‘A big moment’: Pogacar’s manager to visit Adelaide
Roger Vaughan |
The manager of Tadej Pogacar will make a flying visit to the Tour Down Under, dramatically raising hopes that cycling’s biggest star will race in Adelaide.
Race director Stuart O’Grady confirmed to AAP before the start of Thursday’s second stage that Alex Carera will be a guest of the Tour over the next few days.
O’Grady and the race organisation have tried hard for the last couple of years to lure the four-time Tour de France champion, whose domination of road cycling has begged comparisons to Eddy Merckx.
“He’s pretty excited about coming down,” O’Grady said of Carera.
“I wasn’t really expecting it, that’s for sure. It’s a really good indication, it’s a positive indication.
“Look, who knows – we might get to the end of 2026 and he (Pogacar) has won his fifth Tour (de France) and he decides he wants to try and win a sixth.
“But all we can do is put our best proposal forward.”
O’Grady said it was important that someone close to Pogacar witnessed in person what the Australian race had to offer.
“It’s hard to gauge what the Tour Down Under experience is until you’ve been here. (World road champion) Michael Kwiatkowski mentioned to me the other day, ‘why didn’t I come here 10 years ago?’,” O’Grady said.
“It’s just such a perfect training platform, it’s a good, consistent training ground and hopefully all that feedback … we can finally get Tadej here.
“It’s a big moment. We’ll make the most of it.”
O’Grady added that Pogacar’s Tour de France ambitions had worked against the Tour Down Under.
“Evidently, as was reported, he was super-keen,” he said.
“I spoke to (UAE Team Emirates boss) Mauro Gianetti at a WorldTour seminar in Geneva last month and they were so close to sending him.
“But I just think the lure of the fifth Tour de France title in 2026, they want to maintain the same program and schedule.
“After he has that hopeful fifth Tour, we’ll do everything in our power to get him down to Adelaide.”
The Tour Down Under has a history of attracting big cycling names to raise the event’s profile.
A succession of reigning world road champions have competed in Adelaide.
The event’s biggest – and most controversial – coup was having Lance Armstrong start his racing comeback at the 2009 edition.
Armstrong returned to the Tour Down Under for the next two years before retiring again, just before he admitted to doping and was banned from the sport for life.
For all the conjecture over the South Australian government paying him an appearance fee, there is no doubt Armstrong’s presence gave the Tour a massive boost that it had been able to ride since.
AAP
