POGACAR Tadej

Type of rider
Climber (tadej-pogacar.com, 27 Apr 2021)

General
CONFLICTING EMOTIONS
He beat his compatriot Primoz Roglic into second place at the 2020 Tour de France. Pogacar secured victory in the race on the penultimate stage, a mountain time trial that finished at La Planche des Belles Filles. "I had been a Roglic fan since his first results. Between the ages of 15 and 20, I was shouting in front of my television for him to win, and now I was the one who had beaten him, who had denied him from achieving what he had been dreaming of for years. It was really strange. I kept telling myself, 'That's racing, that's sport, it's normal that I want to win'. In fact, it was Primoz who managed to calm me. A few minutes after he finished, I was in the television tent and he came to find me and give me a hug. I'll never forget that moment. It's as though he was giving me permission to enjoy it and telling me it wasn't my fault. If we meet by chance [while out training], then one of us does a U-turn and we carry on together. He's a nice guy. He doesn't like to put himself forward. I often talk with him in races. For me, he's not like a rival." (cyclingnews.com, 16 Dec 2020)

CYCLING TEAM
In 2021 he founded the Pogi Team cycling club as part of the Rog Cycling Association, where he trained as a youngster. The team is based in Ljubljana, Slovenia, and focuses on the development of young cyclists under the guidance of Miha Koncilija, who was Pogacar's first cycling coach. (tadej-pogacar.com, 01 Feb 2021)

He became the first Slovenian rider to win the Tour de France by securing victory in the race in 2020. (velonews.com, 20 Sep 2020)

At age 20 he became the youngest winner of a World Tour stage race by triumphing in the 2019 Tour of California in the United States of America. (cyclingweekly.com, 18 May 2019)