Twelve months ago, Tadej Pogačar seemed pretty done at the end of his fourth Tour de France victory. The Slovenian was tired, and, as it later emerged, injured, and was ready to go home. He spoke of burnout, of fatigue, and didn’t seem to be enjoying the world of cycling that he dominates that much.
Twelve months on, the UAE Team Emirates-XRG rider seems rejuvenated, ready to go again. Rejuvenated enough to light up the final stage of the Tour de France, as other general classification rivals sat back, rejuvenated enough to keep winning until stage 19 of the race, rejuvenated enough to even hint that he might tackle the Vuelta a España.
Asked about his burnout, and his apparent lift in mood this year in his winner’s press conference, Pogačar nods, smiles, recognises that this year has felt more comfortable.
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“I didn’t say last year I was burning out, but I was well aware that it could happen,” he explained. “I’m also aware now. The burnout doesn’t mean you’re sad one day, or you don’t feel one day on the bike, it means chronic fatigue and you’re not happy on the bike when you go riding. Everything feels like a job.
“I’m aware that this can happen if you push too hard. That’s why I don’t want to say I go to Vuelta, I go to that. I need to think about this. Keep the feet on the ground.”
Pogačar has now won five Tours de France, putting him on the same level as the legends of the race: Jacques Anquetil, Eddy Merckx, Bernard Hinault and Miguel Indurain. There seems no reason to bet against him not winning a sixth next year or that his reign of dominance will end soon.
(Image credit: Getty Images)
However, history doesn’t mean much to the Slovenian; he likes winning things, but is not a student of the history of pro cycling.
“Right now, I just want to enjoy the moment of winning the Tour, if it’s fifth or the first it doesn’t matter,” he said. “It’s unbelievable to wear the yellow jersey and cross the finish line in Paris winning it. I will just enjoy the moment, not thinking about any history, not thinking about any clubbing or whatever. I just want to enjoy this moment, and come back home and enjoy the small things in life. I’m really happy and proud to win the fifth Tour.
“Every single one of them has a different story, a different meaning, different emotions. Each one of them feels incredible and emotional for me.”
On his potential participation at the Vuelta, the only Grand Tour he hasn’t won yet, which would complete the set of Grand Tours, he said: “Right now, if it it starts tomorrow, I would say no. In two weeks, I can still decide.”
There is no rush for the Vuelta, it could be done next year, or the year after. Time is on his side, he is just 27 after all, but this Tour also felt like one where the baton began to be passed on. In the yellow jersey, he helped his 22-year-old teammate Isaac del Toro to third overall, and the white jersey, while 19-year-old Paul Seixas (Decathlon CMA CGM) finished third. The Pogačar era is not coming to an end, but things are shifting.
“I will definitely not be doing this for a long time,” he said after stage 20, but at his current rate, it will not take a long time for Pogačar to win everything.
“The next generation is looking very sharp, and I’m happy to have Isaac on my side,” he said on Sunday night. “Maybe I can be a kind of mentor, maybe I can teach him a thing or too, but he’s already quite smart. Other young riders are coming up, super strong, and we will see. It’s a good future for cycling what is coming in the next years. I think.”
(Image credit: Getty Images)
Such is Pogačar’s dominance at the Tour de France – 26 stages in seven editions, five overall wins in that time, a record-breaking time up Alpe d’Huez this year – that there is a cloud of suspicion over his performance levels.
At this year’s race, Pogačar and his main rival, Jonas Vingegaard (Visma-Lease a Bike) were awoken in the middle of the night ahead of stage 15 of the Tour de France by anti-doping testers, a scenario reserved by the UCI’s rules for “serious and specific suspicions”.
“In my opinion, 2am for Jonas was crazy. 5am was also a little bit weird,” Pogačar said in his post-race press conference, when he was asked if he understood the suspicion. “Definitely not the weirdest. Since I’m riding the Tour in 2020, we’ve had crazy controls, before queen sstages a lot of times, almost every Tour. Four or five times, out of seven that I did, [there was] a control in the stage before the bus, 30 minutes. This is even weirder, but they’re doing their job. It’s part of my life.
“When I hear a knock on my door, the first thing is that it’s a control here. For me, it’s like going to the supermarket. For me, it’s nothing unusual anymore because I have so many in the last years that it’s really part of my life now.”
However, right now, Pogačar is done. Not in a terminal way, as it seemed last year, but in the press conference. With a mic drop, he leaves the stage, ready for celebration. He no longer seems on the edge of burnout, instead comfortable in the knowledge he is the greatest rider of all time.
