Tadej Pogacar won his third stage on this year’s Tour of Catalonia in the Pyrenees on Saturday to extend his lead in the overall standings after a virtuoso solo run from 30km out.
The Slovenian is targeting a Giro d’Italia and Tour de France double in 2024 and rivals will have taken notice at the ease with which he left opponents trailing on the toughest of climbs.
Another notable performance on Saturday saw Colombian Egan Bernal finish second on the day, climbing from ninth to third overall.
Fifteen riders broke off from the main peloton on the day’s major challenge, the Coll de Pradell, a 16km climb at an average gradient of 6.5 percent.
Climbing through pine forests Pogacar and the others passed a 20% steepness road sign, but they remained together until the penultimate climb.
Pogacar’s sherpa Marc Soler cracked but the two-time Tour de France champion barely flinched as he turned on his trademark acceleration and dropped everyone at 28km from home.
He finished over a minute ahead of Bernal and Spain’s Mikel Landa.
“The final climb was lovely with all those people, but today was really hard,” said Pogacar.
Bernal, a former Tour and Giro winner, said he was delighted with his performance in his fight to regain full fitness after a collision with a bus two years ago.
“This is another step forward,” said the 27-year-old. “I need to keep my feet on the ground.
“But I’m so happy for my family and all the people who have been around me. I didn’t expect this really, I’m so motivated to keep working.”
Today’s final stage is a run around Barcelona where the top three places are unlikely to change with Pogacar leading Landa by 3min 31sec while third-placed Bernal is at 4min 53sec.