Tadej Pogačar described a "hard transition" as he climbed his first mountain of 2026 on Wednesday, but the world champion didn't show any signs of suffering on the opening road stage of the Tour de Romandie. In fact, he rode well within himself, taking a victory built as much on brain power as leg power.
Pogačar had opted for a Classics-only start to the season, winning Strade Bianche, Milan-San Remo, the Tour of Flanders, and Liège-Bastogne-Liège, finishing runner-up in his only other race, Paris-Roubaix.
The Tour de Romandie marks his first stage race of the campaign and, after the opening prologue, Wednesday's stage marked the first long climb he has raced up since Il Lombardia last October, with the Ovrannax ascent providing a rude awakening at 8.7km and 9.7%.
"It was a little bit of a hard transition today, from short climbs to a long, steep climb, but I managed pretty well," Pogačar said.
Victory on the day backed that up, and while it was hard-fought by the end, it saw Pogačar forced to curb his efforts and his attacking instincts on the climb itself.
When he attacked 4km from the summit, it looked like the same old story of an instantly-decisive attack and a long-range solo, but not only did the route descend into the valley, there was an extra 23km stretch along it, where a headwind was blowing.
Lenny Martinez (Bahrain Victorious) was the only rider who could follow Pogačar at first, with Florian Lipowitz (Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe) soon working his way across and Jorgen Nordhagen (Visma-Lease a Bike) making it a quartet in the valley.
"In the end, I was happy I had some company for after the climb because it was tough conditions to go so far from the finish with the headwind," Pogačar said.
When asked if he was surprised by Martinez following him, he said: "A little bit. The first acceleration, I saw he was super good, so there was no sense to try and drop him because maybe I would explode myself also, and for the long section in the valley, I still needed good legs.
"I was happy I decided to keep the pace good to the top. It was still full gas but not over the limit."
So used to solo raids, Pogačar found himself in a tricky tactical situation, with Lipowitz sandbagging due to the presence of his teammate Primož Roglič in the chase group, which hit the valley a minute down but thundered along it to come to within 15 seconds with a couple of kilometres to go.
When Pogačar's willing allies, Martinez and Nordhagen, suddenly followed Lipowitz into the passenger seat at that very moment, it looked like the move would be for nothing, but Pogačar shouldered the responsibility in keeping the pace just high enough, and still took out the sprint in convincing fashion.
"I was happy to have two young, eager guys to pull with me; they did a super good job, they were super strong," Pogačar said of Martinez and Nordhagen. "We managed to stay in front, which is difficult with only three, and one guy sitting in the wheels, so we can be proud, all of us who were in front."
Pogačar finds himself in the familiar colour of yellow as the leader of the Tour de Romandie, with a few more mountains to climb. He voiced confidence in his teammates to control the race but gave an indication as to what we can expect from him in the later stages: "The best defence is to attack."
