Slovenian cycling star, Tadej Pogacarwho won his third Tour de France on Sunday, has been declared out of the Paris Olympics due to “fatigue”, the Slovenian Olympic Committee announced on Monday.
According to the criteria of
Surprise at the Games
“Unfortunately, Tadej Pogacar has withdrawn from the competition due to extreme fatigue,” Slovenian Olympic team coach Uros Murn said in a statement.
In recent days, the 25-year-old has been struggling to cope with the fact that the Slovenian Cycling Federation has left his girlfriend, Urska Zigart, off its Olympic list.
Pogacar had admitted being “angry” and “speechless” about the issue, in a message posted on social media.
Asked about the Olympic Games on Sunday, the day he won his third Tour de France title, Pogacar deflected attention by mentioning that it was his “dream” to one day wear the rainbow jersey of world champion.
down for Slovenia
After withdrawing from the Olympics, his goal seems to be the World Road Cycling Championships in Zurich in September, to seek that ‘triple crown’, after having already won the Giro d’Italia and the Tour de France this year. Only two men have achieved that goal in the past, Stephen Roche and Eddy Merckx.
Pogacar had been champion of the Tour in 2020 and 2021, but in the last two years (2022, 2023) the winner of the French round had been the Dane Jonas Vingegaard.
The Slovenian regained his throne in this edition, in an edition in which he was far superior and in which he managed to score six stage victories, the last one on Sunday itself, in a time trial between Monaco and Nice. Since 1998 and the Italian Marco Pantani, no cyclist has managed to win a series of Giro and Tour titles in the same year.
Slovenia has suffered a major setback in its Olympic cycling aspirations. It will also be without its other national star, Primoz Roglic, in Paris 2024, who retired midway through the Tour after a crash and was not included in the Slovenian list announced at the beginning of July.
SPORTS WITH AFP
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