Wellens pays tribute, Swift sees ‘monster’ Pogacar for the first time with his own eyes: "He does more for it than all the others"

If you can still win Strade Bianche after such a heavy crash, just how much better are you than the rest? That was the question lingering after yet another display of dominance from Tadej Pogacar on the white roads. Once again, he arrived solo at the Piazza del Campo in Siena, covered in blood and with torn clothing—a reminder of his crash in the finale. After the finish, Tim Wellens and Connor Swift paid tribute to the Slovenian while speaking to IDLProCycling.com.

Wellens finished third in Strade Bianche on Saturday, something he called “an ideal scenario.” The Belgian emphasized that Pogacar’s third victory in Tuscany was largely down to his own efforts. “As a team (UAE Team Emirates-XRG), we didn’t have the dominance of last year. Normally, Felix (Großschartner) would still be there on Monte Sante Marie, but he crashed. And Florian (Vermeersch) single-handedly closed almost the entire gap to the breakaway.”

"It wasn’t the plan to attack on Monte Sante Marie again, but Pidcock went for it," Wellens analyzed. Whether that fully reflects how the race unfolded is debatable—UAE did push hard through Isaac Del Toro on the toughest section of the day, which reduced the lead group to just a few riders. It was only from that reduced group that Pidcock launched his move. "For me, that was a good situation, but we really didn’t intend to thin out the group. I’ll have to tell Isaac to stop riding so hard," his teammate joked.

Read more below the photo.

Pidcock and Pogacar pulled away on Monte Sante Marie after UAE accelerated

Wellens full of admiration for Pogacar's work ethic 

Just like last year, Pogacar finished off a breakaway move from Monte Sante Marie, though this time he spent much longer in the company of early escapee Connor Swift and, especially, the incredibly strong Tom Pidcock. That Pogi managed to get up after a brutal crash, chase back, and still drop Pidcock raises the question: Is this even fun anymore? "It’s true that Tadej stands out above the rest, but that doesn’t just happen on its own. I’ve seen in Monaco what he does to achieve this, and I’m certain he does more than the rest of the riders. He has a huge amount of talent, but he also puts in a lot of work," Wellens emphasized when asked.

"I admire how he stays so motivated and keeps working hard for it. It would be easy to loosen the reins a little," he added. Wellens would know—being almost a neighbor of Pogacar in Monaco. The two are not only teammates but also good friends, in part because they share the same mindset. "I really enjoy racing, and I hope I can keep doing this for another ten years, so to speak. I don’t see it as a sacrifice to train and take care of my body. After all, I’m getting paid to treat my body well."

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Swift witnessed Pogacar’s class up from the front row

Connor Swift also had high praise when asked about Pogacar’s performance. The Brit was at the front all day and was the only breakaway rider who managed to briefly latch onto Pogacar and Pidcock. When the Slovenian crashed, Swift just managed to hold his line through the corner. "I knew Pidcock is great at descending, but Pog was on a mission and was flying downhill. The fact that he crashed shows just how close these guys are to the limit when they attack a race like this."

And that, according to Swift, is something people shouldn’t forget—even Pogacar has to dig deep into his reserves to turn his natural dominance into victory. "You only really start to appreciate that when you’re in their wheel, trying to follow them. I got to see firsthand what these guys do, and I understood better why they have such a big advantage over the rest. The group behind probably wasn’t taking as many risks, but for them, every second counted. It was incredible to witness their power and skill. Tadej is a monster—it was impressive how fast and aggressive he was. It was absolute madness."

Read also

Pogacar offers apologies to Pidcock and is brutally honest about himself despite Strade victory: "I was pretty sh*t"

Broken bones, stitches and bruises: brutal medical updates after numerous crashes in Strade Bianche

🎥 Did Pogacar underestimate the new Strade Bianche finale, which Pidcock said caused 'dead bodies' to pile up?

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