After a long 2022 season, even Tadej Pogačar needs a holiday.
The 24-year-old UAE Team Emirates leader has been in Colombia for the last couple of weeks, riding Rigoberto Urán’s Giro di Rigo event and then relaxing and enjoying his off-season with his partner and fellow pro rider Urška Žigart.
Pogačar can look back on another successful season. He may not have won a third consecutive Tour de France but he remains the best rider in the men’s peloton, again ending the season as the world’s number-one ranked rider.
With another 16 victories to his name – including Il Lombardia, Strade BIanche, and three stages of the Tour de France – comparisons to Eddy Merckx still stand.
A new generation of riders is emerging in Pogačar’s slipstream but he seems destined to go on to win at least five editions of the Tour de France and become be one of the greats of the sport. Yet he is doing it all with nonchalance and a smile on his face.
Despite his success and a reported €6m per-season contract with UAE Team Emirates, Pogačar always comes across as a well-mannered boy next door who is simply living his dream.
He is about to move apartments in Monaco but only to a slightly bigger one, with an extra room for all his and Žigart’s bikes. He has no desire to live ostentatiously.
“I’m still the same person I’ve always been,” Pogačar tells Cyclingnews in an exclusive end-of-season interview.
“My life changed a lot but also didn’t change much either. I still love riding my bike, be it in training or racing.”
Pogačar wasn’t aware of the meaning of the word ‘grounded’ but accepts it epitomises his character and way of life.
“I guess my parents raised me that way. My father can be quite tough but is always very relaxed about life, I think that’s who I get it from,” he suggests of his character.
“I suppose I am grounded. I don’t honestly feel the need to speak to a sports psychologist or anything. I just try to enjoy the small moments in life and not think about being a star of the sport or anything else. I keep doing what I’ve done all through my career. I don’t want to change.”
‘An eventful season’
Pogačar is also able to look back at the 2022 season with a similarly grounded logic and analysis.
Cycling data specialists Fuoriclasse created a series of statistics for L’Equipe to highlight Pogačar’s career and 2022 season. They are again truly Merckxian, despite failing to secure yellow in the Tour.
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