Tadej Pogačar's hopes for a third Strade Bianche victory could have ended with 50km to go when he slid out at speed and tumbled into a bramble-filled verge. But, while he suffered road rash all down his left side, he was able to remount, chase down Tom Pidcock (Q36.5) and win the race with an attack on the final circuit of dirt roads near Siena.
"I guess I'm a lucky guy, it's my new nickname," Pogačar said. "This is not the first time I've crashed like this and probably not the last. It happens. I'm just super happy I could finish it off. Strade Bianche is one of my favourite races. It would have been a shame if I didn't finish it off."
Pogačar seemed stunned when he got up in the deep grass after his crash.
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"It was a moment of panic in my head when I crashed," he admitted.
"I was thinking about everything - if I can stand up, if my bike is OK, if my watch is OK, if my back was going to be OK... There was a lot of stuff going on.
"I was lucky that nothing was broken or that I was seriously injured, it could have ended badly.
"But I also wanted to get back to the front and try to finish it off because we put in a lot of work as a team. I had to continue."
Pogačar accepted he could have caused Pidock and Connor Swift to crash due to losing control of his bike.
"I said sorry to Tom and Swifty because it was a stupid crash, it could have ended really bad for everyone in the front group. It was my fault," he said.
"Tom waited for me on the top when I was close, maybe he thought it was better to ride together. He respected me and I respect him. It was a classy race today and there was a lot of respect even in this kind of hectic race."
Pidcock appeared to push Pogačar to his limit on the gravel sectors. While the Slovenian was physically stronger, Pidcock had better bike handling skills, taking the same corner where Pogačar crashed at speed with ease.
"He's a mountain bike world champion, an Olympic champion and cyclocross world champion, so I was under pressure to show that I'm good [at bike handling]. I actually showed I'm pretty shit…" Pogačar joked.
"I'll never do a mountain bike race, it's not for me."
Pogačar was in pain after the crash but was able to ride with Pidock and then attacked on the final time on the Colle Pinzuto climb. He surged as the climb steepened, and as Pidcock lost his wheel, Pogačar went even harder as the Strade Bianche tifosi screamed him to victory.
"I thought of attacking the first time up Colle Pinzuto but the crash stopped that," Pogačar explained.
"I knew I had to try on the climb the second time because the rest of the route was perhaps more suited to Tom and it was risky to wait for the climb to Siena. I gave it a go and it was enough."
After celebrating his victory, Pogačar congratulated Tom Pidock on his Strade Bianche performance, celebrated with his UAE Team Emirates-XRG team who also placed third with Tim Wellens, then limped to the podium area for treatment in happy disbelief.
