Tadej Pogacar pays tribute to his teammates after the hat-trick and jokes: “64 stage wins from Eddy Merckx? Pffff”

Tadej Pogacar didn’t really make it exciting. Despite being tickled left and right, the Slovenian never had to loosen his grip on stage eight.

He said surprisingly in his first reaction: “I did not expect to win the stage today at all.”

“Team UAE Team UAE did a fantastic job. The gaps were tight at the foot of the final climb and Rafale (Majka, red) made great progress.”

“It’s great to win here in the Giro after I already won here in Tirreno-Adriatico. My teammates said they wanted to take the win after the first long climb of the day. I also felt confident when I saw them driving the car.”

Pogacar also managed to manage traffic smoothly in the final. “Daniel Martinez is a very good finisher, and I saw him as my main competitor. There was some attack, but I more or less controlled him.”

On Sunday there will be one last stage for Naples before we can rest. “I hope it’s a rest day, but the last 50 kilometers are tough. I have to stay focused, but I can’t wait for the rest day.”

“The most important thing is to win in Rome,” Tadej Pogacar told Renate Schuti. “Though it’s been great so far.”

“Yesterday I didn’t expect to win, nor today. But Mikel Berg motivated me. If your team works hard, you want to give back.”

Pogacar already has 17 grand tour stage victories in his backpack. He is already in better shape than Miguel Indurin and Marco Pantani, among others.

“Now I’ll choose Eddie (Merckx) and Mark (Cavendish). No, I’m kidding. Maybe I can stop early. You won’t get bored of me. Does Merckx have 64? Pfft. That’s too much,” he concluded with a comical face and sighs.