With staggering wattage, Pogacar blasted to the Strava KOM on Colle Pinzuto — injuries be damned

What Tadej Pogacar pulled off on a Saturday afternoon left everyone in awe. Sure, he was the top favorite, and yes, he won last year with an attack from Monte Sante Marie. But to crash badly, come back, and still ride away from his last competitor with absolute dominance—it seems impossible. And it gets even crazier when you look at the world champion’s Strava data.

It all started promisingly. The leader of UAE Team Emirates - XRG was already breaking new ground in his final attack. On Monte Sante Marie, for example, he clocked the second-fastest time ever. The fastest? Of course, it was Pogacar himself, when he launched his decisive move there in 2024. He then pushed on with Tom Pidcock. Notably, the Slovenian set several personal best times on the descents, which makes sense when you’re trying to drop a technical master like the two-time Olympic champion on tricky downhill sections.

That’s perhaps where things went wrong—Pogacar slid out on the descent of Monteaperti. Scraped up and bruised, he had to chase down the Brit from Q36.5 Pro Cycling. What stood out was the sheer speed he managed to maintain even after the crash. The adrenaline must have helped, but on Colle Pinzuto and the following climb of Le Tolfe, the world champion powered up at an astonishing pace. No surprise, then, that Pidcock decided to wait—it was a hopeless battle.

Read more below the Strava data!

Pogacar storms to KOM at Pinzuto

But what Pogacar did next was unbelievable. On the second ascent of Colle Pinzuto, he went all out. Pidcock held on stubbornly to his wheel—until he simply couldn’t anymore. The Slovenian had done the impossible, and he underlined it with a blistering time. On the first ascent, he had already set a new KOM, but on the second pass, he shaved off a few more seconds. He was a full nine seconds faster than the next quickest rider, Quinn Simmons (Lidl-Trek). Even on the first section of the final climb to Siena, Pogi set the fastest time ever. Once again, we’ve witnessed something truly extraordinary.

The numbers were staggering. According to Velon, Pogacar powered up Colle Pinzuto at an average of 630 watts, peaking at 810 watts. He did this over 1 minute and 6 seconds, on a climb with an average gradient of 9.4%. His average speed? 17 km/h, with a max of 37 km/h. These are jaw-dropping stats — especially considering the crash he had just endured.

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