An Amore Infinito. An Infinite Love. For Tadej Pogačar, for the city of Rome, for this Giro d’Italia 2024, which has coloured this splendid country pink, connected the big cities to the small villages, the mountains to the sea, for three weeks of victories and joys, falls and pain, hardships and discoveries.
This all came to a close in the Eternal City, between the Colosseum and the Imperial Forum, the Altar of the Fatherland, the Capitol, the Circus Maximus, the Baths of Caracalla and the Lungotevere. A setting with millennial charm, unique in the world, which matched well with the winner of this 107th edition of the Corsa Rosa, himself unique in the world, Tadej Pogačar.
He had come to Turin as the super favourite, as an unassailable rider, and he did what everyone expected: he won big times. In 21 stages, he has taken almost 10 minutes off the second placed Daniel Martinez (Bora-hansgrohe), won six stages, five of them in the Maglia Rosa, and the impression is that, on a few occasions, he even slowed down so as not to dominate the race too much. He was 20 days in the Maglia Rosa and broke record after record (check the live coverage to discover some of them). Other-worldly things. Eddy Merckx things, or rather, Tadej Pogačar things.
But to summarise Pogačar solely in cold numbers would be profoundly wrong. The new Maglia Rosa is also that one champion who hands out flowers and goggles to the fans, takes a water bottle from his masseur only to give it to a child by the side of the road, bestows smiles left and right, leads his teammates out in sprints, takes off his Maglia Rosa to give it to a young rider he has just beaten, imitates Hulk on the signature’s check podium, and pretends to DJ in front of the camera. Tadej is that rider for whom everyone, teammates and staff alike, willingly sacrifices themselves, for whom everyone gives up personal ambitions to push him higher and higher.
The Trofeo Senza Fine is in good hands. And now, dear Tadej, good luck for the Tour de France. History awaits. – www.giroditalia.it
