Flocked by his entourage, Tadej Pogačar walked slowly into the press room next to the open-air Roubaix Velodrome. He took a seat beside Mads Pedersen, the day’s third-place finisher, and, as he waited for the Dane to finish his conference, looked out at the faces of the journalists in front of him.
Staring back, they saw a portrait of exhaustion. The Slovenian's cheeks were dusty with mud, his complexion drained of colour, and his eyes half-shut. Simply blinking took longer than usual.
