Spin Cycle is Escape Collective’s news digest, published every Monday and Friday. You can read it on this website (obviously) or click here to have it delivered straight to your inbox.
Hello!
Welcome back to Spin Cycle,
The Vuelta a España is upon us! And Mads Pedersen is having fun … we think.
He’s at least having more fun than Tadej Pogačar is, but that’s not surprising at the moment, is it?
Meanwhile, Jonas Vingegaard is keeping secrets but fellow Dane Jakob Fuglsang is finally speaking his mind.
Poga-čan I have a selfie? 🤳
Where and when will Tadej Pogačar’s ennui end? Maybe he needs one of Aaron Rodgers’ darkness retreats or something.
Pogačar spent some time training and supporting his partner and fellow pro Urška Žigart at the Tour de Romandie (where she lost the GC lead on the final day by seven seconds to Elise Chabbey), and he’s taken to not only wearing a non-trade team jersey that asks people to leave him alone, but has upgraded it into a total monstrosity that loses the originally intended meaning.
Sure, maybe the version on the right is sending up the original jersey, and maybe it’s all a big joke (we’ve not been on hand to witness Pogačar declining or agreeing to take photographs with fans while wearing the jersey) but I don’t think you wear something like this unless you are absolutely sick to death of taking photos with people.
He had previously been sporting an all-white jersey, leaving his rainbow bands at home, but that seemingly didn’t help him stay incognito so more drastic, passive-aggressive measures have been taken.
On the one hand, yes, it must become so mind-numbingly boring and annoying having an endless queue of people wanting a selfie (and we imagine not all of them say thank you afterwards either). On the other hand, this is the price of fame and fortune. One person who can maybe understand a bit of what Pogačar is going through is Chris Froome, who says he also faced mental exhaustion when at the height of his powers in the 2010s.
“In a way, I recognise myself a little in him,” Froome told Bici.pro recently. “When I won the Tour, the Vuelta, and the Giro in a short period between 2017 and 2018, I was physically in good shape for the Tour that year [2018], but mentally I was exhausted. I still finished third, but the signs were there.
“At some point, you realise you just have to say ‘no’ to certain things, or at the very least, replan your season.”
So, Pogačar’s options are re-plan his season (AKA limit what he goes for), run away to go and live in the woods for a few years, or maybe take a leaf out of British reality TV star Gemma Collins’ book and start charging £12 per selfie.
Mads’ middle finger 🖕
The Vuelta a España is almost here, and that means the race’s media team get their cameras and green screens out and have the riders pose for them in case they win a stage or take a classification jersey, with the little animations appearing on screen alongside the results graphic.
The photo of the day was undoubtedly this striking image of Mads Pedersen, giving someone the middle finger either jokingly or because he was done with his contractual duties.
This post is for paying subscribers only
Subscribe now
Already have an account? Sign in
Did we do a good job with this story?
👍Yep
👎Nope