The Tour de France champion Tadej Pogacar says the Slovenian federation’s decision not to select his girlfriend, Urska Zigart, for the Olympics was one of the reasons behind his 11th-hour decision to withdraw from the Paris Games.
On Monday the Slovenian Olympic Committee said in a statement that Pogacar had not been selected because of fatigue, less than 24 hours after he had won his third Tour title in Nice. However, Pogacar flew to the Netherlands to compete in a criterium race on Tuesday evening.
Speaking before that race, the 25-year-old said of Zigart’s non-selection: “It’s not the main reason, but for sure it didn’t help. I think she deserves her spot. She’s the double national champion in road race and time trial.”
Zigart is her nation’s highest-ranked rider and Pogacar has long been a highly visible presence in support of her career in the women’s peloton. “She’s the only woman cyclist in Slovenia that ever achieved top 10 in week-long World Tour races,” he told the Dutch broadcaster NOS. “She did great in the last two years winning points for Slovenia and, without her, they wouldn’t have two spots in the [Olympic] road race.”
After the Slovenian Olympic team was announced this month, Pogacar posted online: “I am disgusted by the fact that Urska Zigart, a two-time national champion and the best Slovenian cyclist on the World Tour, has not been selected for the Olympic Games,” adding that he was “speechless”.
Zigart had been seen as an inevitable selection for the Olympics following a series of impressive results. “Before the Tour of Switzerland, I received a text message from national coach Gorazd Penko explaining his decision and his reasons,” Zigart told Slovenian media. “He told me he had already decided last year.”
Penko has selected Urska Pintar, who finished second at this year’s Slovenian national championship, 11 minutes behind Zigart. “It is what it is, and now we can go on vacation together,” Pogacar said of the pair’s Olympic absence.
The Giro d’Italia-Tour double winner Pogacar was one of several top riders from this year’s Tour competing in Tuesday’s Surhuisterveen criterium. Asked if he felt like racing in the Netherlands after six weeks competing in Grand Tours, Pogacar said: “Part of me, yes, part of me, no.”
Pogacar was selected to ride in the men’s Olympic road race on 3 August, hoping to improve on his bronze medal at the Tokyo Olympics, but is now expected to seek a rare triple crown by adding the world road race title in Zurich on 29 September, to his Giro and Tour titles.
“For me, putting a cherry on top of this season would be to have a really nice August, to relax a bit, to prepare well for the world championships and then give it my all there,” Pogacar said.
The Slovenian national federation did not respond to a request for comment.
