{"id":210950,"date":"2025-10-13T19:47:07","date_gmt":"2025-10-13T19:47:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/210950\/"},"modified":"2025-10-13T19:47:07","modified_gmt":"2025-10-13T19:47:07","slug":"i-should-have-gotten-a-photo-with-him-afterwards-tadej-pogacars-conqueror-admits-feeling-slightly-guilty-for-beating-world-champion-at-his-own-ch","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/210950\/","title":{"rendered":"\u201cI should have gotten a photo with him afterwards\u201d \u2013 Tadej Pogacar\u2019s conqueror admits feeling \u2018slightly guilty\u2019 for beating world champion at his own charity ride"},"content":{"rendered":"

40-year-old British amateur Andrew Feather has reflected with a mixture of disbelief, pride and good humour on the moment he handed Tadej Pogacar<\/a> a rare defeat \u2014 on the Slovenian\u2019s favourite climb, in front of thousands of the world champion’s adoring fans.<\/p>\n

The Brit produced the ride of his life to hold off the world champion at Pogacar\u2019s charity challenge from Komenda to Krvavec, staying ahead all the way to the summit despite Pogacar\u2019s blistering pursuit.<\/p>\n

\u201cI kept on looking over my shoulder thinking he was going to come up at some point, but he didn\u2019t \u2013 he didn\u2019t manage to catch me,\u201d Feather told Cycling Weekly<\/a>. \u201cThere were literally thousands of people at the end\u2026 Everyone came out to watch him in action. He probably wanted to cross the line first, so I felt slightly guilty that I took that away from him,\u201d he laughed.<\/p>\n


\nA world-class comparison<\/p>\n

Feather broke clear of the mass start group after just five minutes of climbing, powering to the summit in 44:15.3. Averaging around 400 watts \u2014 or 6.2 watts per kilo \u2014 for the effort, he crossed the line ahead of Pogacar, who had started several minutes later. \u201c[Pogacar] was about two and a half minutes quicker than that, so he must have been doing probably close to seven [watts per kilo],\u201d Feather explained. \u201cIt just shows you that he\u2019s a completely different class, but it\u2019s amazing just to have that absolute direct comparison to the best rider at the moment in the world, maybe ever as well.\u201d<\/p>\n

The result came less than 24 hours after Pogacar\u2019s fifth straight victory at Il Lombardia<\/a>, which capped off one of the most dominant seasons in modern cycling. But on Sunday, on Pogacar’s home roads, it was Feather\u2019s turn to savour the spotlight \u2014 however briefly.<\/p>\n

After the finish, Pogacar congratulated his unexpected conqueror with a handshake and a trophy presentation. \u201cHe said, \u2018Great ride. Well done\u2019,\u201d Feather recalled. \u201cThe only thing I regret is I should have gotten a photo with him afterwards. It\u2019s obviously a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.\u201d<\/p>\n

Next stop: UK National Hill Climb Championships<\/p>\n

Feather now turns his attention back to more familiar domestic terrain. His next target is the British National Hill Climb Championships on 26 October, taking place on the short but brutal Bank Road in Matlock, Derbyshire \u2014 a course of just 834 metres.<\/p>\n

\u201cNow I\u2019ve got to get into the mentality of riding a two-minute climb over the next 10 days,\u201d he said. \u201cThere\u2019s a lot of people in the mix. It won\u2019t necessarily be won by a climber. It could be won by a sprinter.\u201d<\/p>\n

For a rider best known on the UK hill climb scene, beating the best cyclist in the world on his home mountain is a story that will live long in the memory \u2014 even if the moment passed too quickly for a photo.<\/p><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"40-year-old British amateur Andrew Feather has reflected with a mixture of disbelief, pride and good humour on the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":210951,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[569],"tags":[64,63,784,85],"class_list":{"0":"post-210950","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-cycling","8":"tag-au","9":"tag-australia","10":"tag-cycling","11":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/210950","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=210950"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/210950\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/210951"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=210950"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=210950"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=210950"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}