Going into the Paris Olympics, Tadej Pogacar will only have one thing in mind, and that will be to establish his domination once again. The Slovenian secured victory in overall classification in Tour de France 2020 and 2021, also getting the polka dot jersey, which is given to the best climber, and the white jersey for best young rider.
Born in September 1998 in north of Ljubljana, his passion for sports started at a very early age. He was initially into football, but got into cycling, following his older brother.
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Pogacar began cycling at nine years old, and participated in his first race in 2008. He joined the UAE Team Emirates in 2018, and made his debut for the team at the Tour Down Under, finishing 13th overall. He won the Volta ao Algarve and also got victory at the Tour of California. This also made him the youngest rider in history to win a UCL World Tour stage race.
He showed his talent to the cycling world with back-to-back victories at the Tour de France in 2020 and 2021. He became the second youngest winner of the Tour de France at only 21. He finished as runners-up in 2022 and 2023. He has also sensational at Paris-Nice (2023), the Tyrrhenian to the Adriatic Sea (2022, 2021), Giro di Lombardia (2023, 2022, 2021), Tour of Valencia (2020), and the Liege−Bastogne−Liege race (2021) to grab the men's UCI Road Racing world number one spot.
{{/usCountry}}He showed his talent to the cycling world with back-to-back victories at the Tour de France in 2020 and 2021. He became the second youngest winner of the Tour de France at only 21. He finished as runners-up in 2022 and 2023. He has also sensational at Paris-Nice (2023), the Tyrrhenian to the Adriatic Sea (2022, 2021), Giro di Lombardia (2023, 2022, 2021), Tour of Valencia (2020), and the Liege−Bastogne−Liege race (2021) to grab the men's UCI Road Racing world number one spot.
{{/usCountry}}He is also a Olympic bronze medallist, getting it in the Tokyo edition.
This year, Pagocar skipped the Vuelta a Espana. Explaining his decision, he said, "I can assure you that the Giro-Tour-Vuelta triplet is not on the programme this year. Winning every Grand Tour is a major goal for me but to do it in the same year… It’s perhaps a little too crazy. I prefer not to chase records, but to new challenges, and I am especially very attracted by races that I have not yet done."
"I like new challenges to keep a certain freshness so I am not closed to anything. But I'm also realistic, I know it's not just about showing up at the start and winning. Cycling is a sport with many specialities. Different terrain and different races favour different athletes and different preparations. Ask any runner, winning a pro race is a huge thing, and it takes extraordinary form, whatever the race," he added.