Slovenia's cycling superstar wins key test ahead of Tour de France
Slovenia's cycling superstar Tadej Pogačar underlined his status as top favourite for next month's Tour de France by securing a dominant overall victory at the Tour de Suisse after claiming his third stage win of the week.
The triumph at his debut at the Swiss race marked the 120th and 121st victories of Pogačar's professional career and took his remarkable 2026 tally to 13 wins from just 16 days of racing, CE Report quotes The Slovenia Times.
The 27-year-old UAE Team Emirates-XRG rider has enjoyed another dominant season, winning several of cycling's biggest one-day races, including Strade Bianche, Milan-San Remo, the Tour of Flanders and Liège-Bastogne-Liège. He also claimed four stage victories and the overall title at the Tour de Romandie.
Brutal day
The final 150.7-kilometre stage to Villars-sur-Ollon served as the race's sole true mountain test. Pogačar entered it with a lead of more than 4 minutes, having already won the opening stage and the individual time trial on the penultimate day.
He delivered a decisive move with nine kilometres to go, quickly distancing his rivals and sealing both the stage and overall victories. He crossed the finish line seven seconds clear of French rider Lenny Martinez (Bahrain Victorious), while Dutchman Bart Lemmen (Visma-Lease a Bike) finished third, one minute and 33 seconds adrift.
"The parcours was really tough. And yeah, we did a super job with the team ... was brutal day today and also super hot, so... I'm happy to take the win and the GC, and that I can go now go home to Urška," Pogačar said after the race, referring to his fiancée Urška Žigart, who is recovering after a nasty crash in the women's Tour de Suisse.
"This is how it will probably look in the Tour. With this heat and, so many climbs, it was really good to test the legs, the heart, the lungs, everything on the final climb," the four-time Tour de France champion added.
Largest winning margin
In the overall standings, Pogačar finished six minutes and 32 seconds ahead of Ecuador's Richard Carapaz (EF Education-EasyPost), the largest winning margin at the Tour de Suisse since 1959. That year, Germany's Hans Junkermann won the race by 10 minutes and 19 seconds on a considerably longer route.
Czech rider Mathias Vacek (Lidl-Trek) completed the podium, finishing six minutes and 53 seconds behind the Slovenian star.
Fellow Slovenian Primož Roglič (Red Bull-BORA-hansgrohe) crossed the line 14th in the final stage, three minutes and nine seconds behind Pogačar, and finished eighth overall.
Photo: Instagram/tadejpogacar
