Sports Eye
A new cycling star is born
By Jesus A. Garcia Jr.
WORLD cycling experts say that no cyclist in the world will ever win the Tour de France (TdF) in his first try. But a young and neophyte rider named Tadej Pogacar of Slovenia proved the globe’s connoisseurs wrong. He stunned the world’s cycling buffs, including this writer, as well as his teammates when he won the coveted TdF diadem on his initial try. And to think, nobody gave him a second look, much less some credit for qualifying the start of the 21-day bikefest, but “expect the unexpected” as the saying goes, with Pogacar (nicknamed Pogi).
He was trailing by just 57 seconds after 19 days of racing against his compatriot Primoz Roglic, when Pogacar emerged as the strongest of all the 176 accredited world contestants by winning the short but vital 36-kilometer individual-time-trial stage to seize the overall leadership from Roglic. From thereon, he floated with the main pack in the 21st and final stage to the cheers of his friends, relatives, fans but above all, his UAE squad at the grand finish at Champ Elysees in Paris.
Unknown perhaps to many, Pogi has had some experiences in some elite races including the 2020 Tour of California which he won. Obviously, his forte is in time-trials and mountain climbing which he used to his advantage to bag the gold medals twice in his native land Slovenia.
As an amateur at his age 17, he placed 5th in the 2017 Tour of Slovenia. But his best finish in a world elite bicycle road race was a third-place finish in the 21-day 2019 Vuelta a España (Tour of Spain) won by Roglic. From there, you can see how the young fellow walked up the podium slowly but surely and achieved his ultimate dream – to win the coveted TdF tiara this year.
Of course, nobody expected Pogi to win the TdF this year being a greenhorn in this event, considered as the toughest, longest, richest and the most prestigious bicycle race in the world. After winning the 9th stage, race observers especially the experts, still did not give the young Slovenian fellow much of a chance to win the TdF. But after winning the 15th stage that passed four mountains and considered as the toughest of all the 21 stages, and Pogi zoomed past the others to close the gap on race leader Roglic with just 57 seconds off, people’s view of him changed dramatically.
From thereon, the media,race officials and particularly the spectators started to notice him, sized him up from head to foot in awe, surprised how the 5’9.5” young rider succeeded to take his place at the highest podium. Little did they expect that Pogi would not only break TdF record as the youngest winner after Henri Cornet of France in 1904 but also wore the best mountain climber jersey and most of all, the only rookie competitor in the history of TdF to win it.
Pogi just turned 22 years old just a day after his triumph on September 21. Truly, a, monumental birthday gift for him from Above.
“At his young age of 21, Pogacar will earn more experience and can be expected to conquer more big races in days to come,” said Eddy Merckx of Belgium. I totally agree without a doubt.
Merckx is considered as the world’s greatest cyclist of all time being the former five-time TdF and five-time Giro (Tour of Italy) and one-time Vuelta (Tour of Spain) champion as well as four-time world road race titlist, to name some of his unbroken accolades. Honestly, he’s my all-time hero of world cycling. He’s my age contemporary.
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QUOTE OF THE WEEK: And Jesus Christ said, “For if you believe Moses, you would believe Me; for he wrote about Me. But if you do not believe his writings, how will you believe My words?” JOHN 5: 46-47
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