The saga around Urška Žigart’s snub from the Slovenian Olympic road cycling squad for Paris 2024 has continued, with agent Alex Carera stating that the national coach "has damaged cycling” by not picking their best rider.
Žigart is both the Slovenian national time trial and road race champion - winning the latter by over 10 minutes - alongside being the highest-ranked rider. But she was left out of the two-rider team in favour of Eugenia Bujak and Urška Pintar, a decision that left her fiancée Tadej Pogačar “So gutted” and with “no words”.
Carera, agent to both riders, posted his statement on Tuesday, the day after Žigart wasn’t announced on the team, accusing the Slovenian coach of making his selection based on “unprofessional criteria”.
“The Slovenian cycling school is among the best in the world with many champions. Unfortunately, even yesterday we understood why women’s cycling in Slovenia is not at that level,” read a social media post from Carera’s AEJ AllSports.
“Urška is the best athlete, road and time trial champion, but the coach chose with an unprofessional criteria. Why? Better to ask him, but I am not sure he will be able to give an answer.
“I feel sorry for the Slovenian fans because at the next Olympics, they will not be able to cheer for the best athletes. The coach has damaged cycling and the Olympic committee for personal interests. Unacceptable.”
Selector Gorazd Penko did in fact reply when asked on Slovenian TV as reported by RTV SLO, justifying his choice to leave out the Liv AlUla Jayco rider because Žigart “has never been among the top 30 cyclists in a one-day race” at the top level. However, that is something she has managed at La Course by Le Tour de France in 2018 when she was 27th.
Penko defended the selections of Pintar and Bujak because of the former’s results from 2023 when she beat Žigart to the national road title and was ranked higher while riding for BTC City Ljubljana Zhiraf Ambedo, the team where Penko is a DS.
“I will list purely objective reasons: last year, a quota was awarded to the national cycling federations and Urška Pintar scored the highest number of points, she was also ranked highest in the international rankings,” said Penko.
“Although we know that she competes with a club that doesn't have many opportunities for races and a lot of resources.”
Bujak was a top performer at the World Championships in Glasgow in 2023, managing 12th in the time trial won by Chloe Dygert (USA), which was enough to secure her place ahead of Žigart, who he did praise as a climber but didn't rate as a one-day racer.
"If we take a broader look at the selection: Urška Žigart has never been among the top 30 cyclists in a one-day race at a world championship or a one-day WorldTour race," he said. "However, her quality on longer climbs cannot be disputed, here she has undeniable quality."
While Pogačar shared Carera’s post with the simple words “So true, so true” to his Instagram, Žigart shared a longer message stating she is not trying to get herself onto the team, only wanting to express her disagreement with the decision.
“Didn’t expect this to reach the highs it did. I have come to terms with the decision a long while ago. It is not my intention to force participation at all. Especially, because I don't think I want to race somewhere where they don't appreciate me and to be with people who only put me down,” said Žigart.
“But I am allowed to express my disagreement with being left out of the selection and to point out the inexistence of actual objective criteria in the selection process.”
Žigart is currently racing at the Giro d'Italia Women which she said her focus is now fully on, alongside that of the team with Mavi García placed sixth overall amid the fourth stage.
