Tadej Pogačar admitted the 2025 Tour de France nearly broke him. Gregor Brown reports on his struggles, recovery, and the human side behind cycling’s most dominant season.
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It’s hard to imagine Tedd Pogachchar struggling. But now we know even for the world’s best rider this summer nearly broke him because behind that dominant tour of France win was pain, doubt, and something he never revealed until now. He sat down recently with Slovenian local media from his home country and went behind the scenes, gave us an insiders look at how he was feeling during this July’s race. Fresh off his record equaling fifth ilombardia title. He admitted something no one saw coming. The day after Manvon 2, he said, “I had pain in my knee and I started to have doubts about continuing.” He said the tour to France was a necessary evil, long, stressful, and exhausting. At one point, he wasn’t even sure if he could continue even in the queen stage. It happened in the third week after dominating through the Pyrenees almost on every terrain and leading the race overall by minutes. His nearest rival Yonasaga Pugachar said, “It was cold. My body went into shock. I was holding water. I’d had enough of everything. I really wasn’t feeling my best. But somehow perhaps underlining what a great cyclist he is, he was able to push on through to Paris, finished in second and third on those final mountain stages. He wrapped up his fourth tour to France overall title, won four Tour to France stages in that addition along the way 2025 and picked up his third Mountains Points classification with Slovenia media. talked about balance, how his partner Erska Zurggart and pro cyclist helps him stay grounded. He said they push each other forward, but fight to even see each other once a month. When they’re home, they live simply, ride together, eat together, and keep the rhythm that makes him feel human. He also joked about playing FIFA on PlayStation. He said, “I rarely lose my temper except when playing FIFA. That’s the part of Tad fans rarely see. The one who gets frustrated, tired, and admits here,” he said, “what rarely looks on TV is never easy in reality.” After closing out a season that included Flanders, lies, the tour to France, World Championships, European Championships, and Il Lombardia for a fifth time. Tare Pogachart didn’t go on vacation, at least not yet. He went to his childhood home where the first ever Pocky Challenge was held. It’s a charity race where amateurs start first and Pagatra tries to chase them all down up a 14 km climb. This year, one rider, British hill champ Andrew Feather, held him off. Feather started 5 minutes ahead, averaged 400 watts, and stayed clear to the top. Pogachart laughed afterwards, said, “I tried to chase everyone down, but one guy escaped me. Hats off to him.” It’s that kind of humility that makes him more than a champion. He’s a showman, a community guy, and still a kid from Slovenia who just loves to ride his bike. So, now it’s your turn. Let us know down in the comments after hearing the story. Are you more impressed with Tatty Pugachar’s tour to France victory that he was able to push on through all the way to Paris and claim his fourth tour to France title? Let us know down in the comments. And while you’re down there, if you haven’t yet, click the subscribe button. That way, you’re not going to miss out on any of our upcoming coverage for the bike races. We have the World Cup season ahead live and on demand for our US and Canadian viewers. We have the tour to France presentation for 2026 coming up as well. Click subscribe. Thank you. He may have looked untouchable this year, but we know now even Teddy Pugachar had his moment of doubt. And that’s exactly what makes his dominance so human and so unforgettable.
20 Comments
In the face of adversity, Pogacar proved his mettle and went on to round up his best season so far, with rivals celebrating a second step on the podium as victory, just like it had happened with the heroic champion whose spirit he caught up with in Lombardy: the great Fausto Coppi. This is cycling legend in the making: let’s enjoy it while it lasts, hopefully, still a few seasons more, and glory to the great man!
he had my respect before and he has it now . he is the greatest cyclist we have ever seen .
Well done thanks for share
And with all of that, flobikes wrote him off.
Imagine he drops, Vingegaard wins the tdf, and Dansih fans start arguing again all over the internet how he’s better than Pogacar.
the program is exceptionally bad for your health. pogacar has probably had to face the fact that he may have taken decades off his life with all the cutting edge biochemical pharmacology. that's why we call him mr. ed.
The 2025 season proved to me how beneficial it is to have a partner/spouse that is also a professional cyclist. Look no further than the TDF, where both the male and female winners have professional cyclists as partners.
Imagine winning the biggest race of the year despite pain and doubts about making it to Paris.
GOAT
His head is at another level. With the fall he had on Strade another cyclist would get up and go home. That was resilience
I totally respect Tadej and give him credit for the drive and determination he has and his attitude, he's a nice guy. I've done the local racing scene and done many long distance rides and reached the hurt locker so I understand what Tadej is saying and feeling, total respect to him. Tadej enjoy your off season and spend quality time with family and friends. He is human.
Perseverance is the mark of true greatness! Thumbs up for Tadej!
All that said is that he still won TdF even he was so tired.
After hearing the story, I don't understand why he went for it on Stage 21 in Paris. The times were nullified and his victory complete. Why put that much into it if his knee was injured?
He is a once in a 100 years athlete! His name deserves to be there with Jesse Owen, Muhammad Ali, Eddy Merckx, Lionel Messi, and who ever else you can think of! He was going through all that and did not complain a bit like some other cyclists would have. Truly, the GOAT.
The GOAT. We love him. He’s almost too perfect! If someone had something genuinely negative to sat about him I’d be amazed.
A great champion who is not afraid to lose. He ducks nothing
Probably after the crash he had ..
As a Slovenian American, thanks for making us proud (also Luka Doncic, small country big love).
Yea, if he was calm playing fifa, that would be more unnatural, than anything he's done durning TdF xD
As a guy with no meniscus in my left knee, the one thing I've NEVER wanted was shorter cranks. It's more revolutions per mile. It's more wear with every turn of the cranks. Those shorter cranks that help him may also be shortening the life of his knee cartilage by adding countless repetitions and rubbing. Anyone know how many more revolutions in 5 races he's done than a racer with even a 5mm longer crank?