The hardest stage of the 2024 Volta a Catalunya proved to be no different from any other on Saturday as Tadej Pogačar once again stamped his authority all over the race and claimed his third summit finish out of a possible three, this time at the Alto de Queralt.
After an attempt by Visma-Lease a Bike to blow the Volta apart on the toughest climb of the race the Pradell, collapsed in spectacular fashion when none of their riders made it to a leading 10-man group containing Pogačar, the question of ‘if’ the Slovenian would attack morphed rapidly towards ‘when’.
With 27.5 kilometres to go on the Alto de San Isidre climb, Pogačar duly fulfilled predictions, launching a long-distance move that saw the UAE Team Emirates rider cross the line with a 57-second advantage.
As Pogačar pounded towards victory, behind the opposition ebbed and flowed, with Mikel Landa (Soudal-QuickStep) maintaining his position as ‘first of the mortals’, as he called it, but on this occasion with Egan Bernal (Ineos Grenadiers) joining him in the chase.
A little further back Enric Mas (Movistar) doggedly attempted to make his first mark on the 2024 season with a sole pursuit, but essentially, all that mattered, yet again, was the man in the front of the race.
“Two teams were not happy with us controlling the stage, so Visma-Lease a Bike set a strong pace on the longest climb of the day, and me and Marc [Soler] and João [Almeida] came all together to the top with another seven riders so it was really good for us at that moment,” Pogačar explained afterwards.
The lead bunch reformed briefly after a furious chase by Israel-Premier Tech and Visma-Lease a Bike, but it was to no avail. After Valter 2000 and Port Ainé this week in the Volta, the Slovenian was in no mood to let a third summit finish escape his clutches. As he put it two days ago, “when you can win, you win”.
“That group came from behind and Movistar decided to make a big attack and that was it, because if we just kept on riding with Marc Soler, everything would have come together for the final climb.
“But when Movistar attacked, I went to the top and tried to go solo to the finish.”
Riding in one of Catalunya’s cycling heartlands in the region of Bergà, which was welcoming back the Volta a Catalunya to its roads after an unbelievably-long absence of more than half a century, Pogačar said he had time to appreciate the exceptionally high level of support from the fans on the sides of the road.
“It was really beautiful again. I really enjoyed the roads, not as if I would be training but it was nice racing.
"It’s been a really good race today and there were a lot of fans on the roads, not like any other day of the week so far. It was crazy to see how many fans were there on the climbs.”
Pogačar delivered fulsome praise of the Volta in general, but he was cautious when asked by Catalan journalists if he would be back at the same race next season.
“I don’t know, it’s a long way away from now. The race is super-relaxed, chilled, the hotels are great and we’ve had good weather. The peloton is more or less all climbers too, so it’s not as stressful because there aren’t any sprint stages.”
Barring major disaster on Sunday’s technical series of hilly laps around the Montjuic Park, with rain - never ideal on city centre circuits - forecast for tomorrow as well, Pogačar’s road to overall victory is all but guaranteed.
Perhaps the only major question to be resolved is whether Pogačar, currently equalling Slovenia’s record for three Volta a Catalunya stage wins in a week with Luka Mezgec in 2014, will try for a fourth en route to outright victory.
“Tomorrow is a really hectic stage for the climbers and for sure we’ll see a show,” Pogačar said. “But let’s enjoy today, sit back and relax on the ride back on the hotel to the bus. The main goal now is to get the GC.”
