Tour de France: Tadej Pogačar’s victory highlights the rise of Slovenian riders

For the last few years, the Tour de France has been dominated by Team Sky, now Team Ineos Grenadier, and particularly by British riders. However, this year, the Slovenian riders have dominated, with Tadej Pogačar and Primož Roglič placing first and second. They have also provided us with one of the most exciting events for years, which will surely be remembered for a long time to come.

The penultimate stage this year (considered the last day of racing before the ceremonious ride into Paris) was astounding, with many comparing Primož Roglič loss to that of Laurent Fignon in 1989, when he lost to Gred LeMond by just eight seconds. Although the final time gap between Roglič and this year’s winner Tadej Pogačar was much bigger than in 1989, the shock and disappointment on the faces of Roglič and Fignon looked similar.

Roglič began his sports career when he competed at a national level as a ski Jumper for Slovenia, until dedicating himself to cycling in 2012. He was signed to Jumbo-Visma in 2015 after winning the Tour of Slovenia. Although he has never had any major success at the Tour, he placed first in the general classification in the Vuelta de España last year, setting him up perfectly for this year’s tour win.

Roglič gained the red jersey in the Vuelta after a perfect ride in the individual time trial

Ironically, Roglič gained the red jersey in the Vuelta after a perfect ride in the individual time trial, making his loss to Pogačar sting even more. However, Roglič did lose to Pogačar in the 2020 Slovenian National Time Trial Championships, so the tour is certainly not the first time the two have raced head-to-head.

Pogačar has exploded onto the professional cycling scene and made his name known as a serious competitor at the age of just 22-years-old. This is astonishing as most Grand Tour winners are in their late-twenties to early-thirties when they hit their prime. Chris Froome was 27 when he won his first tour title.

This means Pogačar could potentially win another six tour titles before he even reaches his ‘prime years’ by Froome’s standards – bear in mind that the official record for most tour wins is five. Pogačar was actually 21 when he won this year’s Tour, making him the youngest winner since Henri Cornet, who was just shy of his 20th birthday in 1904. Pogačar was also the youngest person ever to win the Tour of California in 2019 at the age of 20.

Bernal suffered with back pain and so withdrew after stage 16

Another rider who is certainly worth a mention when talking about young riders with great potential is last year’s Tour de France winner, Egan Bernal who won at the age of 22. Unfortunately, Bernal suffered with back pain and so withdrew after stage 16, meaning he was unable to defend his title. Bernal is more evidence that the nature of the Tour may be changing and starting to favour younger riders. It will be interesting to see if in the coming years this trend continues.

Pogačar is clearly a rider not to be underestimated. In addition to winning the general classification this year, Pogačar also managed to win the Best Young Rider and the King of the Mountains titles.

Only one other rider has ever managed to win three jerseys in the same year at the tour – Eddy Merckx. This further proves Pogačar’s incredible potential within the world of professional cycling and will hopefully provide us with many more years of nail-biting viewing and victories.