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Last year in the early season, Pogačar thrilled with a late attack at Strade Bianche, his 50km solo attack seeing him triumphant in Siena. He also went on to win Tirreno-Adriatico for a second consecutive year before targeting Milan-San Remo where he finished fifth and the Tour of Flanders where he was fourth in a dramatic final sprint.
The Slovenian superstar has never ridden Paris-Nice before but will tackle the ‘Race to the Sun’ when it starts on March 5.
“It was a hard choice because Strade and Paris-Nice looked like a really interesting challenge but I think this challenge can wait a bit,” Pogačar said in an interview with Sporza.
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The 24-year-old decision to miss out on his Strade Bianche title defence was prompted by a desire to be in with a good shot at winning the French one week race with a particular view towards the team time trial stage.
“If I want to be really good in Paris-Nice, which I’ve never done before and it’s a super hard race, the team time trial will be important and we need to spend a few days before the race together,” Pogačar explained.
“If I do Strade Bianche that’s impossible, I’d go to the team time trial without any knowledge of the group and don’t think it’s work.”
Pogačar has started 2023 in sensational form, winning last Monday's 1.1-ranked Jaén Paraiso Interior with a long-range solo attack. He then won three of the five stages and the overall Vuelta a Andalucia - Ruta del Sol by over a minute, ahead of Mikel Landa and Santiago Buitrago (both Bahrain Victorious).
The outings were the first part of what appears to be a relatively paired-back race programme, with the aim of being good for key classics and the Tour de France.
“From now it’ll only be hard, important races,” Pogačar said. “I’ll try to be good in the Classics, especially Milan-San Remo and Flanders. And then all eyes are on the Tour.”
After Paris-Nice, Pogačar will ride Milan-San Remo and then head to Belgium for Dwars door Vlaanderen on March 29 and the Tour of Flanders on April 2.
He is expected to then target a selection of the Ardennes Classics later in April, before focusing on training and then the final preparations for the Tour de France by riding the Tour of Slovenia in June.
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