Pogacar does not eat Jan Ullrich's record anymore
The only Radstar, who wins both the Olympic Road Race and the Tour, is Jan Ullrich. This year, at least, Tadej Pogacar will not change that. The Slovenian complains about extreme fatigue after his success at the Tour de France.
Radstar Tadej Pogacar will not participate in the Olympics in Paris due to extreme fatigue after his victory at the Tour de France. This was announced by the Slovenian NOC one day after his third overall win at the world's most important cycling race. "Unfortunately, Tadej Pogacar had to cancel his participation due to extreme fatigue," said Slovenia's Olympic trainer Uros Murn in a statement. Pogacar will be replaced by Domen Novak.
Pogacar finished third in the Road Race at the 2021 Summer Olympics in Tokyo. In Paris, he had the chance to make history: Only Jan Ullrich (1997 Tour de France, 2000 Olympic Road Race) had achieved this double in the same year. This opportunity Pogacar is giving up. In Paris, Ullrich's record is therefore not secure. Besides Pogacar, Jonas Vingegaard from Denmark, Chris Froome from Britain (2015, 2016, 2017), Geraint Thomas from Britain (2018), and Egan Bernal from Colombia (2019) are also not participating.
On Sunday evening, after his dominating victory at the Tour, Pogacar's participation in the Games seemed uncertain at least. The man from Team UAE Emirates reacted evasively to related questions, "I am very tired and don't want to talk about the Olympics now," he said. In addition, he harbors resentment against the Slovenian sports leadership because his girlfriend Urska Zigart was not called up as a double national champion.
Pogacar won the Tour after the final time trial in Nice with more than six minutes advantage over the Danish title defender Jonas Vingegaard. In May, he had already achieved the overall win at the Giro d'Italia. Pogacar is the first rider since Marco Pantani in 1998 to achieve the Giro-Tour double.
Despite his triumph at the Tour de France, Tadej Pogacar was unable to participate in the Olympic Games 2024 in Paris due to extreme fatigue. This significant cycling event, which includes the Road Race, would have given Pogacar the chance to follow in the footsteps of Jan Ullrich, the only Radstar to win both the Olympic Road Race and the Tour de France.
