Tadej Pogacar, a young 21 year old Slovenian rider, has won the Tour de France 2020 against all expectations. He is the youngest winner of this competition since a century.
Tadej Pogacar’s victory in the Tour de France 2020 was a surprise for himself before being a surprise for the others. “My dream was just to participate in the Tour and now I have won,” he said. Pogacar wins a cycling competition for the very first time, and not just any cycling competition.
In his young career, Tadej Pogacar finished third in the 2016 European Junior Championships. It was his best result. Two years later, he was recruited by the UAE-Emirates team. In 2019, he shines in the Vuelta, the Tour of Spain. He wins three stages and climbs on the podium to take third place. This year 2020, he is fourth in the Criterium du Dauphiné. And this Sunday, for his first participation in the Tour de France, the young Pogacar was crowned with success. The last one to have achieved such a feat was Laurent Fignon, in 1983.
Now Tadej Pogacar is among the stars of the cycling world. It remains to be seen whether he will return to the pedestal of glory. Twelve months ago, Egan Bernal was predicted by most to dominate the Tour de France 2020. He will retire at the end of stage 16. It is a race that has seen team Ineos Grenadiers lose control of the overall classification (GC) on 36, 2 kilometres of the Tour for the first time since 2014. This race has also seen Peter Sagan coming out of the green for the first time after about a decade, and the French challenge to win the yellow jersey evaporated.
A year ago, when signing his contract in UAE-Emirates, Tadej Pogacar said, “I believe in the team and I want to be part of this ambitious project, the next five years will be fundamental for the team and my career. ” He starts brilliantly with the Tour de France 2020.
Gérard Rugambwa
