Pogačar’s dominance at the Giro could be dull

While I may have been a little young to understand the full romance of the Tour de France during the Armstrong era, I never understood the sentiment that it was boring just because of Lance’s dominance.

As a teenager I suppose you still love the idea of superheroes rather than cheering on and supporting the underdog. Maybe the years of supporting West Brom has since made me favour the idea of the lower-ranked team or athlete in the hope they pull off the unexpected, or maybe like the rest of the fan base I’ve just become cynical.

But right now, as we approach the Giro d’italia, I don’t see who you can realistically support as a GC underdog in the ‚ght against Tadej Pogačar.

His dominance in

Strade Bianche and Liègeˆbastogneˆliège was edging on boring

– we all knew he was going to win, and with one big attack in each race, off he went, never to be seen again.

I was invested in the race behind, supporting Ben Healy, but the race for second place is not quite the same.

So, as we approach the Giro, surely no one can possibly be betting against the Slovenian. A crash or illness notwithstanding, Pog looks unstoppable.

Looking at the course and with us all being aware of Pog’s merciless need to win, stage two looks perfect for him to take pink and then proceed to extend his lead for the remainder of the month.

For this reason, I’m just not really looking forward to the race. ‹ere will be some exciting sprint showdowns, and as ever there will be some long-range breakaways by the Italian teams.

However, as for the GC battle, cycling thrives on unpredictability, the thrill of uncertainty as we look for cracks on the big mountain days, but I fear Pogačar’s brilliance will leave us without the drama and suspense we crave from such an iconic race.

Jacob Tipper is a former elite cyclist and now a coach