Tadej Pogacar

Slovenian Tadej Pogačar burst onto the professional cycling scene in 2019 after signing to UAE Team Emirates for his first pro season. A winner of the Tour de l'Avenir in 2018, Pogačar further proved his promise for the future by winning the Volta ao Algarve and Tour of California, then taking three stages at the Vuelta a España and third overall in his first Grand Tour.

In one of the most stunning upsets in Tour de France history, Pogačar snatched the overall victory of the 2020 Tour de France from Primoz Roglic on the individual time trial to La Planche des Belles Filles, delivering a stunning performance in his debut race. He won the overall classification and best young rider and mountains classification and three stages.

Pogačar repeated that performance in 2021, dominating the Tour de France with three stage wins and three classifications in a season where he also won Tirreno-Adriatico, the UAE Tour, Liège–Bastogne–Liège, an Olympic bronze medal and Il Lombardia.

In the off-season, he became engaged to partner Urška Žigart.

In 2022, Pogačar started the season with a repeat victory in the UAE Tour, then won Strade Bianche with a stunning 50km solo attack. A repeat at Tirreno-Adriatico followed and top results in Milan-San Remo (5th) and the Tour of Flanders (4th) before he refocused on the Tour de France.

Pogačar took the lead of the 2022 Tour de France on stage 6 to Longwy but lost the lead to Jonas Vingegaard on stage 11 where he uncharacteristically struggled and lost his lead and an additional 2:22. He fought through in the final week.

In 2023, Pogačar returned to the Spring Classics and put in a stunning performance to win the Tour of Flanders, dropping Mathieu van der Poel on the Oude Kwaremont and soloing in for the win. He then went on to win the Amstel Gold Race and La Flèche Wallonne before targeting the Ardennes triple in Liège-Bastogne-Liège. An early crash, however, knocked him out of the race with a broken wrist. The injury hampered his training for the Tour de France, and he was unable to match Vingegaard for the second year in a row, finishing second a full 7:29 behind with his teammate Adam Yates in third almost 11 minutes behind. Still only 24, he won the best young rider classification.
Pogačar made the winning move at the UCI Road World Championships with Van der Poel, Wout van Aert and Mads Pedersen, but couldn't go with Van der Poel when he attacked. Van Aert got away in the run-in to the finish in Glasgow, but Pogačar out-sprinted Pedersen for the bronze medal. He then finished the season with his third straight win at Il Lombardia.

Pogačar's 2024 season surpassed anything the cycling world has seen since the days of Eddy Merckx. Starting with a win in Strade Bianche, he dominated the Volta a Catalunya, winning two mountain stages before soloing away for 59 kilometres to win stage 6. He claimed his fourth stage and the overall on the final day. Then, he won Liège-Bastogne-Liège for the second time before starting his debut Giro d'Italia. He dominated from stage 2, taking the pink jersey at the Santuario di Oropa and holding the lead to the end, winning by almost 10 minutes. 

Pogačar rested until the Tour de France, where he claimed the lead on stage 2, gave it up for one day, then led until the end, holding off a challenge from Jonas Vingegaard to win his third Tour by more than six minutes. After skipping the Olympic Games to punish the federation for not selecting his partner Urska Zigart, Pogačar returned to win the GP de Montréal before claiming the elite men's title at the UCI Road World Championships. He capped off his season with a fourth straight win at Il Lombardia, soloing away on the Sormano for 48 kilometres.

Key results

🥇Tour de France overall winner (2020, 2021, 2024)
🥇Tour de France stages (17)
🥇Giro d'Italia (2024)
🥇Giro d'Italia stages (6)
🥇Liège-Bastogne-Liège  (2021, 2024)
🥇Tour of Flanders (2023)
🥇Il Lombardia (2021, 2022, 2023, 2024)
🥇Paris-Nice (2023)
🥇Tirreno-Adriatico overall winner (2021, 2022)
🥇Amstel Gold Race (2023)
🥇La Flèche Wallonne (2023)
🥇Strade Bianche (2022, 2024)

Other victories

Volta a Catalunya (2024)

Vuelta a Andalucía (2023)
Jaén Paraiso Interior (2023)
Volta ao Algarve overall (2019)
Tour of California overall (2019)
3x stages Vuelta a España (2019)
Best young rider: Vuelta a Espana 2019
UAE Tour overall (2021, 2022)
Volta a la Comunitat Valenciana (2020)
Tre Valli Varesine (2022)
GP Montréal (2022, 2024)
Tour of Slovenia (2022)