There were all kinds of memorable moments at the Tour de France Femmes. Kasia Niewiadoma\u2019s Mont Ventoux win. Demi Vollering\u2019s amazing wins. Canadians Isabella Holmgren and Sarah Van Dam riding like absolute bosses. (Along with Kiara Lylyk, Alison Jackson and Nadia Gontova putting in some fantastic performances.) It was an incredible nine days of racing at the TdFF.<\/p>\n
But there was also one little moment with a dude that made its way around the Internet, too.<\/p>\n
It turns out even getting Tadej Poga\u010dar to make a silly video requires a little luck, some persistence and a well-timed appearance at a camper.<\/p>\n
A cute little Sporza video featuring Poga\u010dar supporting his partner Ur\u0161ka \u017digart and a rather unusual \u201cHAB\u201d shirt exploded online. The video has more than two million views and 147,000 likes.<\/p>\n
Merckpoel on the video<\/p>\n
But according to Sporza journalist and TV personality Linde Merckpoel, the idea was far from a sure thing. (Btw, Merckpoel has to be a fantastic portmanteau of a name for cycling, eh?)<\/p>\n
The concept had been floating around for some time. When Poga\u010dar was confirmed to be around the Tour de France Femmes, the team contacted the press officer for AG Insurance\u2013Soudal, \u017digart\u2019s team.<\/p>\n
Would it work?<\/p>\n
Things moved quickly. The night before the final stage, she said she wasn\u2019t sure if the five-time men\u2019s Tour de France winner would take part. But then, things were suddenly on track.<\/p>\n
Merckpoel and her colleagues headed to the course and eventually tracked down the area where Poga\u010dar and \u017digart\u2019s family were gathered.<\/p>\n
Pogi wasn\u2019t there yet. He eventually rolled in after getting some training done, sporting a goofy promo hat and his very identifiable rainbow Colnago.<\/p>\n
\u261d\ufe0fYou never know who you might run into the Tour route. In #Nice<\/a>, Linde bumped into a truly huge fan of #Ur\u0161ka\u017digart<\/a><\/p>\n \ud83c\udfac@sporza<\/a><\/p>\n \ud83c\uddeb\ud83c\uddf7 Tour de France Femmes \u2022 Stage 9\ufe0f\u20e3 \u2014 Kingdom of Cycling (@Cycling_Kingdom) August 9, 2026<\/a><\/p>\n Merckpoel eventually approached him and explained the idea. Poga\u010dar immediately understood what they were trying to do.<\/p>\n \u201cI had the perfect opponent,\u201d Merckpoel said.<\/p>\n Then came the shirt<\/p>\n The \u201cHAB\u201d (Husbands and Boyfriends) design was intended to poke fun at Poga\u010dar\u2019s supporting role while \u017digart raced. Instead of shying away from the joke, Poga\u010dar definitely was onboard. The Slovenian pulled the shirt on and took a selfie.<\/p>\n He even ended up wearing it throughout the stage, as we can see in videos from the side of the road, when he yells \u201cAllez Ur\u0161ka!\u201d as she passes by..<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s such a positive video,\u201d she said, calling the moment one of the highlights of her career.<\/p>\n But apart from being playful, it also gave Pogi the chance to show just how important his partner is to his success. He\u2019s mentioned several times how she is the glue behind his job, despite her also being a pro cyclist. \u017digart had a horrible crash at the Tour de Suisse<\/a> and it was great to see her racing again at the Tour de France Femmes. Despite a gap in training and racing, she rode well as the race went on, finishing 19th on the final stage on her \u201chome roads\u201d on the tough Nice circuit.<\/p>\n
\ud83d\uddd3\ufe0f Sun.\/Aug. 9th@LeTourFemmes<\/a> #TDFF2026<\/a> #letourfemmes<\/a> #flaming<\/a> #cycling<\/a> #TadejPoga\u010dar<\/a> #Poga\u010dar<\/a> #WatchTheFemmes<\/a> pic.twitter.com\/7hiAsTRjwU<\/a><\/p>\n