The three-time Tour de France champion, Tadej Pogacar, pulled out of the Paris 2024 Olympic Games citing “fatigue,” as per the Slovenian Olympic Committee (OKS) on Monday, July 22. The 25-year-old, who won the Tour de France last week in Nice to complete the tournament and Giro d’Italia double in 2024, will be replaced by Domen Novak in the Slovenian cycling team.
But, as per the report from Sportstar, Tadej Pogacar isn’t happy about his girlfriend and fellow cyclist Urska Zigart not getting picked for the Slovenian women’s team for the Paris 2024 Olympic Games. The bronze medallist from the Tokyo 2020 road race is now focusing on the “triple crown” of cycling by winning the World Road Race Championship title in Zurich later this year.
Notably, the “triple crown” comprising Tour de France, Giro d’Italia, and the World Road Race Championship has been achieved only twice in men’s cycling history by Eddy Merckx in 1974 and Stephen Roche in 1987.
The official statement from the Slovenian Olympic Committee (OKS) about Tadej Pogacar skipping the Paris 2024 read, “The national coach of the men’s cycling team revealed the names of the riders who will compete in this year’s Olympic Games in Paris. Tadej Pogacar … being too tired, will not be among them.”
“He (Tadej Pogacar) will be replaced by his national team colleague Domen Novak. We congratulate the winner of the race across France for another victory in the most prestigious cycling race in the world, and we hope that he will represent the colours of Slovenia at the Summer Olympics in Los Angeles in 2028,” it further read.