Tadej Pogacar 'anger' after Tour of Flanders collapse only further proves his quality – Bradley Wiggins

Published 03/04/2022 at 18:30 GMT

It looked for all the world like Tadej Pogacar would secure a podium on debut – and perhaps even a victory – but his hesitation in his duel with Mathieu van der Poel invited two others back into the sprint showdown and saw him nudged out of the top three. But Bradley Wiggins was struck by the Slovenian’s reaction and said it only further underlined how good a rider he is.

'Pogacar's anger at the finish demonstrated he was here to win' - Wiggins

Tadej Pogacar’s flash of anger after blowing his Tour of Flanders debut only serves to underline how good he is, insists Discovery cycling expert Bradley Wiggins.

After a devastating flurry of attacks left him in a two-up showdown with Mathieu van der Poel (Alpecin-Fenix), an unwise game of cat and mouse at a pedestrian tempo somehow saw Pogacar (UAE Team Emirates) contrive to finish fourth.

Pogacar slapped his handlebars in frustration as Dylan van Baarle (Ineos Grenadiers) and Valentin Madouas (Groupama-FDJ) swept past to accept the unscheduled podium invitations, with the Slovenian remonstrating with the former at the finish.

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Despite his rookie mistake, Wiggins believes it only served to highlight what the 23-year-old can achieve in the sport.

“The one who really lost out was Pogacar. What could have been had he chanced it 50 metres earlier and gone for it?” said Wiggins.

“I think it showed the quality of rider he is, when he was arguing with Van Baarle… it was a demonstration of his talents.

“To come here on his first Tour of Flanders and perform like that. He wanted to win, there’s no doubt about that. He’s a winner.

“His anger at the finish demonstrated he was here to win. It wasn’t about making a demonstration and finishing fourth in his first Tour of Flanders, he wanted to win.”

‘Absolutely fuming’ – Where did it go wrong for Pogacar in Flanders finale?

Van der Poel also diced with disaster after refusing to chuck down the gauntlet until Van Baarle and Madouas were alongside him, but he displayed superior finishing power to claim his second title in Flanders.

The Dutchman also saw off Wout van Aert in 2020 in a similar finale, while he was stunned by Kasper Asgreen (Quick-Step Alpha Vinyl Team) in the 2021 sprint showdown.

“We saw how much they slowed down in that final,” continued Wiggins. “He had a similar sprint a couple of years ago with Wout van Aert, [while] last year he lost it.

“So it’s always tricky, you can see the finish line from 1km, but he came out on top again. What a class act.”

Discovery cycling expert Dan Lloyd said that while he sympathised with Pogacar, he believed the two-time Tour de France champion would be “more frustrated with himself” when the dust settles.

“Van der Poel wanted to slow it down as much as he possibly could so he had that snap to the line to try and instantaneously gap Tadej Pogacar,” he explained on The Breakaway.

“He [Pogacar] knew that but he was still willing to gamble. He kept looking over his shoulder but he couldn’t do that too much because if you keep looking over your shoulder, all of a sudden you look back in front of you and your rival’s already started their sprint and you’ve got absolutely no chance.

“I can understand why Pogacar was that frustrated [with Van Baarle]. Probably in hindsight he’ll be more frustrated with himself once he’s looked back at what’s happened.”