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The concept of the modern-day athlete agent has always sent our spidey senses tingling. Sure, young, often wealthy athletes need guidance to make sure they’re not being taken for a ride and are maximising their commercial opportunities during what is a short career.
But who is protecting the athlete from the agent? Where are the checks and balances to make sure the agent is definitely acting in their client’s best interests?
We’re not super worried about mega agent Alex Carera and his client Tadej Pogačar, apart from the fact that Carera has made the grave mistake of going on a podcast to try and put some stories to bed, but ended up creating a couple of new ones. Oops!
Agent of chaos 🤔
Tadej Pogačar’s agent Alex Carera (who also has a number of other top talents signed to his agency) gave an interview with the Domestique Hotseat podcast, and in attempting to get the story straight on topics such as Pogačar’s KuCoin cryptocurrency endorsements actually opened up a couple of extra cans of worms instead.
While the previously accepted fact was that Tadej Pogačar injured his knee on stage 16 (which the man said himself during a podcast), Carera has now come out saying it was the incident a couple of days later when the Slovenian collided with a suddenly-braking Visma-Lease a Bike team car that caused the injury.
“When he [collides with] the car of Visma, he’s really unlucky because it’s a crazy situation,” Carera said. “After that of course he’s worried because he doesn’t feel well. One day he’s not sure to start the stage. It was my job to protect him so this information didn’t go out. If other teams knew he had an injury, their tactics could change and become more aggressive.”
So, who’s telling the truth here? Did Pogačar just not want to cause a ruckus at the time by blaming Visma for his injury? How will he now feel about Carera bringing this up with seemingly nothing to gain? It’s a weird one, and surely something that’s better left unsaid.
Carera also addressed Pogačar’s KuCoin endorsement deal, which has drawn criticism from fans partly due to the fact that the company looks more than a bit dodgy.
“I want to also say that we have accepted this sponsorship because, for Tadej’s private sponsors, he uses the money not for himself but to help the new generation of athletes and, in general, the people. Because he gave all the money to the Pogi team,” Carera said.
“But if we receive the money, not for us, but to give to the people in need, it’s different. If you don’t accept this money, then nothing goes to the people who need it. It’s a bit like Robin Hood.
“People don’t always know the full story because we don’t like to shout, ‘I take the money to give to those in need.’ Charity should be done quietly. Otherwise, you get criticism anyway; some say you’re doing it just to look like a good guy.”
Sure, maybe Carera and Pogačar feel they have no choice but to change their stance and no longer stay quiet when it comes to the Slovenian’s charity work. But we’re also not sure if giving the money to charity gives you carte blanche to accept sponsorship money from anyone who gets their wallet out.
We’d be surprised if we see Carera on another podcast anytime soon…
Any way the wind blows 🌬️
Ahead of another Milan-San Remo where Pogačar and UAE Team Emirates will try to arrive over the top of the Poggio solo, the wind could play a deciding role.
Last year, with the wind at their backs, UAE drilled it up the Cipressa to unleash their team leader, who was joined by Mathieu van der Poel and Filippo Ganna for a Poggio showdown.
This of course means everyone’s been watching the wind for the past week or so, checking whether we’ll get the sort of breeze that could assist Pogačar, meaning our collective excitement can ratchet up even higher.
And if you needed any extra encouragement to begin getting giddy ahead of the race, various members of the peloton and pundit-sphere are providing the right soundbites.
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