POGACAR. Impressive since the start of the Tour de France, Tadej Pogacar completely cracked at the end of this 11th stage.
Tadej Pogacar is not unbeatable. Favorite of the Tour de France and wearer of the yellow jersey for several stages, the Slovenian completely broke down against the Dane Jonas Vingegaard and was even in total failure by conceding more than 3 minutes on the new leader of the Jumbo Visma. “The Jumbo-Visma was simply stronger. I had a shot less well in the Granon. It was not my day but I will continue to fight. It’s up to me to counter the attacks now .”
But after the retirements of Laengen and Bennett and a Majka who also tested positive for Covid, questions are pending about the health of Tadej Pogacar who did not hide his concern at the end of the 10th stage. “Of course it causes stress. I’m really sad that they are gone because they are two great teammates, one for the flat and the other for the mountains. The morale is still there and we will continue to to fight.” However, the protocol put in place by the Tour de France does not impose regular tests and it is not yet known whether the UAE Emirates rider may be affected by Covid.
Biography Tadej Pogacar. Tadej Pogacar was born on September 21, 1998 in Komanda, municipality of Klanec in Solvenia. Son of a mother, a French teacher and a father, an industrial designer, he was interested in football before enrolling at the age of eight at the Rog Ljubljana Cycling Club where he imitated his older brother Tilen, already member of the cycling club. The youngest winner of the Tour de France since 1904, Tadej Pogacar is today the new star of world cycling. But before he got there, the Slovenian had a late growth in his teens where he remained for years shorter than other runners his age, a size that earned him a nickname: “Tamau Pogi” (“small Pogi” in French). His short stature allowed him to have a higher willpower than other cyclists his age. If since his youngest years, Tadej Pogacar has grown well, he has also progressed well.
After winning a few junior races such as the Giro della Lunigiana in 2016 or the Slovenian junior time trial championship, Tadej Pogacar left the category in 2019 and signed with the continental team Rog-Ljubljana where he notably won the Tour de l’Avenir in 2018. The following year, he signed with the UAE Emirates World Tour team where he won the Tour of the Algarve and the Tour of California. In 2020, the Slovenian won the Tour de France, a performance he repeated in 2021 where he also won Tirreno-Adriatico, the Tour of Slovenia and the Tour of Lombardy. Tadej Pogacar has already won the Tour of the United Arab Emirates and Strade Bianche in 2022.
The youngest winner of the Tour de France in 2020 since 1904, Tadej Pogacar is a cyclist shaped to win general classifications of stage victories. In 2021, the Slovenian did the double crushing all the competition over the stages to fly away to the final victory and put on for a second consecutive year, the yellow jersey on the Champs-Elysées.
Companion of Tadej Pogacar, Slovenian Urska Zigart embodies, like her companion, the future of world cycling. The two riders who first met in 2017, moved to Monaco where they have been living and training since 2020.
In 2021, Tadej Pogacar extended his contract until 2027 at UAE Emirates, becoming at the same time the highest paid cyclist on the world circuit with six million euros.
Mocked for his small size during his adolescence, earning him the nickname “little Pogi”, Tadej Pogacar is now 1m76 tall for 66 kilos. On average, the height of a cyclist on the world circuit is 1m81 for 69 kilos.
