Tour de France<\/a> leader than can be gleaned from his reputation and his interviews alone.<\/p>\nThey give an insight into his personality off the bike and away from the limelight, giving a more nuanced perspective on the day-to-day character of the world\u2019s top rider.<\/p>\n
\u2018I still can\u2019t believe this happens to our family\u2019
\n![\"Tadej](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/Z8A_6167-1.jpg\")
Tadej Poga\u010dar is the strongest cyclist in the current peloton. But what\u2019s his character like away from the races?\u00a0 (Photo: Gruber Images)\u00a0<\/p>\n
Perhaps no one knows the Tour de France leader better than his mother. Marjeta Poga\u010dar has a particular memory of Tadej as a child that illustrates his determination.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf Tadej couldn\u2019t achieve something the first time, he tried again and again,\u201d she told Velo. \u201cFor example, he taught himself how to walk. We didn\u2019t teach him.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe tried and tried and tried. He stood up, fell down, he tried to make one step, he fell down. He repeated it until he could walk.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe was 11 months and one week. He was very young.\u201d<\/p>\n
Marjeta and her husband Mirko were in attendance at the UAE Tour this February, along with Poga\u010dar\u2019s younger sister Vita. They were feted at the race \u2014 little wonder, given the spotlight he was getting day after day \u2014 but seemed somewhat uncomfortable with the attention.<\/p>\n
Down to earth, straightforward, they were clearly proud of Tadej and a little bemused by it all.<\/p>\n
\u201cI still can\u2019t believe that this happens to him, to our family,\u201d Marjeta told me, speaking at the stage 5 start at the American University Dubai.<\/p>\n
The family bond was very clear at the race. Not just amongst themselves, but with their famous son too. He greeted his parents and sister each day in the buildup to the stage start, taking time to speak to them, making sure they were okay.<\/p>\n
He has, she says, always had a caring nature, even as a youngster.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe was always joking. But when he felt some tension in the family, he tried to cheer us up.\u201d<\/p>\n
Years later those same traits would be seen with another loved one.<\/p>\n
Offering to quit the Tour
\n![\"ROUBAIX,](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/GettyImages-2210072178.jpg\")
Poga\u010dar and his partner \u00dbrska \u017digart after the 2025 Paris-Roubaix. (Photo by Luca Bettini \u2013 Pool\/Getty Images)<\/p>\n
Ur\u0161ka \u017dygart is a professional cyclist with the AG Insurance-Soudal team. The 28-year-old is talented climber who finished fifth overall in this year\u2019s Tour de Suisse Women.<\/p>\n
Two years ago, she was competing in the Giro Donne and crashed hard on stage 6. She sustained a concussion and had to leave the race, heading home early.<\/p>\n
Poga\u010dar has been her partner for many years. They originally met during a training camp of their-then cycling club in Ljubljana, Slovenia\u2019s capital.<\/p>\n
Her accident happened on July 7, 2023, the same day that he lost 1:04 to Jonas Vingegaard on stage 5 of the Tour.<\/p>\n
He had started that race below par due to a fracture sustained two and a half months earlier at Li\u00e8ge-Bastogne-Li\u00e8ge.<\/p>\n
At the time, the media reported that he was demoralized and wanted to leave the race but that \u017digart convinced him to stay. There\u2019s a grain of truth in that, but she says it was his empathy rather than his disappointment which was the factor.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was just about my crash, not about his performance or anything that day,\u201d she told Velo. \u201cI mean, the Tour was just five days old. And he\u2019s not the type of a guy who would just give up at that point.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was more just him trying to comfort me. He thought that I would need more help at home.\u201d<\/p>\n
That the double Tour winner would consider exiting the race says a lot about their relationship. She said that is his nature, and that she had to push back.<\/p>\n
\u201cOf course I said no. \u2018It\u2019s the Tour,\u2019\u201d she told him. \u201c\u2018You\u2019ve been working since the day after your crash so hard to just be there and no, you\u2019re not coming home.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n
He stayed and won the stage the following day.<\/p>\n
\u2018If he didn\u2019t win, he wasn\u2019t upset\u2019
