Geneva [Switzerland], June 19: On stage 1 of the Tour de Suisse, Tadej Pogačar produced a remarkable display to take the stage and ride his way into the leader's jersey. The world champion went alone with 69.3 km to go, and would not be caught again before the finish.
As the day lulled behind the breakaway, Pogačar saw his opportunity to attack, and made it count. The UAE Team Emirates-XRG rider clipped off the front of the peloton, and was not to be followed.
Pogačar bridged his way across to the breakaway, and after 4 km, he was at the front of the race. Then, as the road rose again, the Slovenian attacked off the front and went solo with 69.3 km to go. Over an hour later, Pogačar had only extended his lead over those behind, taking a commanding lead in the general classification.
By the finish in Sondrio, the UAE Team Emirates-XRG rider had an advantage of over two minutes to his nearest competitor, Richard Carapaz (EF Education-EasyPost), with the third-nearest rider almost two and a half minutes down.
Heading into stage 2, Pogačar holds a gap of two minutes and 22 seconds over Carapaz, with Andrea Bagioli (Lidl-Trek) at 2:39, and anybody else at over four minutes. After the finish on Wednesday afternoon, the 27-year-old was happy to reflect on a successful afternoon.
Several UAE Team Emirates-XRG riders also finished inside the top 10, with Brandon McNulty sixth, Felix Großschartner eighth and Jhonatan Narvaez 10th.
Source: Emirates News Agency
