Pogacar-"Bodyguard" started with a flourish at Olympia
At the Tour de France, Nils Politt is responsible for allowing Tadej Pogacar to celebrate his dominant win. The German receives excessive praise. After the drama before the Olympics - and he will now race them without his teammates.
After three weeks of brutal drama, Pogacar and Politt enjoyed a shared party in the legendary nightlife of Nice extensively. Politt and the rest of the UAE-Team rejoiced with Pogacar after his third Tour victory, then their paths separated. At the Olympics, Politt will ride on his own - and he also doesn't have to race against the "Cannibal": Pogacar announced his Olympic participation in the evening "due to extreme fatigue".
"It was hard, but beautiful Tour weeks. We worked great as a team", Politt said on Sunday, "now I'm really looking forward to the Olympics, it will finally be my first games." The 30-year-old Cologne native carried the huge euphoria from Nice into Paris. There, he embraced the champion Pogacar immediately after his finish line, carried him in the jubilee crowd on his shoulders, just as he had during the three-week tour.
"It's motivating to have such a leader in our ranks", Politt said. So, the 1.92m giant transformed into a climber at the Tour, scorched the mountain giants like Tourmalet and Bonette as a pace-setter at the front of the peloton, causing specialists like the Austrian former champion Felix Gall to drop behind.
"Nils did an incredible job, he got better every day", Pogacar marveled. Despite Politt finishing in 75th place overall with a four-hour deficit: completely irrelevant, he didn't race on his own. In the Olympic road race on August 3 - Max Schachmann is the only German participating in the time trial - Politt has all the freedoms and no longer has to measure himself against the invincible Giro and Tour champion from Slovenia.
Anger against Slovenian sports leadership
"If I stay healthy and take it easy, then the form will be good. In two weeks, you can recover well", Politt said. The selective Parisian course could suit the Classics specialist. However, Politt is not among the medal favorites, even if his team captain is missing.
Whether the nominated Pogacar will even appear in Paris was already a question on Sunday after his victory in Nice. On the one hand, he harbors anger against the Slovenian sports leadership because his girlfriend Urska Zigart was not selected as a double national champion for the Games. On the other hand, he reacted evasively to related inquiries.
"I'm very tired and don't want to talk about the Olympics anymore", he said, "I'll deal with it later", he did so on Monday with the withdrawal.
Pogacar's Olympic participation was confirmed despite his fatigue, even though he expressed anger towards the Slovenian sports leadership due to his girlfriend's exclusion from the Olympic team. During the Tour de France, Politt played a crucial role in allowing Pogacar to celebrate his third victory, but at the Olympic Games 2024 in Paris, Politt will race independently, free from competing against Pogacar.
