Tadej Pogacar is the superstar next door
He is already one of the greatest cyclists of all time. But interest in Tadej Pogacar in Switzerland remains manageable.
Tadej Pogacar wants to become world champion on Sunday in Zurich.
EPA
Imagine if Cristiano Ronaldo held a media conference in Cham. The hall would be bursting with media professionals and the sheer mass of fans in front of the building would be hard to contain.
Cycling is a different world. Nowhere is this more evident than on this Thursday evening in Cham. The Slovenian Cycling Association has invited people to the media conference. Tadej Pogacar, cycling’s biggest star, will be there. The auditorium at the OYM in Cham has been chosen optimistically; around fifty media professionals have gathered. Half of the seats remain empty.
When the 26-year-old entered the hall with his teammate Primoz Roglic and the sporting director Uros Murn, he seemed inconspicuous. Pogacar is wearing a trainer’s jacket and his hair is not styled. The first fifteen minutes of the media conference take place in Slovenian, then the protagonists switch to English. Pogacar finds words of praise for his competitors Remco Evenepoel, Mathieu van der Poel and of course also for the Swiss ace Marc Hirschi. And he says: “The World Cup race is one of the most difficult of all. I think it will be very hard.”
The opportunity for historiography
Tadej Pogacar is the superstar of cycling. He is the big favorite to win the World Championship road race on Sunday. If he wins the 273 kilometers from Winterthur to Zurich, then he will achieve something that only two people have done before him: win the Tour de France, the Giro d’Italia and the World Championships in the same year. “Triple Crown” is the unofficial title. So far, only two men have taken on this crown. In 1974 the Belgian legend Eddy Merckx and in 1987 the Irishman Stephen Roche.
Tadej Pogacar won the Tour de France for the third time this year.
Jerome Delay / AP
But it means little to Pogacar to be mentioned in this list. “I don’t know what the Triple Crown is supposed to stand for,” he says. What’s more important to him is finally being able to wear the world champion’s jersey, the rainbow jersey. «It is something very special. It defines you as the best cyclist in the world. It’s a huge goal for me to be able to wear this rainbow jersey.” To achieve this, Pogacar wants to leave its competitors behind in Zurich. As he often does. His Slovenian compatriot Primoz Roglic says: “Tadej simply wins almost all races.”
Since this year at the latest, Tadej has not only been the driver who has won the most races. He has now become the biggest star in his sport. No other cyclist has as many followers on social media as he does; there are over two million people on Instagram. Pogacar is one of those athletes who can become famous far beyond sports. He is what Cristiano Ronaldo is to football. Or what Tiger Woods is to golf. Or what Roger Federer is to tennis.
But Tadej Pogacar is a different superstar than others. He doesn’t have an arrogant demeanor, instead he appears humble. He is considered extremely popular among his competitors in the field. If he is criticized by his competitors, it is at most for not letting them win in tours, even on supposedly unimportant stages. He also has a different demeanor than other cycling stars before him. He doesn’t have the dominant, almost bossy manner of Lance Armstrong. He also doesn’t have the presence of Peter Sagan. If he’s sitting there on the armchair in the OYM, the competence center for top athletics and research, then he could also be one of the ambitious young athletes who train there. Pogacar is the guy next door who suddenly became a superstar.
The number of fans is limited
But even though he has become a star in cycling circles, it is clear in Switzerland around the World Cup that there are no big crowds. No fans come over. And in Cham the athletes don’t live in luxury, but they have the best training conditions. Pogacar didn’t come to spend the night comfortably in Switzerland, but to win.
Other competitors, teammates at the World Cup: Primoz Roglic (left) and Tadej Pogacar.
Sebastien Nogier / EPA
He can hope for the support of Primoz Roglic, the winner of the Vuelta. “We Slovenians have one of the best teams in the world, maybe the best,” says Pogacar, who is also good for a saying. When asked who would win if only he and Roglic remained at the end, he said: “I think we’ll play rock, paper, scissors for a moment.”
