High-flyer Pogacar: Looking for clues in his homeland

By Sigi Heinrich

I'm just amazed. People on bicycles, definitely older and not necessarily with perfect athletic figures, literally race past me. Uphill. You obviously sit comfortably in the saddle and don't have to pedal harder, even on more intense climbs. Thanks to your electric drive. Pedelecs are a hit. Let's take a closer look? Does Tadej Pogacar from Slovenia also have such technical support? You could almost believe it, the way he tackles what is probably the most brutal climb of any Tour de France, up to the Col du Portet. 16km uphill with an average gradient of 8,7 percent. This is already difficult on foot and impossible for a mere mortal to achieve on a bicycle, unless he pushes his bike, which then becomes even more difficult. Understandable doubts arise But Pogacar gave the impression that the climb was a flat stage. His legs are what drives him. He didn't drive away from his pursuers, he left them behind with astonished eyes and absolutely no chance. He will win the Tour de France again like he did last year when he took a minute and a half off his compatriot Primoz Roglic in the final mountain time trial. Pogacar, only 22 years old, is an exceptional talent and when someone like that rises from the earthly world into a dimension of his own, doubts arise, especially in cycling. Understandable. Even Pogacar admits this. What else should he do? The past does not leave the present alone. Tadej Pogacar is in a league of his own. © APA/afp / THOMAS SAMSON

Cycling and doping have always been, or perhaps still are, in a disastrous alliance. And Pogacar's environment is not entirely free of suspicion, although it must be clearly stated that the exceptional cyclist from Slovenia cannot be personally attacked. Of course, some people think: Not yet. As in athletics with the sprinter Usain Bolt or Wilson Kiptanui, who was the first person to run the marathon in under two hours, we are dealing with one in millions. How amazed we were at the time when we noticed that a person could jump 8.90m like Bob Beamon in Mexico in 1968 or when Mark Spitz won seven gold medals in swimming in any discipline in Munich. I know we were also amazed by Jan Ullrich or Lance Armstrong. But didn't we all cheer at first and succumb to the fascination of the sheer supernatural? Looking for clues in Slovenia I set out to search for clues and stopped at the sports institute in Ljubljana. One of the professors is Janez Vodicar, who was the race director of the International Biathlon Union (IBU) for a long time and who then fell victim to scheming within the association. He is still waiting for official rehabilitation. He found fulfillment in the sports institute. He organizes programs for the general public, teaches sports students and, above all, he takes care of providing perfect conditions for the teams and top athletes who come. The volleyball or basketball players can record their games in the training hall with cameras from the ceiling and then analyze them. But that's just a small thing. The pride of Vodicar is the many devices with which all possible parameters of an athlete can be tested. For Janja Garnbret, gold medal hopeful in climbing, special constructions were developed to determine how and where her holds could be improved. Everything, absolutely everything, is stored in tables and meaningful statistics on laptops. The discus thrower Christian Ceh is also often a guest to take a close look at his technique under laboratory conditions. “It just takes a few little things,” says Vodicar, “then he can throw 70 meters.” And he also knows: with such a distance you can become an Olympic champion. A “Boy Wonder” But he was most impressed by Tadej Pogacar. “He was with us when he was 16 and we examined him down to the smallest detail,” says Vodicar, raving about it. “I had never seen anything like him.” It was clear to him after looking through all the results. “This is a boy wonder.” Podicar has already attracted attention in the youth sector. The son of a cabinet maker and a French teacher got better year after year and made his way in the harsh reality away from test equipment. He doesn't just ride at the front of the field in the Tour de France. He leaves the peloton behind him as if it were an annoying swarm of flies. Certainly: The sports institute with all its possibilities is only a small piece of the mosaic in the sports scene, but also an important reason why Slovenian sport is now being reported on again and again. There is certainly respect that a country with only two million inhabitants can boast so many world-class athletes in the women's and men's divisions. In winter, as in summer. A lot of individual attention is one of the secrets, supported by the fact that Slovenians love sport in all forms. Pogacar and Roglic, who will represent Slovenia at the Olympic Games, have long since become heroes at home. And investments continue. “We have,” says Vodicar with pride in his voice, “built a new velodrome in Nove Mesto.” But now they have a luxury problem in Slovenia, as Vodicar explains with a smile: “There are no more bicycles at the moment.” Whether with that or without an electric motor.

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High-flyer Pogacar: Looking for clues in his homeland

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