All hail Tadecaj Pogacar - cue 'haters'

 

The Giro-Tour double winner, wonder boy, Slovenia’s TADEJ POGACAR, astounded us all when he completed the famous Grand Tour double this summer, victory in both the Giro d’Italia and Le Tour de France. This feat has been accomplished by only a handful of the greats, the last time by sporting legend, the late Marco Pantani of Italy in 1998.

And before him, Ireland’s Stephen Roche in 1987; while the greatest of them all; Belgium’s Eddy Merckx did so three times during his reign. In the women’s Grand Tours, the Netherland’s Annemiek  van Vleutin completed the Giro-Tour double in 2022.

Tadej Pogacar with Giro trophy.

Pogaca, 25, held us spellbound by his attacks.  His instantaneous acceleration- as if fired like a missile from the leading group, soaring away in the mountains of Italy and of France. Although his valiant rivals in Le Tour, Denmark’s Jonas Vinegaard and Belgium’s Remco Evenepoel spiritedly matched his attacks for a while, they lacked the firepower to take him on and would fall minutes behind by the end.

He killed them. There was no one to touch him. It was like a first cat riding with thirds. He won six stages in each Tour.

It was a thrilling display, day after day and I was gripped. This was superb entertainment: and then on the fourth day, a voice deep inside me, said, Whoa!

There is no denying he is a special athlete. But where does he get such strength.  We often joke about what the stars have for breakfast. What does Pog have for his breakfast? Let's take a light hearted look. The pictures below may offer a clue.

"She's had her Weetabix", goes the add, comic TV commercial portraying a youngster  hooking a submarine on her line, suggesting their cereal gives  you great strength.  So does Pog have his Weetabix?              

Or is it more likely he eats the Balkan bread, below, ironically named Pogaca! Folklore has it  mothers bake this for their men when making long journeys and facing lots of challenges.

And yet, unsurprisingly and inevitably, his high pace has raised eyebrows and prompted talk on the online news channels. The following, quoted from Velo:

“Tadej Pogačar (UAE Emirates) is facing insinuations of “technological fraud.”

Velo refer to a report in Swiss newspaper Le Temps which said some riders in the peloton, speaking off the record, suspect some teams are using “motor-doping.”

They claim they are hearing “strange” noises in the rear hubs of bikes used by leading riders in a number of teams.

Pogačar pushed back against new suspicions that his insurmountable lead is ill-gotten, said Velo.

“I don’t know. We don’t hear any noise,” a bewildered Pogačar told journalists. “We don’t use anything illegal. It’s all Campagnolo materials … I don’t know what to say.”

 

The UCI clearly believe that electric motors are being used by some in the peloton. Whether that was during Le Tour I don’t know.

The technology exists. It is out there, perhaps hiding in bottom brackets here and there.  They first came to light when a female cyclo-cross rider was caught using one some years ago.

So now, as well as testing for urine and blood anomalies, they are scanning bikes for any signal that may betray electric trickery.

Pog has called the accusers “haters”.

 Yet, when we saw him fly up those steep ramps breaking records set by past riders who are known to have doped, were you among those who cried out, its as if he had a motor! But we didn’t really mean it. Did we? It was meant as a compliment.  It was just a reaction to seeing something few us of witnessed before. No one has ever ridden like that, have they?

Pog responded by declaring the sport has moved on from the bad days when cheating was rife, this was new science, greater understanding of training methods and diet, better bikes, better equipment, it is this that has made the difference.

Much is also said of his immense natural physical ability.

And if you watch that footage again, those flights up and over the peaks, the body language was different to riders on electric assist bikes. Assisted riders are hardly putting any effort in, there is no body movement, or very litttle, Admittably, they are just ordinary mortals.

Pog, by contrast, was thrashing the pedals in a whirl, his body though looking relaxed, was bent to the task.

So no motor, in my opinion.

We read that riders nutritional needs are now individually catered for, prepared according to the objectives day to day.

In the bad old days, being “prepared” often meant being built up on a diet of questionable substances.

No longer, the new younger riders say, the sport is a lot cleaner. 

As for supplements and medicines, there has always been a need to sustain a rider’s health to boost immune systems which take a hit in a long season. We know that riders have always had to remain wary of using over the counter medicines which may contain banned substances, however miniscule.

