'I still clearly remember him lying on the ground, gasping for breath': Pogacar is often very lucky, but not always

Tadej Pogacar has been the best cyclist in the world for years, thanks to relentless work, outstanding equipment, perfect nutrition and, of course, raw talent. But there is also an element of luck involved. The Slovenian superstar rarely ends up on the ground, especially when compared to his biggest rivals. But why is that? A UAE Team Emirates mechanic explains.

Bostjan Kavcnik has been a crucial mechanic for Pogacar since his youth. From the front row, he sees that misfortune rarely knocks on the world champion’s door. “I have to admit that Tadej is lucky, and so am I,” he told Siol. “For example, this year he didn’t have a single mechanical issue all season that required a tyre change.”

Of course, it is not just luck that explains why the rider suffers so little bad fortune. “I’d rather not say it out loud, but at the same time it’s something we can be proud of,” Kavcnik continued. “It reflects excellent tyres, top-quality materials, good equipment, and at the same time it shows the rider’s technical skills and bike-handling feel.”

As a professional cyclist, crashing at least once is inevitable. Even Pogacar, who is remarkably good at staying upright, experienced that this year. He went down in the Tour de France, but his crash at Strade Bianche, in particular, captured the imagination. After a huge somersault into thorn bushes, he miraculously got back on his bike and still crossed the finish line in Siena with a commanding advantage.

“First of all, it should be noted that, as strange as it sounds, he made a pretty good crash,” Kavcnik explained. “He was also lucky: on that section of the road there was no kerb, no pavement, no drop-off. He literally slid across the ground and ended up in the thorns. I remember that Urska (Zigart, Pogacar's girlfriend) spent days picking thorns out of his skin.”

Two years earlier, however, the story was very different. Pogacar was enjoying a brilliant spring and had won the Amstel Gold Race and La Flèche Wallonne in April. But at Liège–Bastogne–Liège, things went badly wrong. A rider in front of the Slovenian suffered a blowout, causing a major crash. Pogacar broke his wrist and was forced to abandon, derailing his preparation for the Tour de France.

His mechanic remembers the moment vividly. “I still clearly remember him lying on the ground, gasping for breath, and you could see from his face how hard the impact was,” Kavcnik said. “He tried to move his arm, Matxin was cleaning his jersey, and when he took off his helmet, I knew it was over. He went into the ambulance, I put his bike and helmet away, and then he came back and asked: ‘Where is my bike?’”

Pogačar then got back on the bike briefly but, a kilometre later, had to admit the pain was too much. “When he got into the team car, he looked at me and asked: ‘Hey, how does it feel when you break something?’” Kavcnik recalled. “I told him I didn’t know. ‘Does it hurt?’ he asked, before adding: ‘I think I’ve broken something. It really hurts in my hand.’ He said he had never broken anything before and didn’t know what it felt like.”