worx, changed teams after the season. In the future she will drive for FDJ-Suez.
World Cycling Championships
Victory at the Giro at the end of May, at the Tour in July and at the World Championships in September: Pogacar achieved this extraordinary triple, which had previously only been achieved by the Belgian Eddy Merckx (1974) and the Irish Stephen Roche (1987). Pogacar closed the gap to the remaining breakaways with 100 kilometers to go and then stayed ahead until the finish. He himself later described this action as “stupid”, but it worked. What a move, what a solo, what a win. Incredible, part 4.
Pogacar celebrates his victory at the World Cycling Championships.
Vuelta
A Slovenian also won the third three-week tour of the year. Primoz Roglic achieved his fourth success at the Vuelta. The cycling year ended on a positive note for the newly formed Red Bull-Bora-hansgrohe team. During the Tour, the team suffered from Roglic’s fall-related retirement after the twelfth stage: no stage win, the dream of the hoped-for Tour triumph was dashed. At the Vuelta, however, Roglic shone with three daily victories and triumph in the overall ranking.
At the race, German newcomer Florian Lipowitz (24) surprised everyone as Roglic’s outstanding adjutant in the mountains. In the end, the Grand Tour debutant from the Swabian Alb achieved seventh place in the overall ranking with persistence. Chapeau.
Incredible, Part 5:
After his world title, Tadej Pogacar also won the Tour of Lombardy, the fifth one-day monument on the cycling calendar. Again after a solo, again with a huge lead. At the end of the season he had won 24 races. Such a series had not existed since the days of the insatiable Eddy Merckx in the late 1960s to mid-1970s.