Tadej Pogačar
Discipline: Cycling
Born: Komenda (SLO), September 21, 1998
Tadej has been passionate about sports since he was a child. His first love was football, but in 2007, together with his older brother Tilen, he started cycling and immediately made a name for himself. In 2008 he raced his first race, and in 2009 he won his first victory on Mount Krvavec. In the Junior and Under23 categories he caught the attention of the most illustrious coaches by winning the Giro della Lunigiana and, above all, the Tour de l'Avenir, demonstrating a great aptitude for stage races.
In 2018 he made the big leap: he signed his first contract with UAE Team Emirates. In 2019 he made his debut on the World Tour circuit and immediately established himself as one of the best emerging talents: he won the Tour of California and three stages in the Vuelta a España, conquering third place in the general classification.
In 2020, on his debut at the Tour de France, the most prestigious and difficult race in the world, Tadej achieved a historic feat. Starting as a simple domestique, he snatched the yellow jersey from Roglic in the final time trial. He became the first rider to win three different jerseys in the same Tour (in addition to the general classification, he also won the climbers' and young riders' jerseys) and the second youngest winner ever, after Henri Cornet in 1904.
In 2021, Pogačar confirmed his extraordinary class and eclecticism, winning several stage races, such as the Tirreno-Adriatico, and two classic Monuments, the Liège-Bastogne-Liège and the Giro di Lombardia. At the Tour de France, he successfully defended his title: he dominated the race and, winning five stages, repeated the hat-trick of jerseys of 2020. He also took part in the Tokyo Olympics, where he won the bronze medal in the road race.
In the 2022 and 2023 Tours, Tadej had to give up to Vingegaard twice, but he fought to the end, making cycling fans all over the world dream. However, he continued to enrich a glittering palmares, with triumphs in the 2022 Strade Bianche, the 2022 Tirreno-Adriatico, the 2023 Tour of Flandres and the 2022 and 2023 Lombardia.
2024 is a triumphant year. Tadej starts the season by claiming the Strade Bianche and the Liège-Bastogne-Liège. Then, with an extraordinary crescendo, he conquers both the Giro d'Italia and the Tour de France. He does it like a true 'cannibal' (winning 12 stages across both Grand Tours, he surpasses Merckx, who had 11) and enters the exclusive club of champions who have achieved this incredible double. This club, besides him, includes seven true legends: Fausto Coppi, Jacques Anquetil, Eddy Merckx, Bernard Hinault, Stephen Roche, Miguel Indurain, and Marco Pantani.
With the whole UAE Emirates team, Pogačar has been using the advice of the Equipe Enervit since 2021 and has contributed to making the development of the Enervit C2:1PRO line possible.
We are now proud to welcome him among our official testimonials, to support him at best befire, during, after Sports.
Palmarès
- 1 World Road Race Championship (2024)
- 3 Tour de France (2020, 2021, 2024)
- 1 Giro d'Italia (2024)
- 3 Giro di Lombardia (2021, 2022, 2023)
- 2 Liège-Bastogne-Liège (2021, 2024)
- 1 Tour of Flanders (2023)
- 2 Tirreno-Adriatico (2021, 2022)
- 2 Strade Bianche (2022, 2024)