Tadej Pogačar smashes the Strava KOM on the Coll de Rates

Tadej Pogačar has smashed the popular Strava KOM on the Coll de Rates climb in Spain, setting a time of 12:21 on the sought after segment on the Costa Blanca.

The current World Champion is in the area with UAE Emirates teammates as they wrap up a team winter training camp. Pogačar annihilated the climb as part of what appears to be a final ride before Christmas in Spain, uploading his data to Strava with the caption "Going Home".

The KOM on the climb was previously associated with Jonas Vingegaard and his former Continental team ColoQuick. Vingegaard famously took the KOM in 2018, setting a time of 13:02 on the ascent as part of a team time trial effort with fellow ColoQuick riders. Vingegaard later went on to sign for Visma-Lease a Bike with the Coll de Rates effort said to have played a part in the transfer.

Pogačar’s UAE colleague Juan Ayuso briefly held the KOM with a time of 12:49, but ColoQuick returned to the climb in March this year to retake their crown. The Danish team were successful in their endeavour, reclaiming the KOM through Peter Øxenberg Hansen with a time of 12:38.

Øxenberg Hansen went on to sign for Ineos Grenadiers and it was recently announced that he will join the Ineos development team for the 2025 season.

ColoQuick DS Christian Moberg previously told Cycling Weekly that the team jokingly sees the KOM as part of their group identity. Although it remains to be seen whether ColoQuick will head back in 2025 to reclaim their lost crown.

"Personally for me, the story about all this is great for this team," Moberg said. "A Tour de France Danish winner came from this team and then we keep on going with this attempt and we also have more or less 70 sponsors and partners here.

"They were cheering and they love when we're doing these attempts and talked all together at the dinner table in the evening and the day before about it."

Cycling Weekly contacted Visma-Lease a Bike to ask whether Vingegaard could be convinced to head to the Col du Rates next year to attempt to topple his rival's time on the climb. The team, however, did not respond.