{"id":253982,"date":"2025-11-10T00:22:11","date_gmt":"2025-11-10T00:22:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/253982\/"},"modified":"2025-11-10T00:22:11","modified_gmt":"2025-11-10T00:22:11","slug":"tadej-pogacar-could-become-ambassador-for-cyclocross-inclusion-in-the-winter-olympics-veteran-reporter-claims-uae-back-pogacars-dream-of-cyclocross-return","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/253982\/","title":{"rendered":"&#8220;Tadej Pogacar could become ambassador for cyclocross&#8217; inclusion in the Winter Olympics&#8221; \u2013 Veteran reporter claims UAE back Pogacar&#8217;s dream of cyclocross return"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Speaking on RadioCorsa on RaiSport, Conti dismissed the suggestion that UAE had blocked Pogacar, explaining that the Slovenian\u2019s focus this winter extends far beyond competition.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt was said that Pogacar wanted to try cyclocross this winter and that the team forbade it. That\u2019s absolutely not the case,\u201d Conti said. \u201cTadej Pogacar is an ambassador \u2013 and that\u2019s something very important \u2013 for bringing cyclocross to the 2030 <a href=\"https:\/\/cyclinguptodate.com\/olympic-games\" title=\"Olympic Games\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Olympic Games<\/a> in France, in Savoie. He could genuinely become the ambassador for the sport\u2019s inclusion in the Winter Olympics, as it deserves, since it\u2019s held in winter amid snow, ice and challenging conditions.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Rather than being held back, Conti suggested that Pogacar\u2019s connection to the discipline has instead been formalised through his ambassadorial role, positioning him as a figurehead for the push to secure Olympic recognition for cyclocross.<\/p>\n<p>As Van Den Abeele also confirmed last week, the UCI\u2019s bid to add cyclocross to the 2030 Winter Olympics remains very much alive \u2014 \u201cIt is not approved yet, but it has not been swept off the table,\u201d he said \u2014 a move that could radically change the sport\u2019s visibility and funding worldwide. National federations would be incentivised to invest, while top road riders could use cross as a new platform for development and exposure.<\/p>\n<p>Pogacar\u2019s potential involvement, even symbolically, could prove decisive. Few athletes embody the multi-discipline spirit that the UCI wants to promote more than the reigning world road race champion, who has already shown a deep appreciation for the sport\u2019s off-road roots.<\/p>\n<p>If the campaign succeeds, Pogacar may find himself not just riding in the mud again \u2014 but helping to steer cyclocross towards its most transformative moment yet.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Speaking on RadioCorsa on RaiSport, Conti dismissed the suggestion that UAE had blocked Pogacar, explaining that the Slovenian\u2019s&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":253983,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[37],"tags":[4985,101,56,54,55],"class_list":{"0":"post-253982","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-cycling","8":"tag-cycling","9":"tag-sports","10":"tag-uk","11":"tag-united-kingdom","12":"tag-unitedkingdom"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/253982","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=253982"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/253982\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/253983"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=253982"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=253982"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=253982"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}