Two-time Tour de France champion Tadej Poga ar, currently attending a team training camp near Alicante, Spain, set a stage record at the Coll de Rates on the iconic local climbing stage, which was once a climbing point for the 2021 Tour de West.
With an average gradient of 6.6% and an elevation of 645 meters, Coll de Rates is a well-known climbing shrine in costa Blanca, Spain, on the 9.7-kilometer climbing route.
Pogacha uploaded his entire riding record of the day at Strava, and the Coll de Rates section took 24:50 minutes, with an average speed of 23.5 km/h, brushing off the previous stage record of 14 seconds, and winning the title of climbing king on this stage in Strava. Even more terrifying, it was a record he set after riding 136 kilometers, after he had already undergone extensive climbing training in the Sierra del Ferrer mountains.
From Strava's records, Pogacha rode 190.45 kilometers with his teammates that day and completed a 3868-meter climb in just over six hours.
It is clear that the Slovenian driver is well on his preparations for the 2022 season and is currently in good shape and is expected to start his new season in the 20-26 February 20-26 Tour of the UAE.
Bogachar will then compete in spring classics such as Milan-San Remo and Tour of Flanders, before taking the summer Tour de France and striking at the Tour de France's triple crown.
Despite his current rather terrifying dominance on the field and winning the 2021 Velo d'Or, he has publicly stated in the first two months that other teams don't need to be so anxious, hinting in online media that he actually has a lot of weaknesses that other riders can exploit.
However, AG2R Citroen driver Ben O'Connor, who finished fourth overall for the Tour de France in 2021, said Pogacha was "out of reach", while Circus President Mauro Vegni offered to let him try to challenge the Tour de France double, a feat that no driver has achieved since Marco Pantani's success in 1998. Christopher Froome completed the Tour de France in 2017 and then tried the Tour de France in 2018, but after winning the Tour de France, because his teammate Thomas's performance in the Tour de France was too eye-catching, he finally came in third and failed.
Edit: Johnny
Image credit: Infographic Gallery and STRAVA in Pogacha