'Haters gonna flag' - Tadej Pogačar flagged again on Strava after dominant ride at Giro d’Italia

Tadej Pogačar has been flagged again on Strava after his dominant ride through the Dolomites on Stage 17 of the Giro d’Italia. 

It is the second time in a week that the current race leader has had his rides marked as questionable on the exercise tracking app, but he has still been able to see the funny side. 

Sharing his file for stage 17, which was won by EF Education-EasyPost’s Georg Steinhauser, the Slovenian wrote: "Haters gonna flag" along with a hands clapping emoji. 

UAE Team Emirates' Pogačar finished second on the stage behind Steinhauser, and was 1:24 off, challenging for yet another stage victory. After he rode away with ease from his rivals on stage 17, his dominance was notable once more despite him not landing the win on the Passo Brocon. 

Last Sunday, Pogačar was flagged when he won the queen stage of the race in the Italian Alps. 

The pink jersey wearer put in a performance for the ages on stage 15 as he soloed to victory in the ski resort of Livigno. The stage featured more than 5,400 metres of elevation gain and included an ascent of the Mortirolo pass. 

Pogačar’s ride was flagged on Strava but eventually reinstated. "Who TF flagged me," the race leader wrote, alongside a caption containing a series of emojis celebrating his sensational victory in the high mountains.

Being flagged means that activities do not appear on segment leaderboards on the app unless athletes follow Strava’s processes for resolving the flagged post. 

The race leader is no stranger to being flagged. It also happened to his race winning ride at last year’s Tour of Flanders in which he took the KOM on the paired segment of the Oude Kwaremont and Paterberg climbs. However, that too was later reinstated. 

Speaking in a press conference during Monday’s rest day, Pogačar joked that being flagged on Strava is a regular occurrence for him. 

"It happens a lot," he said. "It's a funny moment but it's good that people can see how fast we actually go on some of these iconic climbs."

It is now almost certain that the Slovenian will triumph at the Italian Grand Tour. He has a lead of more than seven and a half minutes going into Thursday’s flat stage 18, which will likely end in a sprint finish. 

Strava recently announced that AI would be helping catch cheats on segment leaderboards in the near future.