Tadej Pogačar is a bit of a freak but he’s beatable at the Giro d’Italia, says Cummings

No fear. That’s the mantra emanating from the hierarchy within Ineos Grenadiers as they look to take on Tadej Pogačar (UAE Team Emirates) at the Giro d’Italia next month.

The British team have a strong track record in the race, having won in 2020 and 2021, and placed Geraint Thomas on the podium twelve months ago but they start as second favourites with Pogačar the rider to beat.

Thomas returns to the Giro d’Italia having lost out by just 14 seconds to Primož Roglič last year and the Director of Racing at Ineos Grenadiers, Steve Cummings, believes that the Welshman should relish the challenge of facing off against Pogačar.

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“Geraint’s been in cycling long enough to know that anything is possible and there’s no point in not believing you can’t win. What would you start for? Of course, you’re realistic and you know that Pogačar is the favourite at every race he goes to. He’s a bit of a freak but he’s still beatable and it’s a long race. Anything can happen, so we’re looking forward to it, and seeing our riders left off the hook and being aggressive. We’re really going to race. It’s going to be cool,” Cummings told GCN.

Pogačar is aiming for the Giro d’Italia and Tour de France double this year and the parcours at the Giro certainly lends itself to his characteristics. He’s the most accomplished rider on the start list but the Italian Grand Tour has a history of unpredictable racing and polemics that can alter the outcome of preconceived ideas.

“Yeah of course he can be beaten,” Cummings added. “It’s happened before. I think it’s his race to lose, that’s how I see it. It’s very difficult to beat him but it’s about consistency, putting him under pressure, putting his team under pressure, keep asking the questions, keep knocking on the door and doing the basic things right. Normally if he does everything right then it’s difficult to imagine anyone beating him but this is cycling and we’ve seen this year, and in other years, that anything can happen. There’s no point in going and believing that you can’t beat him."

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For Cummings, the responsibility for controlling the Giro d’Italia will rest on Pogačar and his UAE Team Emirates squad, and Ineos will race aggressively as they look to put the opposition under pressure and target stage wins throughout the three-week race.

“There’s no getting away from it, Tadej is the favourite, but we’re going to give our absolute best and see where that takes us. With Geraint, he has that experience and that track record. More often than not he comes up with the goods. But it’s about more than just Geraint, it’s about the team and how we race. We’re going to go for it. We don’t have the responsibility to control the race so that means we can go for stages and things like that. That’s good because it will help put their team under pressure. We have a lot of riders in our team that we’re looking forward to seeing in action. I remember Filippo Ganna in the year that Egan Bernal won, and he made the difference on the gravel stage. It’s stuff like that, and these things can happen,” he said.

“You can be perfect, perfect, perfect and then have just one bad day in the last week and lose everything. We’ve seen that so many times in the Giro before with attention to detail and planning,” Cummings added.