Pogačar protests Slovenian federation, will not participate in Olympics | Relief
It hasn’t been 24 hours since then. Tadej Pogacar He took his third Tour de France victory on the streets of Nice, and news of his imminent future is already back on the front pages.
The Vuelta, which starts in Lisbon on August 17, has been ruled out, with the World Cup on September 29 the main target for the rest of the season. will not participate in the Olympic Games in Paris which celebrate their opening ceremony this Wednesday, July 26.
New Tour Champion On July 8 last year, he was included in the Slovenian men’s national team roster. together with Luka Mezgec, Jan Tratnik and Matej Mohoric. However, he was not named Urska Zigartcurrent national champion in road racing and time trialthe best slovenian cyclist according to the rating and Pogacar’s romantic partner.
The absence did not please the Slovenian cyclist at all, who, upon learning of his country’s bid for the Olympic Games, He insisted that if Zigart did not go to Paris, then he would not go either.The Slovenian Cycling Federation asked the Tour de France champion to think about it calmly, but the decision had already been made.
So, after she publicly expressed her discomfort (even despite Zigart’s initial resistance), Pogačar will not compete in the Olympic time trial on July 27 and the road cycling race on August 3.where he will be replaced by his UAE teammate Domen Novak.
However, beyond Pogacar’s anger, Zigart’s omission from the Slovenian Olympic team has a downside. National team coach Gorazd Penkoresponsible for developing the call, He, in turn, is the sports director of BTC City Ljubljana, Giraffe Ambedo.The cyclist called the team in which Urska Pintar competes to the detriment of Siegart.
And all this despite the fact that Siegart is the current Slovenian road and time trial champion, as well as the best Slovenian cyclist in the UCI rankings. However, the Paris route profile does not seem ideal for its conditions.because the winding Montmartre route would require cycling skills that Sieghardt does not possess.