Tadej Pogačar (UAE Team Emirates-XRG) has heavily denounced social media and the external pressures faced by professional cyclists as he weighed in on the criticism Wout van Aert (Visma-Lease a Bike) has faced during the Spring Classics.
Speaking at his pre-Tour of Flanders press conference in Waregem, Pogačar was asked how he felt about the responses received by Van Aert in the past week after the Belgian was negatively criticised following the E3 Saxo Classic and Dwars door Vlaanderen.
In the former, Van Aert only managed 15th and was well away from the form of long-term rival Mathieu van der Poel (Alpecin-Deceuninck), who won E3 solo. The latter saw Van Aert and Visma lose a three-against-one final to Neilson Powless (EF Education-EasyPost) in the sprint.
With the external pressure from the Belgian press and social media over his form and internal pressure to succeed, Van Aert found himself in a nightmare after Wednesday's race, prompting riders like Demi Vollering to come to his defence. Pogačar followed suit.
"For sure, every rider experiences some pressure and a rider like Wout, he has big races to do and every time the team relies on him the most and for sure he needs to perform," said the world champion.
"He races for victory and to come second, especially after three-against-one, for sure it sucks, but I think that's also part of racing.
"Wout will pick himself up and come to the next race not thinking about Dwars and just thinking about doing his best again. If it goes well for him, it goes well, if not, I don't think it's the end of the world – it's just bike racing."
Pogačar after all, is no stranger to criticism and sceptics on social media. He tries his best to block out the external noise, uttering strong words about the effects social media can have on a rider's mental well-being.
"I mean, social media is the cancer of our society," he said.
"You can be on social media all day, and there are a lot of positive things, but always the negative things come out the most.
"It can ruin your day and it's really not worth it to follow social media and news, no offence to you guys," Pogačar said, gesturing to the room full of international journalists including Cyclingnews.
"It's best not to care about those things and the easiest way to not care about those things is to not read them and not be anywhere present."
The Slovenian didn't actually get to watch Dwars door Vlaanderen, as he completed a recon of the Paris-Roubaix course and got in some final preparations ahead of Flanders on Wednesday, but he did comment on the tactical blunder Visma-Lease a Bike made.
"Honestly, I didn't see the final, I just saw the results. But I heard what happened. I cannot say too much, it's just the way the racing goes," said Pogačar.
"I think they just made a little bit of a mistake. They were confident, and there's nothing wrong with that, but Neilson [Powless] was just really in top shape for the sprint in the end."
Pogačar then backed the resilient Van Aert to bounce back and respond to the critics at Sunday's Tour of Flanders, labelling him as one of the other main contenders he'll have to watch out for alongside Van der Poel.
"Wout is looking pretty good. One day he was good one day not as much, but I think Flanders is his main goal," Pogačar said.
"I think he always finds this extra motivation and energy for the big races and he always performs even better when he's on the big stage, compared to smaller races. We will see him in great shape on Sunday."
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