Far fewer hospital visits for Pogacar compared to rivals: How big is that advantage in Tour chaos?
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Follow us on GoogleAt the end of the day, cycling is simple: whoever rides the fastest wins. But everyone knows there are countless factors that determine who actually gets to raise their arms at the finish line. Training, nutrition, team strength, tactics… and, of course, a big dose of luck. Frequent injuries can have a huge impact on performance, even long after a rider has recovered. And according to a striking statistic, Tadej Pogacar might have a major advantage over his rivals in this regard.
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In fact, the world champion appears to have spent the least amount of time in the hospital. Compared to Jonas Vingegaard, Primoz Roglic and Remco Evenepoel, that difference is huge. The Slovenian UAE Team Emirates-XRG rider turns out to be the opposite of a wrecking ball, according to data compiled by TNT Sports. Sure, he crashes sometimes too, everyone remembers his slide on the descent in the 2022 Tour de France, or his tumble in this year’s Strade Bianche.
Pogacar takes plenty of risks but usually comes out unscathed. Take that gravel race, where he looked badly battered but still took the win. Two weeks later, he was back at Milan-San Remo, finishing third without any pain or issues. The only time he was truly out of action was in 2023. After a phenomenal spring – winning the Tour of Flanders, Amstel Gold Race, and La Flèche Wallonne – he crashed in Liège-Bastogne-Liège and broke his wrist. It kept him out for six weeks, but by June he was already back to claim two national titles.
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Vingegaard battered after Basque Country, Roglic seems cursed in the Tour
It’s a stark contrast with the other top riders. Surprisingly, Vingegaard is actually the luckiest of the three. In total, he’s missed 30 weeks due to injury. Even before he joined Visma | Lease a Bike, he broke his thigh bone in the Tour des Fjords. But the Dane's biggest crash came last year in the Tour of the Basque Country. The damage, a punctured lung, multiple broken ribs, and a broken collarbone was severe. The fact that he made it to the start line of the Tour de France afterwards was nothing short of miraculous.
Those 30 missed weeks are five times more than his Slovenian rival, but former teammate Roglic has missed even more – an extra five weeks. Of course, the former ski jumper is the oldest of the group, but he also started his professional cycling career later. Interestingly, in his early years he managed to avoid major crashes, but in recent seasons things have gone wrong repeatedly. Since 2021, Roglic has missed a staggering 35 weeks due to injuries. Many of those were caused by crashes in the Tour de France: he didn’t finish the race in 2021, 2022, or 2024. And this year’s Giro d’Italia was, of course, also a fiasco.
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Evenepoel spends most time in hospital: 40 weeks of racing missed
But the true king of bad luck turns out to be Remco Evenepoel. Surprisingly, considering he’s the youngest of the bunch. Since turning pro in 2019, the Belgian Soudal Quick-Step rider has missed a staggering 40 (!) weeks due to injuries. It all started at Il Lombardia, when the then up-and-coming super talent plunged into a ravine and broke his pelvis. He didn’t return to racing until the following year’s Giro d’Italia. He was also caught up in the crash-filled Tour of the Basque Country where Vingegaard was so badly injured.
And then there was last year’s training accident in December. Yet another heavy blow for the 2022 Vuelta winner, leaving him sidelined for a long time. The damage: fractures in his ribs, right shoulder blade, and right hand. Recovery from his collarbone injury also didn’t go smoothly, meaning Evenepoel only returned to racing at the Brabantse Pijl. But he won that race immediately.
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How much influence do crashes have on racing behavior?
These statistics paint a clear picture of the top riders and shed some light on the results of stage one of the Tour. Roglic and Evenepoel both lost 39 seconds to Pogacar and Vingegaard. Soudal Quick-Step was furious afterwards. “These are exactly the situations we needed to avoid, but we fell into the trap anyway. We got a slap in the face for being too complacent,” said Jurgen Foré afterwards. At Red Bull-BORA-hansgrohe, however, they claimed they had deliberately avoided taking risks and were fine with the time loss.
Sharp-eyed viewers noticed Evenepoel was sitting too far back during the split, and then made some strange moves. He got pushed into the grass, losing about thirty positions. The old Evenepoel would have shoved the Lotto rider on his right out of the way. But let’s be honest: when you’ve been battered by as many crashes as the unlucky time trial world champion, it’s no surprise your racing style changes. It’s clear that Evenepoel has become more cautious in the chaos and the same goes for Roglic.
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Van Aert textbook example of adjustments after crashes
Wout van Aert is another clear example of this. The Visma Belgian used to be the ultimate engine in these echelon stages, but this time he wasn’t there. We also saw a more cautious Van Aert this spring. In Paris-Roubaix, he rode at the very back for the entire first part of the race, which occasionally put him in trouble. But after all the setbacks he’s faced, it’s understandable that fighting for position has become less appealing.
And Pogacar? Sure, he crashes sometimes, but he almost always gets right back up. Whether it’s luck, superior bike handling, or secret judo skills – who knows. The fact is, he hasn’t experienced the same level of injuries as his rivals. The world champion still races with the same bravado he had as a 20-year-old kid. Let’s hope he never loses that.
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Bram van der PloegEditor-in-chief
Bram van der Ploeg (35) is the proud founder of In de Leiderstrui, IDL Pro Cycling's parent site, launched in 2018. Finally, he could create stories about the sport he had followed since childhood. He is the editor-in-chief on paper, but prefers to be with his recorder next to a rider, a team bus, or in the mud at a cyclocross race. Every year, from February to the end of May, Bram follows the entire Italian cycling season, from the Trofeo Laigueglia to the Giro d'Italia, with the grand finale in October in Lombardy. During that time, he lives in Tuscany, where he has since come to call Italy his 'home'.
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