One of the reasons behind Tadej Pogacar’s last-minute decision to pull out of the Paris Games, according to the Tour de France champion, was the Slovenian federation’s refusal to choose his girlfriend, Urska Zigart, for the Olympics.
Less than twenty-four hours after winning his third Tour victory in Nice, Pogacar was not picked due to weariness, the Slovenian Olympic Committee stated in a statement on Monday. On Tuesday night, though, Pogacar took a plane to the Netherlands to participate in a criterium race.
Zigart is the top-ranked rider in her country, and Pogacar has long been a prominent figure in the women’s racing, encouraging her career. He said to the Dutch station NOS, “She’s the only woman cyclist in Slovenia that has ever achieved top 10 in week-long World Tour races.” “They wouldn’t have two spots in the [Olympic] road race without her; she did great the last two years, winning points for Slovenia.” “I am disgusted by the fact that Urska Zigart, a two-time national champion and the best Slovenian cyclist on the World Tour, has not been selected for the Olympic Games,” Pogacar wrote on social media following the announcement of the Slovenian Olympic team this month. He also described himself as “speechless.”
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