\n![\"VAL-D'ARC,](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/GettyImages-2220235745.jpg\")
Poga\u010dar with team press officer Luke Maguire (Photo: Dario Belingheri\/Getty Images)<\/p>\n
In interviews Poga\u010dar has often thanked his parents. That\u2019s due in part to his upbringing and his appreciation of how he was raised. But he\u2019s also said \u2014 half seriously \u2014 that they gave him the genetics which have stood to him so well in his career.<\/p>\n
Marjeta Poga\u010dar said there were very early signs of his interest in sport, and also of his ability.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen he was very young he was moving all the time around the house,\u201d she said. \u201cBut when he was 7, when he entered school, he started to train for football for two years. And then he moved to the cycling at the age of 9.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe was very good. He was very competitive. He tried to do his best.\u201d<\/p>\n
She remembers him as being hungry to do well but also having a sense of perspective.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe was very competitive. When he played games, if he didn\u2019t win, he wasn\u2019t angry or upset. He accepted the defeat. But when he won, he was very happy.\u201d<\/p>\n
That attitude persisted as he got older. His natural talent saw him often be successful but when things didn\u2019t go quite to plan, he didn\u2019t get too demoralized.<\/p>\n
He had a way of celebrating the good, acknowledging the bad, and moving on either way.<\/p>\n
Winning was important, winning was fun, but it wasn\u2019t the only thing in his life. He could look beyond the immediate and see the bigger picture.<\/p>\n
Luke Maguire has been press officer with the UAE Team Emirates squad since August 2019. His first stint with the team was at that year\u2019s Vuelta a Espa\u00f1a which, by coincidence, was Poga\u010dar\u2019s first three-week race.<\/p>\n
The Irishman remembers a moment from the 2021 Tour when the defending champion had just finished one of the biggest stages. Drained, surrounded by the chaos and noise of the race, his thoughts were suddenly elsewhere.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe had crossed the line, he sunk his head in the bars, but then he lifted it up and said, \u2018how did Ur\u0161ka get on?\u2019 That was the first thing he said,\u201d Maguire said. \u201cAnd that was after he was fighting it out in the yellow jersey.<\/p>\n
\u201cShe was also racing at the same time. That\u2019s all he cared about at that moment. He was literally out of breath, he was dead. But, \u2018how did Ur\u0161ka get on today?\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n
Top athletes are known to have extraordinary tunnel vision, an ability to filter out distractions and deal with the task at hand.<\/p>\n
Poga\u010dar can do that, but can also switch right off afterwards.<\/p>\n
\u201cHis ability to place himself elsewhere is incredible,\u201d Maguire continues. \u201c\u2018This is just cycling,\u2019 is what he will say a lot. \u2018I have a great life. I\u2019m lucky. I get to go out on my bike.\u2019<\/p>\n
\u201cThat is probably what keeps him calm and cool. Looking out for other people, I would say.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u2018If someone is stronger he accepts this\u2019
\n![\"Tadej](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/Z8B_0652-2.jpg\")
Tadej Poga\u010dar won stage 7 to M\u00fbr de Bretagne (Photo: Gruber Images)<\/p>\n
In cycling, there has been a bit of a sea change in recent times in how the top riders behave. Years ago there were more bitter rivalries; Tour rivals would trash talk each other, sniping about perceived slights, playing psychological games.<\/p>\n
One example of that comes to mind from Poga\u010dar\u2019s career. Think of the 2024 Tour de France, when he and Remco Evenepoel put pressure on Jonas Vingegaard to ride with them when they were clear on the gravel stage to Troyes.<\/p>\n
The Dane declined to do so, reasoning that if he pulled he would be vulnerable to attack. There were some pointed words from both riders afterwards, with Evenepoel even saying Vingegaard lacked the \u201cballs\u201d to ride. But generally there is a considerable amount of respect.<\/p>\n
Poga\u010dar and Vingegaard readily congratulate each other after their respective successes. He does the same with other rivals such as Mathieu van der Poel, clasping raised hands, voicing complements, sharing a laugh.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s something which has mystified former professionals such as Lance Armstrong, who has expressed confusion and criticism about these modern, more friendly relationships.<\/p>\n
