It would be fair to say that it has not taken Tadej Pogacar long to readjust to life back on the mountains and hills of group-stage road racing.
For the second day running, the UAE Team Emirates-XRG rider came out on top in a sprint finish at the Tour de Romandie, with race leader Pogacar having to hold off numerous attacks before triumphing on Stage 2 in Vucherens.
The Slovenian timed his finish to perfection to win a bunch sprint-finish to come home ahead of prologue winner Dorian Godon (Ineos Grenadiers) who came second and Finn Fisher-Black (Red Bull-BORA-hansgrohe) who was third.
That extended Pogacar's lead to 17 seconds over Florian Lipowitz (Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe) in the overall standings with Lenny Martinez (Bahrain Victorious) again a further nine seconds behind.
“I knew the sprint was going to be tough because of the climbs before, and it was indeed a super fast climb with tailwind,” said Pogacar, after his 114th win as a professional.
“Then for the sprint, it was headwind and quite downhill, so I knew you couldn't be too much in front. After the last corner, I was too much in front and suddenly some guys came, but they were too early, and it was advantage for me.
“[The last climb didn't] make the difference in time gaps, no, but it makes a difference in the legs, and if you go over the limit for sure then it's harder to do a good sprint. But luckily, for me it was all under control and I could still do a good sprint.”
There has been no easing himself into the new campaign for the world champion who has now won six times in eight days of racing, but he admitted after Wednesday's victory that the change from the classics to mountain racing had been a tricky one.
“It was a little bit of a hard transition today, from short climbs to a long, steep climb, but I managed pretty well,” Pogacar said after of Stage 1 test on the Ovrannax ascent.
Thursday's stage saw the peloton having to deal with a constant series of up and down parcours without the steep climbs of the previous day.
Pogacar found himself isolated on his own in the leader's yellow jersey but coped with any moves from likes of Lipowitz with relative ease.
As the final sprint approached, Godon powered to the front but Pogacar remained ominously positioned in his slipstream before surging past the French rider and Fisher-Black, of New Zealand, to secure another victory in what his race debut.
Friday's 176.6km Stage 3 is a series of loops around Orbe that includes three categorised climbs including the main challenge – scaling Col Mollendruz, a 21.8-km ascent in the Jura Mountains.
The final stage is on Sunday which sees the only mountaintop finish of the race with a brutal climb to Leysin.
Stage 2 results:
- 1. Tadej Pogacar (UAE Team Emirates-XRG) 4:08:11
- 2. Dorian Godon (Ineos Grenadiers) same time
- 3. Finn Fisher-Black (Red Bull-BORA-hansgrohe) same time
General classification:
- 1. Tadej Pogacar (UAE Team Emirates-XRG) 8:08:28
- 2. Florian Lipowitz (Red Bull-BORA-hansgrohe) +17
- 3. Lenny Martinez (Bahrain Victorious) +26
