Tadej Pogačar: The happy kid “always has fun”, riding his favorite toy and eating Big Macs

Big Macs and fries, smiles on a bike and tumbles onto the tarmac because he couldn’t get off his pedals: it’s hard to believe, but Tadej PogaÄar really isn’t that different from all of us.

On the day he won his second Tour de France in just 10 months, Pogacar and his entire UAE-Team Emirates went to McDonald’s in Libourne and had their most unhealthy meal of three weeks.

A little over a decade ago, he was just a happy kid riding a bike and having fun. And a decade after ten years ago, he’s exactly the same: just a happy kid who rides a bike and opts for a Big Mac over a Happy Meal.

He’s an endearing winner of the Tour de France, he’s Tadej. “I’m still pretty young and I love my life,” the 22-year-old told reporters as he nearly got the number two yellow jersey, and just half an hour before ordering a big fat burger .

“If we don’t have fun at what we’re doing, it wouldn’t be great. Having fun is easier for me.”

Pogacar’s grip on the 2021 edition started when he avoided big crashes in stages one and three, then he consolidated his authority with a time-trial victory of the fifth stage, achieved massive gains in the Alps, then consolidated them with consecutive victories in the Pyrenees. His final victory margin in Paris will be 5-20.

How does it feel to be so completely dominant? “For me, it’s like playing games or sports with my brother or my friends as a kid,” he reveals, casually ignoring the enormity of winning once again. biggest cycling race in the world.

“I always try to win and I always have fun and enjoy the sport, the battle between them. Even if I lose sometimes, I accept it. If you are sad or angry about it, it doesn’t do not make any changes.

“I always try to have fun riding and be happy on my bike because it’s a great sport.”

Even the memory of a fall on his first road bike, a soft green aluminum Billato Italian bike, brings a smile. When he first rode it, it was so high for him that his feet could barely touch the ground. “The first training session, he begins, I fell because I didn’t know how to unclip.

“I have very good memories. I trained a lot with my brother on the local roads, a few kilometers from my house, doing laps, full of gas every day. It is a beautiful memory.

Another good memory is how he won this Tour. “My favorite moment was the victory at the Col du Portet,†he confides.

He appeared to be riding at easy speed in week three, not wanting or needing to increase his advantage. He disagrees when asked if he could have won by more.

“I don’t think so. I did my best on this Tour. In the Pyrenees I was super happy to get two wins, but if I’m honest I tried to go earlier [attack] but I couldn’t.

“In the end, it was enough for the stage victories and I was really happy with it. I did my best, my maximum, as I always do. That’s all.”

Pogacar is so relaxed, so childish, so at ease, that when asked if he’s the leader of the peloton it seems like a disbelieving claim to make, and not just because he looks like he is. enter his first adolescence. years.

But then you remember he’s a serial winner. Eddy Merckx was too. And Bernard Hinault. Here’s a generational talent that could eclipse anything that came before.

“I don’t see myself as a boss,” he answers the question. “I don’t like comparisons because every rider is unique and has their own personality and everything.

“Right now I’m not thinking about records. I’m just enjoying the moment. Of course I want to go back to Giro and Vuelta … [but] for the moment I am still relaxed, I will take advantage of Paris tomorrow, the Olympics and then I will see where the path takes me. “

His victory this time around is so different from that of last September, when he spectacularly passed his compatriot Primož RogliÄ in the final time trial. “I think it’s nicer this year because nobody expected it last year, not even myself. I didn’t expect to win at all.

“I was really happy with the second place and there was really a lot of emotion left and right after last year’s TT. But this year I can take advantage of the moment.”

Pogacar will fly to Tokyo after the highlight of the Tour and will be one of the favorites to win Olympic gold next Saturday in the road race.

The timing is not the best because, just like last year due to Covid-19 restrictions, he will not be able to fully celebrate his victory on the Tour.

A shrug of the shoulders. What will be, and all that. “After the Olympics, I hope to find a moment of calm, peace and relaxation,†he says.

It is hard to imagine Pogacar taking a break from his favorite toy, as the bike gives him such happiness. He has an eye on the future, but when you have the fearlessness and the confidence that he has, there is no need to worry about what will come next.

He mentions having won the Giro d’Italia and the Vuelta a España, and a few one-day races. “I want to live it all, give the best of myself in each race,” he beams.

“I do not set myself specific goals for the future,” he concludes. “I’m just trying to be the same.”