Supplements can be a minefield.. One such judged safe to use is Creatine, produced naturally in the body and also manufactured and available over the counter.  Creatine can enhance performance - but to acceptable levels. It once came under scrutiny but was passed OK.

Unlike the rocket fuel, the blood booster EPO which was widely used and is banned.

Its tricky business looking after an athlete.

Sadly sport’s legacy – especially that of cycling - has been tied up with doping for over 100 years, and it's not easy to overlook that.

We need only go back to 1998 and the Festina Team drugs affair which rocked Le Tour and shook cycling to its roots.

Ironically, the year 1998 was the year of Pog’s birth. It was also a milestone in cycling history.  The very same year that Marco Pantani scored his Giro-Tour double, a troubled but likeable man, known to dope but revered in Italy to this day.

1998 was the year doping scandal came close to killing our sport.

It began when Willy Voet the Festina team soigneur was on his way to the start of the 98 tour.  He was stopped by police at a small Franco-Belg border with a team car full of drugs: Cocaine, amphetamines, EPO, heroin.

The shit hit the fan. Festina was kicked out of the Tour. We would learn how French heartthrob

Richard Virenque kept a fridge full of EPO.

Voet wrote a book (Breaking the chain) in which the clear inference was doping was rife.

The sport went very quiet. I do not recall any backlash from other teams to Voet’s book.

The Tour was horrified, proclaiming they had no idea.

Then came 1999 and the Le Tour said this is the “Tour of Redemption”.

We so wanted to believe. 

Especially as the young American, recently recovered from cancer, Lance Armstrong went on to win the Tour. All hail Lance, cancer survivor, clean tour winner. It was a fantasy and I for one swallowed it.

And the miracle man, the sport’s saviour, went on to “win” another six Tours, one after the other, seven in total, an absolute record.

But the “haters” were already at it. And I chose not to believe any of them I believed in HIM!

Well, thank you, Lance, baby.

I went on ITV lunchtime news the day of his seventh victory to be asked, is there anything in these stories about Armstrong doping?

No, no. I don’t believe so, I said. He was a cancer survivor, a remarkable athlete, a man raising money for cancer sufferers, feted all over the world.

On the podium at his seventh victory in Paris, he said he felt sorry for those who could not believe.

And he smirked for the cameras.

Then a host of whistle-blowers blew him apart.

They began to speak out, to accuse him. And then he finally dropped the bombshell on American talk show host Oprah Winfrey's show, who asked him. "Have you doped?" 

Yes, he said, he had doped all along.  He was on EPO, rocket fuel.

Not just him, but his team, too. Many in the Peloton were on stuff, he claimed. That's why he decided to take EPO.  The whole sporting world was rocked to the core.

So, you see, Pog, that guy, Armstrong ruined it all.

I thought I will never be able to trust anyone again.

They say the sport is much cleaner now. Right!

We hope so.

But you know what; I’m a sucker for feel good stories.  And your electrifying performances these last few years, and especially in 2024, making you a three time Tour winner, thrilled us to the core.

As for Jonas Vingegaard, winner in 2022 and 2023 when he beat you, this year you relegated him to second overall.

Mind you it must be remembered; Vingegaard’s serious crash in the Basque tour earlier this year meant he came to this year’s Tour with limited preparation. Yet until the final week he looked as if he might succeed, even snatching a mountain top stage win from Pog.

 

And then there is Remco Evenepoel, 24, making his debut in this Tour.  The World TT champion and now Olympic TT champion in Paris last week, he rose to the challenge.

He won a stage and the white jersey of best young rider before taking third overall.  

“Pog, he’s from another planet,” said Remco. He had no regrets, was proud of his podium placing.

To go back to the beginning. So, Pog, what are you on?

What is the secret of your diet?

Here’s a funny thing. I looked up the name Pogacar, to see what might be revealed. As it happens I also discovered that there is a Balkan bread – yeast free – which goes by the name of Pogaca, a very similar spelling with just the letter “r” missing at the end.

According to Hungarian folklore, mothers would bake a loaf of Pogaca for their sons to take on a long journey of many challenges.

So, you’re secret is out, Pog.

It’s not Weetabix providing fire power, it’s bread.

You are just using your loaf.