For three weeks, there seemed to be no cloud in the sky for Tadej Pogacar in this past Tour de France. The Slovenian ruled with flair, seemingly never in trouble, and won with a commanding lead. Yet things certainly didn’t go smoothly for Pogacar: after two weeks, he even considered quitting.
In the Tour 202 podcast, Pogacar reflects on this year’s Tour de France and opens up: he experienced some tough moments as well. “The Tour is truly a special race. It’s exhausting, long, and incredibly stressful too. I sometimes see the Tour as a necessary evil,” he describes the race with a broad smile.
“If I’m not mistaken, the past Tour was the fastest in history. It was stressful every single day, and the route was very demanding, especially in the first ten days. There were many pitfalls, tricky climbs... It was really hectic. My Tour started off amazingly, but then the final week came...”
“My body was in shock”
Pogacar was determined to triumph in the Alps as well, but he narrowly missed out on two stage wins. “Honestly, not everything went according to plan. The day after the stage finishing on Mont Ventoux, I started having knee problems. I even doubted whether I could continue at all, whether I could finish the queen stage (to the Col de la Loze, ed). And then there was also the stage to La Plagne.”
Pogacar did not have his best day on the way to La Plagne - photo: Fotopersburo Cor Vos
“We had to complete the stage to La Plagne in extremely bad weather. It was cold, and my body really went into survival mode. My body was actually in shock, causing me to retain fluid. At that moment, I really had enough—I didn’t feel great at all. But, I think every rider encounters something like this during a Grand Tour. Three weeks of racing is tough. After the first week, fatigue already sets in, and then you still have two more weeks to go.”
Right balance
Despite his internal struggles, Pogacar didn’t run into major trouble again, and he wants to thank his team for that. “On one hand, I get the freedom, but on the other hand, we also manage to put together a good program. It’s obviously very tiring always to have to perform at the highest level, but we’ve now found the right balance. That’s why I’m not burnt out yet.”
