The Tour de France is without a doubt the most outstanding and highly respected bike riding competition in the world. And the young 22 years old Slovenian Tadej Pogačar, just won unexpectedly this prime competition.
Also known as “Le Grande Boucle” or “Le Tour”, Tour de France is a cycling competition that is held in France every year (sometimes neighboring countries) and takes place in 21 stages with a course that covers approximately 3,500 kilometers. Tour de France is split into 21 stages: nine flat stages, three hilly stages, seven mountain stages (including five summit finishes), two individual time trials and two rest days. One stage is performed every day, covers roughly 225 kilometers, and takes about five and a half hours to complete. Each stage has a winner, and the rider that completes the most stages in the shortest amount of time goes onto win the overall title. This is the World Cup, Super Bowl and Stanley Cup of bicycle racing. Cyclists from around the world gather in France to compete for the chance win the prestigious Tour de France trophy and a cash prize of €450,000. This is a sport that engages 3.5 billion television viewers, and over 12 million spectators annually. It’s a thrilling show and it is completely free to attend.
But how could Tadej Pogačar reach such a great achievement at such a young age? Let's try to understand it having a look into his carrier.
At the age of 9 Tadej changed his football jersey for a race jersey with a matching bike. Pogačar joined his brother Tilen at the Rog Ljubljana cycling club. The talent of the Slovenian youngster showed quickly as it didn’t take long for Tadej to start winning races. The older Tadej got, the more he started to impress in the races.
The Slovenian cycling federation took note and when Tadej Pogačar entered the junior ranks at the age of 16 he was consistently selected to ride for the National team. In 2015 he rode the Course de la Paix his first big stage race and one of the biggest junior races in the world. Tadej did very well as he finished 8th in the GC and 2nd in the young rider classification (behind Brandon McNulty).
One year later in the same race, Pogačar took his first big international youth win. He won a stage finishing on a small hill. It wouldn’t be the only international success for him that year as he also managed to win the final GC of the Giro della Lunigiana and finishing on the podium in all three stages of that race.
For the 2017 season Tadej signed a deal with local continental squad ROG – Ljubljana. The young Slovenian showed he didn’t have any trouble with the transition from the u19 to the u23 category as he was found near the front of almost all the races he rode. The biggest performance of the year came in his home country were he rode his very first professional race, the Tour of Slovenia. The race was won by Tour de France stage and mountain classification winner Rafael Majka. However Pogačar surprised many including himself by riding towards a fifth place in the final GC, not bad for an 18 year old in his first professional race!
In the 2018 season Tadej not only confirmed his talent, but he clearly made another big step in his progression towards the top. In the Grand Prix Priessnitz the race he won as a junior (course de la Paix), he now took his first international win as an U23. On the final stage of the race, Tadej put in a huge solo effort to win with a minute margin which also gained him the overall win. A week later Pogačar entered the Slovenian time trial nationals among the pro’s and managed to finish 2nd behind Tratnik who just the year before finished 10th in the World ITT Championships. A few days later it was time for the Tour of Slovenia, a big target for Tadej. Tadej fought against Roglic and Uran (who the year before finished 2nd in the Tour de France) and managed to do one better than last year as he finished 4th overall. Team UAE saw how well was riding and in July of 2018 Tadej signed his first professional contract as he would join the World Tour at the start of 2019. But the highlight of 2018 was yet to come, as at the end of the year Pogačar competed in the Tour de l’Avenir. A race known as the Tour de France for riders under the age of 23. Most riders who do well here have a very bright future ahead of him. Tadej who aimed for a top 5 place in GC, won the race thanks to his consistency and finished almost 1 and a half minutes in front of his nearest competitor.
Tadej's debut for team UAE came early 2019 as he rode the Tour Down Under in Australia. He did well helping his leader Ulissi, but also managed to finish 15th himself which again showed Tadej had no problem at all with the transition to a higher level.
His European debut for team UAE, came a month later in the Volta ao Algarve a stage race in Portugal. In stage two the riders faced an uphill finish and surprisingly Tadej took victory ahead of Team Sky’s Wout Poels. The day after Tadej extended his lead by finishing 5th in the ITT, finishing only behind some ITT specialists. The race finished with another mountain top finish and while Tadej was attacked a lot, he managed to bring home the final victory. A start to a brilliant season was made, Pogačar showed consistency throughout the whole season and not much after his victory in Portugal he would finish 6th in the Itzulia Basque Country race, a stage race with a lot of history and a field full of stars.
A month later Tadej would win his first World Tour race as he took the queen stage and the final victory of the Amgen Tour of California. He continued his great season by taking his first professional national title by beating Mohoric and Tratnik in the ITT nationals. Because of his great showings throughout the year, the team decided the 20 year old Tadej could make his debut in a Grand Tour. He was the youngest rider in the race (over a year younger than the 2nd youngest), but again surprised himself and the world. The race would turn into a career highlight (so far) as he managed to win three stages and finish on the overall podium. He ended up third behind his own country man Primoz Roglic and the legend Alejandro Valverde.
Tadej set the bar high in 2019, but he did manage to outperform himself again in 2020. He did this by taking the biggest win of them all, the final victory in the Tour de France! He did it in style as well, as he did not only wint he final overall. He took three stages, the mountain classification and the young rider classification along the way. It was an unexpected win, Tadej went into the final time trial 57 seconds behind ITT specialist Primoz Roglic. Pogačar rode the best time trial of his life and outclassed everyone. He won the time trial and took the Tour de France win for 59 seconds ahead (final GC) of Roglic.
Before the last time trial stage at 2020 Tour de France, Tadej managed to remain absolutely concentrated on his target and showed off an outstanding capacity to manage psychological pressure when about to race again a more experienced rider like Primoz Roglic.
Here is a cool video documentary of the last stage of 2020 Tour the France won by Tadej:
Source: Tadej Pogacar official website