Following his impressive 2020 Tour de France, the 22-year-old Slovenian is the hottest prospect in cycling.
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The young Slovenian cyclist Tadej Pogacar has been a revelation since making his debut in the cycling world. The maturity he shows at this level, while competing amongst the best in the category is impressive to watch. It is difficult to believe that Pogacar is only 22, considering the level of his racing. Without taking anytime to settle in, he set the pace from the word go at the international level.
The UAE Team Emirates rider announced his arrival, winning the Tour of California in May 2019. He thus became the youngest rider to win a UCI World Tour stage race. After being put on the startlist for the 2019 Vuelta a Espana, Pogacar had won three individual stages en route to a third-place finish. This increased his popularity across the cycling world.
The 2020 Tour de France was Pogacar’s watershed moment as he attained global fame during the event. Going into the 2020 Tour, he initially expressed his support for teammate Fabio Aru. When the Italian abandoned the race on stage 9, Pogacar took the role as the team leader. After getting through the first week of the Tour without getting involved in any crashes, he won stage 9.
In the third week, he won another mountain stage with the stage 15 victory by finishing at the summit of the Col du Grand Colombier. He was overall in 2nd place and within touching distance of his countryman and the current leader Primoz Roglic. He then captured the penultimate stage of the Tour, which was impressively his third stage win. He then took over the lead of the general classification ahead of his countryman Roglic.
Overall in the 2020 Tour de France, he secured the general classification, young rider, and mountains classifications. As a result, Pogacar was the only rider to win these three classifications simultaneously. He also became the second-youngest winner at the age of 21 after Henri Cornet, who won in 1904.
At just 22 years, the Slovenian rider has the age on his side to dominate the cycling world in the near future. If he can maintain his explosive level, Pogacar can only get better and win several more honours for his country.
