Tadej Pogacar's greatest successes
- Overall victory Tour de France 2020 & 2021
- 9 stage wins at the Tour de France (2020, 2021 & 2022)
- Mountain classification of the Tour de France 2020 & 2021
- White jersey for the best young professional at the Tour de France 2020, 2021 & 2022
- 1st place Tour of Lombardy 2021 & 2022
- 1st place Liège-Bastogne-Liège 2021
- Overall victory Tirreno-Adriatico 2021 & 2022
- 3 stage wins at the Vuelta a Espana 2019
- 1st place Grand Prix Cycliste de Montreal 2022
- 1st place Strade Bianche 2022
- Overall victory UAE Tour 2021 & 2022
- Overall victory Tour of California 2019
Teams
- Since 2019 UAE Team Emirates (contract until 2027)*
- 2018 Ljubljana Gusto Xaurum
- 2017 ROG - Ljubljana
Who is the Slovenian cycling star who has been the talk of the town? Five things worth knowing about Tadej Pogacar.
Cycling relationship
Pogacar comes from Klanec near Komenda, around 20 kilometres from the Slovenian capital Ljubljana. Tadej Pogacar's girlfriend is the professional cyclist Urska Zigart, who currently rides for the BikeExchange-Jayco team. The two have been engaged since 2021.
An early start
For the 2019 season, the then 20-year-old Tadej Pogacar was brought into the World Tour by UAE Team Emirates. The top talent exceeded expectations in his first year in cycling's premier league. Back in spring 2019, he attracted attention with his overall victory at the Tour of the Algarve. He achieved the same feat a little later at the Tour of California. In September, he stormed to victory in the Vuelta a Espanahis first Grand Tour, in third place and won three stages. In 2020, he scored a major coup shortly before his 22nd birthday. Pogacar became the youngest rider since Henri Cornet in 1904 (19 years old at the time) to win the Tour de France.
Versatility
Tadej Pogacar doesn't limit himself to the Grand Tours like many tour specialists. He is also really good in the classics. With Liège-Bastogne-Liège and the Tour of Lombardy, he has already won two cycling monuments - the latter even twice. But that's not all. At the Tour of Flanders 2022 Pogacar even proved his skills on cobblestones and rode for a long time with classics specialist Mathieu van der Poel for the win - in the end Pogacar finished fourth.
Alcohol ban for Tadej Pogacar
When Tadej Pogacar won the Tour of California in 2019, the organisers had to come up with something. Normally, the winner of the race received champagne. However, as Pogacar was not yet 21 years old at the time (the age at which you are allowed to drink alcohol in the USA), he was presented with a stuffed bear instead of a bottle of bubbly.
The musical vein of Tadej Pogacar
Tadej Pogacar is also an eye-catching character outside the peloton. During the coronavirus pandemic, the Slovenian tried his hand at rapping in 2020.
In 2022, the two-time winner of the Tour de France also made a guest appearance in a rap video by Bas Tietema, a Dutch Youtuber who became a professional cyclist. The title "Wielerhart" (cyclist's heart in German) is a tribute to the joy of cycling.
*Contract period according to Procyclingstats.com
