Tadej Pogačar wins his first race of the season for the fourth straight year
Two-time Tour de France champ solos to victory in Spain
Tadej Pogačar won his last two races of the 2022 season, including a successful defense of his Il Lombardia title, and on Monday, he won his first race of 2023, the Spanish equivalent of Strade Bianche, 1.1-rated Jaén Paraiso Interior.
Jaén Paraiso Interior featured eight sections of gravel over 178.9-km from Úbeda to Baeza in Andalusia. There’s been only two editions of the race, with Alexey Lutsenko taking the inaugural contest last year.
With an escape up the road, Pogačar attacked on steep Sector 5 and then dropped Ben Tullett (Great Britain/Ineos) with 42 km to go, soloing through the remnants of the day’s breakaway. He even had to stop and change bikes, but still won by 49 seconds over Tullett’s compatriot and teammate Ben Turner and Tim Wellens, who now plies his trade for Pogačar’s UAE-Emirates squad after 11 years with Lotto-Soudal.
Pogacar went crazy with ~43 km to go. An hour solo ahead. #ClasicaJaen23 pic.twitter.com/tYXx6kspX4
— ammattipyöräily (@ammattipyoraily) February 13, 2023
In 2020 Pogačar took his first stage race of the season, Volta a la Comunitat Valenciana, and earned the victory in his first stage race over the next two years at the UAE Tour. The Slovenian’s path to the Tour de France goes through Vuelta a Andalucia Ruta Ciclista Del Sol next, starting on Wednesday; Michael Woods will make his season debut there.
