The five times in 2024 that Tadej Pogacar lost straight up

In 2024, Tadej Pogacar won 25 races, such as the Tour de France, the Giro d’Italia, the World Championships, Liège-Bastogne-Liège, Il Lombardia, and many more. For many, it was the best racing season ever, but the Slovenian was beaten a few times, even when he was giving it his all. Five of these times are looked at.

In partnership with CiclismoAlDia, we looked at races, from classics to landmarks to Grand Tours, where the Slovenian rider lost. A “perfect season” was ruined by a few small things, if you can think of anything better than what he’s already done.

Sanremo to Milano

UAE Team Emirates did everything they could to win Sanremo this year. They had climbers and classics riders on their team, and they pushed right from the “Tre Capi.” The group of cyclists was greatly reduced in Cipressa, and the Slovenian pushed hard at the Poggio di Sanremo to try to make up the difference. He almost made it to the top by himself, but Mathieu van der Poel caught up and helped drag the race to a sprint, which his partner Jasper Philipsen won. Though Pogacar had a good sprint, he could only finish third and not win the race that is said to be his main goal for the spring.

Come back to Catalonia

This may have been the most surprising on the list. It happened on the first stage of the Volta a Catalunya, where he won four of the seven stages and the overall classification. Israel – Premier Tech put on a great show of strategy and power on the first day. Nick Schultz and Stevie Williams got to the front of the pack at the start of the last kilometre. They left a gap on purpose so that Schultz could go up the road and onto the uphill ramp to the finish line.

After a very exciting and tense ending, there wasn’t much firepower left to chase, which helped the Israeli team. Schultz climbed the last ramp very quickly to beat a Pogacar that was sprinting behind him. Schultz’s partner was also following him.

Stage 1 of the Giro d’Italia

After being in the lead from the second stage on, Tadej won six stages in the Giro and the Corsa Rosa. He had a flat at the base of Oropa but still managed to win the stage. What did he miss? Having won the first stage and been in first place the whole race. The finish in Torino was good for him, but UAE had to work hard right away because there were so many charges in the last few kilometres.

Pogacar was on his own on the last climb after having used up everyone else on the team. He charged and made the difference, but Jhonatan Narváez wasn’t knocked out. They joined Max Schachmann in the lead and went for a three-way sprint. The rider for INEOS Grenadiers beat Pogacar to win and get the first pink shirt of the race.

Stage 11 of the Tour de France

In addition to the yellow jersey, Pogacar won six stages at the Tour de France. But it’s easy to forget that after stage 11, Jonas Vingegaard had just as many chances as Pogacar to win the race. In the first week, Pogacar made all the difference. But in the Massif Central, where he tried to take time away from the Dane in a dangerous stage, it didn’t work out.

The move by Pogacar opened up the Pur Mary, but the Dane caught up to him on the next climb. Both of them ran uphill to win the race into Le Lioran, but Vingegaard surprised everyone by pulling off an amazing and emotional win. Pogacar had to do well after this stage, and he did once the riders got back to the high slopes.

GP in Quebec

Tadej Pogacar tried to win the last race of the season, the GP de Québec, but failed. It was the first of two Canadian classics at the end of the season. It was mostly a practice race for him before the World Championships, which he won, but it was still a strange sight. The Slovenian tried to take the lead on the last lap’s steep hills, but Arnaud De Lie and Maxim van Gils were able to hold him off. There was a move by Lotto Dstny, but the peloton came back and stopped them. Pogacar was still able to run fast, but he had to settle for seventh place.