Tadej Pogacar ready to join elite clubs with hat-trick of Tour de France wins

Tadej Pogacar can join some elite clubs at the Tour de France over the next few weeks but a man still eligible for the young rider’s classification has no time to think about his place in history.

Pogacar, still only 23, is seeking to become only the ninth man to win three or more Tours, and only the seventh to win three in a row. Given the 2020 Tour was delayed until late in the year due to Covid-19, his would also be the quickest hat-trick ever scored if he is wearing yellow in Paris on July 24.

Such achievements would put Pogacar’s name alongside some of the greats in Tour history – five-time winners Eddy Merckx, Jacques Anquetil, Bernard Hinault and Miguel Indurain among them – but the Slovenian will save such thoughts for another day.

A post shared by Tadej Pogačar (@tadejpogacar)

“I don’t think about history that much, almost nothing,” he said. “We have so many things going on in present life. I just try to enjoy the moment, have fun on the bike, race around the world and we’ll see what this brings me.”

What it has brought him in his short career so far is success upon success. The UAE Team Emirates rider has won eight of the last nine stage races he has started, a run that includes the last two Tours, and 11 of the 18 he has ever contested.

But it is notable that the only blip in that recent run was his third place at the Tour of the Basque Country last year, a race won by Primoz Roglic.

Roglic crashed out of last year’s Tour, the only other time the two Slovenians have faced each other in a stage race since Roglic surrendered yellow to Pogacar on the penultimate day of the 2020 Tour.

Roglic’s crash denied fans what should have been an enthralling battle for yellow 12 months ago, one which will hopefully play out