Zak Dempster did not mince his words after seeing his Ineos Grenadiers riders be swept aside by cycling sensation Tadej Pogacar. The Slovenian stormed to victory in Stage 7 of the 2024 Giro d’Italia, beating Filippo Ganna’s impressive time of 52 minutes and 1 second. With 14 stages to go, Pogacar sits at the top of the Giro d’Italia standings.
Zak Dempster insists Ineos Grenadiers will not be the first team to be ‘slapped around’ by Tadej Pogacar in the 2024 Giro d’Italia.
The Slovenian won Stage 7 of the race by bettering Grenadiers rider Filippo Ganna, who set an impressive time of 52 minutes and 1 second.
Pogacar was behind his Italian rival at the second intermediate checkpoint but finished 17 seconds ahead of him after finding a second wind on the climb to the finish line.
The win leaves Pogacar at the top of the Giro d’Italia standings, and sports director Dempster could only applaud the 25-year-old’s determination.
“I think we are not the first team to be slapped around by Pogacar and we certainly won’t be the last.
“I think credit to the guys they put in a really good performance today.
“Consider Pogacar normally goes fast uphill, downhill and on the flat I was not that surprised that he went fast.
“Of course, our goal is to be competitive here day-to-day and we were aiming for the win today so it is disappointing but at the same time they did their best and you can’t ask more than that.
“Of course, Filippo is disappointed, 17 seconds is not much on a time trial with a climb like that, I do not think you can ask for much more from Filippo even though, of course, we may have wanted more.”
Ineos Grenadiers rider Magnus Sheffield finished third, while his team-mate Geraint Thomas finished two minutes off the pace in 10th.
The disappointing result sees Thomas drop into third in the overall standings, while Daniel Martínez of Bora-Hansgrohe moves up into second.
Pogacar has been in incredible form all season, but Dempster is hopeful his team can turn things around with 14 stages remaining.
“He is pretty frank Geraint, he was not exhilarated by his performance on the last climb but that is cycling,” he added.
“It is like I say, on we go and Rome is far, we will see what happens.
“We knew it was going to be a big challenge against Pogacar, and it is not realistic to think that you are going to come into it and get on the front with a guy like that.
“On we go, we will give it our best shot, we are here at the Giro every day to be competitive and today I think we showed that we were.”
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