The message was clear: Tadej Pogacar is primed for the Tour de France. On the opening stage of the Tour de Suisse—a 144 km loop starting and finishing in Sondrio—the Slovenian world champion launched his attack around 70 km from the finish on the race’s first major climb, leaving his rivals in his wake.
At the line, his advantage over Tokyo Olympic champion Richard Carapaz (Ecuador/EF Education-EasyPost) was a commanding 2:14 minutes, with Andrea Bagioli (Lidl-Trek) finishing third at 2:29. The rest of the field crossed more than four minutes down. For Pogacar, racing the Swiss stage race for the first time with UAE Team Emirates-XRG, it marked his ninth win of the season in just twelve starts.
After his Tour de Romandie victory in early May, he took a deliberate six-week racing break to fine-tune his preparation for the Tour de France, which kicks off on 4 July in Barcelona. There, the 27-year-old could etch his name among the all-time greats with a fifth overall win. Even without top rivals like Jonas Vingegaard or Florian Lipowitz, the five-day Tour de Suisse remains the most prestigious warm-up for the Tour.
Stage two on Thursday covers 157.7 km in classic style through the hills around Locarno—perfect terrain for another Pogacar masterclass.