But according to UAE Team Emirates-XRG manager Mauro Gianetti, his star rider has this clear sense of perspective.<\/p>\n
He gives his all with conviction; he accepts the result with maturity.<\/p>\n
He describes the Slovenian as \u2018very intelligent,\u2019 and also as someone who needs to give 100 percent both before a target event and during it.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf he does his training properly, if he sleeps properly, if he has good food, if he has good wheels, good tires and so on, then he is relaxed,\u201d the former pro told Velo.<\/p>\n
\u201cThen he goes into races saying, \u2018okay, if I am the strongest I win. If not I don\u2019t win. But at least I know I do everything 100 percent.\u2019<\/p>\n
\u201cHe knows he will do his best. And if his best means he will win, that is perfect. If someone is stronger, he accepts this, because this is life.\u201d<\/p>\n
A rare show of anger
\n![\"Tadej](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/Z8B_5517-1.jpg\")
Tadej Pogacar beat Mathieu van der Poel and Jonas Vingegaard to take stage 4 into Rouen, his first win in this year\u2019s Tour de France (Photo: Gruber Images)<\/p>\n
The 2022 Tour of Flanders does stand out as an unusual response. The quiet acceptance of the result Gianetti speaks about was absent that day, with a two-man breakaway by Poga\u010dar and Van der Poel losing momentum in the run up to the sprint.<\/p>\n
Each wanted the other to lead, and this allowed Dylan van Baarle and Valentin Madouas to catch them. Poga\u010dar got boxed in and finished fourth.<\/p>\n
He rolled across the line with his hands waving and was captured on camera having words with Van Baarle.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat was out of pure frustration,\u201d Maguire told Velo. \u201cAs people said, he was the only man in history to finish fourth in a two man sprint. But it is very rarely like that.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe can get a bit excited at times, but you can neutralize it very, very quickly. And he calms back down. He understands straight away. He\u2019s very smart guy. Very bright.\u201d<\/p>\n
Gianetti echoes this.<\/p>\n
\u201cIn the race he wants do 100 percent. If he makes a mistake in the race then he is angry with himself and so on. If the sport director makes a tactical mistake, 10 minutes later it is finished. We start to think again for the future.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u2018He is a natural leader\u2019
\n![\"Poga\u010dar](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/CAuldPhoto-2025-TourdeFrance-Stage10-6104.jpg\")
Poga\u010dar on the wheel of Matteo Jorgenson on stage 10 of the Tour (Photo: Chris Auld)<\/p>\n
So what\u2019s it like to be his teammate?<\/p>\n
Brandon McNulty has ridden alongside Poga\u010dar since the 2020 season. The former US national TT champion is a quiet, understated person. In another era he might have been pushed around by a forceable leader, but he seems happy with his lot.<\/p>\n
\u201cTadej is just a normal guy,\u201d he told Velo. \u201cHe is a nice guy, nice to work for. Nice to be teammates with. There\u2019s nothing crazy, just normal. He\u2019s not intimidating.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Danish rider Mikkel Bjerg has been with the team the same length of time. He rode for Poga\u010dar during the 2021, 2022 and 2023 Tours. He will do the same in the upcoming Vuelta a Espa\u00f1a, where Poga\u010dar could become only the fourth man in history to complete the Tour\/Vuelta double in the same season.<\/p>\n
Bjerg echoes the sentiment of McNulty.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe is really down to earth,\u201d Bjerg said. \u201cHe is a natural leader in the team. I think everybody feels really comfortable around him.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cHe makes people feel that way by just being genuine. Just being himself. He can get along with anyone. I think that also creates a really good environment for sacrifice for him. And it\u2019s also partly due to the level he has \u2013 everybody is trying to get the best out of himself to help.\u201d<\/p>\n
The appreciation seems to go both ways. When Poga\u010dar won the 2021 Tour de France he had a special thank you gift delivered to each of those who helped him.<\/p>\n
Forget watches or other more traditional presents: bright yellow Vespa mopeds were quirky, memorable, and fun.<\/p>\n
There was also a practical side to it too; Velo understands that at least one of the team\u2019s riders has done motorpacing sessions behind their machine.<\/p>\n
