Throughout the years, the world of cycling has seen its fair share of heroes. Today, we will be taking a look at none other than Tadej Pogačar and his bustling career, Slovenia’s hailed cycling champion who quickly rose to global fame.
Who is Tadej Pogačar?
Tadej Pogačar has been rising to prominence for the better part of a decade, but his success has been record breaking in the last few years in particular. In 2020 and 2021, he won three different jerseys in both of the Tour de France tours, a feat that has not been achieved in almost 40 years, with which he cemented his already prominent position in the cycling scene. We are going to be looking over some of his best moments in cycling so far, as well examining bits and pieces of what’s going on in his personal life.
An overview of Tadej Pogačar’s career
In 2019, he debuted as the youngest cyclist who managed to topple the competition during the UCI World tour race in California, with a staggering win at the age of only 20 years old. Later in the very same year he managed to surprise everyone once again with his first Grand Tour appearance, winning three stages of the reputable Vuelta a Espana competition ranking third overall and scoring the “young rider’’ title.
Needless to that those who like betting on cycling with Bitcoin or fiat currencies must have had one heck of a ride with these kinds of results in such a short span of time. He also set a record at both of his Tour de France appearances by winning three stages and the young-rider as well as the mountain classification, being the first ever to achieve this feat.
When asked what drove and motivated him to win, he claimed that his confidence has been rising over the years as he gained more experience, and that his motto is “never quit trying and never give up”. He also stated that he’s always excited to start any race and get the ball rolling and while the Tour de France is a bit brutal and a bit of fun for them as competitors, it is always fun from the start, but that he remains optimistic and excited for it regardless. With that he also humorously added that one should never say no to the yellow jersey and you never don’t want to be in yellow.
The player overall seems very humble despite his 6 million euro salary, coming from humble beginnings in Komenda with his mother being a French teacher and his father working as a manager at a chair factory. It was at a young age that he managed to catch the eyes of coaches from the Rog Ljubljana cycling club. He was noticed quite early on by his coach Andrej Hauptman who was there with him through much of his career, first as his club’s manager and then later joining the UAE Team Emirates at the same time as Tadej in 2019 after he won the 2018 Tour de l’Avenir. The story goes that he was spectating a lot of competitions he participated in, where he saw him dominate groups of much older cyclers than himself.
Tadej made his debut as a cyclist for the team in the Town Down Under competition where he finished in 13th place. His next few tournaments, however, made the team truly proud and aware of the kind of talent he is, winning the Volta ao Algarve tournament in Portugal, placing sixth in the Tour of the Basque Country and winning the Tour of California, becoming the youngest ever rider in history to win the UCI WorldTour stage race.
Conclusion
To any cycling fan, Tadej Pogačar represents a similar force to what Luka Dončič is currently renowned for in the world of basketball – a true prodigy and a source of inspiration!
He certainly has a long way to go as such a young athlete, but it could still be argued that he has done more in the very short time he’s been riding the waves of success than certain other people managed to accomplish in their entire careers.
Thanks for reading about The Dominance of Tadej Pogačar in the World of Cycling