Tour de France winner Pogacar withdraws from Olympic Games

Tour de France winner Tadej Pogacar withdrew from the Olympic Games in Paris yesterday due to “fatigue”, his Slovenian team announced.

“Unfortunately, Tadej Pogacar has withdrawn from the race due to extreme fatigue,” Slovenian Olympic cycling coach Uros Murn said in a statement.

Pogacar won his third Tour de France title in Nice on Sunday. The victory also gave him the first Giro d’Italia-Tour de France double since Marco Pantani in 1998.

The 25-year-old cyclist, who won bronze in the road race in Tokyo in 2021, was angry because her friend Urska Zigart was not selected for the Slovenian women’s cycling team for the Games in Paris.

He said he was “angry” and “speechless” in a message posted on his Facebook account.

“I need some rest after the Tour and I don’t know yet what I’m going to do next,” Pogacar said on Sunday.

“And I want to relax, rest and spend some time with my girlfriend.”

When asked about the Olympics on Sunday, he remained very evasive, preferring to mention his “dream” of one day wearing the world champion’s rainbow jersey.

At the World Championships in Zurich in September, the Slovenian is aiming for a triple world title, the Giro and the Tour, which are only in the hands of two men: the Irishman Stephen Roche and the Belgian Eddy Merckx.

Pogacar is replaced in the national team by Domen Novak.

“Once again Tadej, congratulations on your victory in the Tour de France!” said Team Slovenia.