Winning big, staying normal
\n![\"Poga\u010dar](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/CAuldPhoto-2025-TourdeFrance-Stage13-1389.jpg\")
Poga\u010dar races past fans on the time trial stage at the Tour (Photo: Chris Auld\/Velo)<\/p>\n
It\u2019s not unexpected for those close to Poga\u010dar to speak in glowing terms about him. After all, his teammates are the ultimate insiders, going into battle, fighting on the same side, trying to achieve the same goals. Given how often Poga\u010dar wins, the mood will often be a celebratory one.<\/p>\n
Everyone loves to be on the winning side, after all.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s perhaps a better measure of the man how those he competes against feel about him. The obvious warmth and respect between himself and Evenepoel says a lot. So too similar dealings with Van der Poel.<\/p>\n
Their interactions with them appear genuine. And even if he and Vingegaard are very different, one an exuberant extrovert and the other a quiet introvert, there is also respect there too.<\/p>\n
The affection others have for him too is notable. Michael Matthews and Eddie Dunbar both compete with the rival Jayco AlUla team, going up against Poga\u010dar in numerous races.<\/p>\n
They have lost out as a result of his strength and yet each are friends with him. That\u2019s both in training rides around their shared base in Monaco, and also off the bike. Indeed Poga\u010dar stores his sports car in Matthews\u2019 garage.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe is just a normal human being,\u201d the Australian told Velo.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s amazing for me how normal he is and how he has stayed normal, considering what he\u2019s actually achieved in the sport. He\u2019s done things which we haven\u2019t seen in forever, basically.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt says something for me that a guy like that can be so successful and still so grounded. He\u2019s still that same Slovenian kid that loves riding his bike. That for me is massive respect.\u201d<\/p>\n
Away from the bike
\n![\"Poga\u010dar](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/CAuldPhoto-2025-TourdeFrance-Stage6-7454.jpg\")
Poga\u010dar looks to be heading for his fourth Tour de France win (Photo: Chris Auld)<\/p>\n
Dunbar lives in Monaco with his partner Niamh. He believes Poga\u010dar is likely to go down in history as the greatest ever rider, exceeding the achievements of Eddy Merckx.<\/p>\n
The specialist climber expresses similar sentiments to Matthews in terms of his ability to keep his feet on the ground.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe is just a good guy, and very humble in a way,\u201d the Irishman told Velo before the Tour. \u201cI wouldn\u2019t say the results he has get to his head. He\u2019s just someone who genuinely enjoys riding his bike.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe\u2019s very aware of what he\u2019s achieving, which he should be, because it\u2019s incredible. But he\u2019s very humble along with it.\u201d<\/p>\n
But what about outside cycling? Do they have anything in common when they are not turning the pedals?<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re very good friends off the bike,\u201d he said. \u201cMyself and Niamh, we are close to him and Ur\u0161ka, and they\u2019re wonderful people.<\/p>\n
\u201cI have a lot of respect for what he does and who he is on the bike.<\/p>\n
\u201cBut off the bike, he\u2019s a great person.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"“], “filter”: { “nextExceptions”: “img, blockquote, div”, “nextContainsExceptions”: “img, blockquote, a.btn, a.o-button”} }”> Even Cannibals have a human…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":11813,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[569],"tags":[64,63,784,5623,85,6494,2845,13640],"class_list":["post-11812","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-cycling","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-cycling","tag-evergreen","tag-sports","tag-tadej-pogacar","tag-tour-de-france","tag-uae-team-emirates"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11812","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=11812"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11812\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/11813"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=11812"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=11812"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=11812"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}