Take4 days ago
Omrzel called the Pogačar comparison "a bit stupid, honestly" — before he'd even started his first Grand Tour. That's not deflection after a big win, it's a position he staked out in advance, and it reframes the stage 12 solo not as proof he's the next Pogačar but as proof he never wanted to be.
In an interview months before the Vuelta, Omrzel said comparing himself to Pogačar is "a bit stupid" — Pogačar is "just a different breed," while he knows "what my role is and what I can do realistically." After breaking Pogačar's age record for a Grand Tour stage win, he called it "just statistics. It doesn't mean anything else. But it's a nice statistic." He'd rather the sport know him as Jakob Omrzel, "not as a copy of someone else."
Sources
Jakob Omrzel on Slovenia's cycling boom, Pogacar comparisons, and his patient path to the Giro'That's just statistics': Omrzel plays down Pogacar comparison after becoming Slovenia's youngest Grand Tour stage winnerJakob Omrzel, Slovenia's next big talent, on learning from Pogacar without copying him