3 years ago 3 years ago

Who is Tadej Pogacar? Slovenian cycling superstar

by Racing Elite 3 years ago3 years ago

Slovenian cycling star Tadej Pogačar won the Tour de France,largest cycling race in the world for the second time in a row. The cyclist from small town of “Komenda” rode the Champs Elysees for the second time in a row in a yellow T-shirt and was among the immortals. But how the cycling fairy tale named after Tadej Pogačar actually start?

“He is simple, very well-mannered, respectful of everyone, relaxed, kind, always available. He is a true friend, he will never insult anyone or say anything bad about others, “his first coach Miha Koncil described Tadej Pogačar in an interview for the Dnevnik newspaper last year.

As a long-time cycling worker and selector of junior national teams, he is one of the most deserving that the athlete from Klanec near Komenda fell in love with cycling. But it could have unfolded differently.

His first love of sports was football, which he trained in the early years of elementary school. He showed considerable talent for round leather, but he soon put his football boots in the corner and followed his brother Tilen to the Rog Ljubljana cycling club as a nine-year-old. But they didn’t even have such a small bike for him at first.

“Everyone told him he was too small to ride a bike. But that didn’t stop him, he fought even harder. Maybe that’s why he succeeded. He wanted to prove that he was capable of that, ”recalls his uncle Domen.

Due to his small stature, he has nicknamed the cricket, but when he started to win and beat older competitors, he became “tamau Pogi”. A nickname he has kept to this day. Andrej Hauptman, the current selector of the Slovenian cycling team, was soon able to see the exceptional potential of the young cyclist.

“I arrived at the race a bit late and the first thing I noticed was a group of cyclists and a tiny boy who was 100 meters behind. I told the organizers that they had to do something to connect the boy to the group. They told me he was leading and that he had overtaken them for a whole lap. This boy was Tadej, “Andrej Hauptman revealed in an interview for the cycling portal Cyclingnews.

Almost a decade has passed since then. Tadej Pogačar remained fearless, but he did not lose even his attacking instinct. And not even relaxation believes the cyclist and his childhood friend Jaka Primožič.

His motto is: “Never give up and never give up”

“Years ago, we competed in a race in Tarragona, Spain. There were two or three climbs ahead of us until the ascent to the top and it was very hot. It was already 40 degrees Celsius in the morning, so no one could eat. Tadej placed a plate of pancakes with Nutella in front of us. He is different from the others, ”Primožič recalled interesting anecdotes.

He entered the ranks of professionals at the right time

The young man from a family of six made the biggest step in his career in July 2018, when he signed his first professional contract with one of the best professional teams in the world, the UAE Team Emirates. “Looking at what he did that season, it was the right time to become a professional,” said Hauptman, who serves as a sporting director on the UAE team.

The following year, as captain of the team, he drove for the first time in a race in California. He won it and impressed in his first three-week Tour of Spain in September of that year. “My main goal was to get as much experience as possible. But after five stages and the first mountain goal, I realized that I was offered the opportunity to be in the top ten. In Madrid, I found that I could also win a white shirt. I was surprised that I was doing so well, “the Gorenjska wolf recalled some time ago.

He finished the Vuelto in third place with less than three minutes behind the winner and compatriot Primož Roglič.

His favorite cyclists in his youth were Andy and Frank Schleck and Alberto Contador, but not his role models. “I didn’t want to imitate anyone, but I was able to learn a lot from them,” said the 22-year-old, who also coined his own motto: Never give up and never give up.

He did not give up on him even at the last two editions of TDF, where he achieved the greatest success of Slovenian cycling and became the second-youngest winner in the 117-year history of the race.

“I am just a boy from Slovenia. I have two sisters and a brother. I like to have fun and I like to enjoy life and small things, ”the new star of road cycling explained.

He remained simple and modest even after an exceptional achievement, although for some time now he has been living in fashionable Monaco with his beloved and professional cyclist Urška Žigart. As he says, mainly because of better training conditions, but probably also because of the favorable tax policy, as with an annual salary of two million euros, he ranks among the best-paid cyclists in the world.

Tadej Pogačar’s greatest successes: