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The Slovenian may have ushered in a new era of cycling
© APA (AFP)
On the night of his 22nd birthday, Tadej Pogacar smiled from the tallest building in the world. A sponsor had the image of the new cycling superstar projected at the Burj Khalifa in Dubai after winning the Tour de France. It should be an image for the future. Following his spectacular triumph in France, the baby-faced Slovenian with a killer instinct is seen as the figurehead for the young savages who shape cycling and must stay scandal-free.
Doubt inevitably arises. So apparently the success of Pogacar in his first participation in the tour can be explained. “You know on the scene for two or three years what talent he is. The experts looked at the performance data and were amazed at how much talent there is in the young man,” Ralph Denk, head of Bora, told ZDF: We can only rely on very strict controls, and we do. I think the performance was honestly won. “
Even Greg LeMond, Lance Armstrong’s doping critic and arch nemesis, praises Pogacar’s performance. “I hope there are no doubts. For me he is a great winner of the tour,” said the 59-year-old, who received the yellow jersey three times in Paris. Before the dark age era, it was not uncommon for talented people to step onto the tour podium at a young age. LeMond was successful at 23, Laurent Fignon and icon Eddy Merckx even at 22.
So far there have been no suspicions about Pogacar himself. However, your UAE team staff is a reflection of the older generation. Its sporting director Andrej Hauptman, who discovered Pogacar ten years ago in a children’s race, was excluded from the tour in 2000 due to excessive blood values. Team boss Mauro Gianetti and coach Joxean Matxin once pulled the strings of the Saunier-Duval scandal, but they always protested their innocence.
Pogacar, the child prodigy from the village of Komenda, will continue to be accompanied by questions about doping in the future. The new generation of cycling offers enough material for great stories. Because Pogacar might not dominate the tour for years to come like Armstrong or Chris Froome did. Last year’s winner, Egan Bernal, is only 23 years old and will come back more mature and stronger after his personal drama on tour with the premature end.
Swiss Marc Hirschi, just a month older than Pogacar, already impressed by his aggressiveness on this tour and from a German point of view, stage winner Lennard Kämna (24) expects a lot. And then there is Remco Evenepoel. The 20-year-old Belgian is currently healing from a broken pelvis and should be making his tour debut next year.
With the “new Merckx”, however, the original is reserved. “You shouldn’t rush too much with Remco, he hasn’t shown anything yet. He talks a lot, but I’m still waiting,” said the 75-year-old. There could be no better motivation to take on Pogacar next year.
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