Tadej Pogacar targets Il Lombardia win with UAE Team Emirates to finish year as 'No. 1 team in the world'

Updated 03/10/2023 at 10:24 GMT

The last Monument race of the season, Il Lombardia, takes place on Saturday and will see UAE Team Emirates' Tadej Pogacar aim for a third consecutive win. He is hoping UAE can finish the season as the top team in cycling ahead of Jumbo-Visma, who will have Primoz Roglic riding in their colours for one of the last times. Pogacar says the course suits him "pretty well".

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Tadej Pogacar hopes UAE Team Emirates can sign off 2023 as the “No. 1 team in the world” ahead of Jumbo-Visma with victory at Il Lombardia.

The final Monument race of the season takes place on October 7 and will see Pogacar line up against Jumbo-Visma’s Primoz Roglic, as well as Soudal Quick-Step’s Remco Evenepoel.

Much of the talk in cycling over the last few months has been about Jumbo-Visma’s domination of the Vuelta a Espana, where they took all three places on the podium, and a potential merger with Soudal Quick-Step.

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But although Jumbo-Visma ruled the Vuelta to secure a clean sweep of the Grand Tours this year, UAE Team Emirates are just ahead at the top of the UCI’s team rankings.

Pogacar is hoping to keep it that way as the 2023 season nears a close.

"Jumbo have more big wins than us but if we compare Jumbo’s season and our season, then they’re pretty similar,” he told The Cycling Show, which will be broadcast at 17:00 UK time on Tuesday, October 3 and will then be available on demand on discovery+.

“As a team we’re going our own way, with a big improvement from last year and from two years ago. So yeah we’re heading in the right direction, let's hope we finish it off this season as the No. 1 team in the world.

“The team is growing with new riders, but also new staff and more thinking about everything, what we can improve and just in general, everything is building. People here are growing up and learning new stuff and trying to improve all the small details.”

Pogacar will be aiming for his third consecutive victory at Il Lombardia.

Last year he beat Enric Mas to the line and in 2021 it was Fausto Masnada who came second.

Roglic showed he could be Pogacar’s main rival this time around after winning their showdown at Giro dell'Emilia last week.

However, Pogacar said the 238 km Il Lombardia route, which features several climbs, suits him “pretty well”.

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“I really like the long races with a lot of elevation. So the finish is also nice. When you go down to the lake, it's already a bit stressful normally, but you can look around if you have good legs, if you don't have good legs, you cannot see anything.

“It's one of the five biggest one-day races of the calendar. It suits the climbers, so it suits me as well, and it's the last race of the season normally for me.

“It's a big race, a long race, big climbs and you really need to be in good shape to finish well. I won on this parcour two years ago, so it suits me.”

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