Africa-Press – Rwanda. When he surprisingly won the prestigious Tour de France in 2020 at the age of 21, everyone wondered who Tadej Pogačar was.
Today, the whole world knows him as his role model to many. Pogačar is expected to race in the World Championships in Rwanda.
Tadej Pogačar is a Slovenian professional cyclist, widely regarded as one of the greatest of all time.
He currently rides for UAE Team Emirates and has achieved remarkable success, including four Tour de France victories (2020, 2021, 2024, 2025), the 2024 Giro d’Italia, and multiple wins in prestigious one-day races like Liège–Bastogne–Liège and Giro di Lombardia.
He rode for Rog–Ljubljana in 2017–2018 before joining UAE Team Emirates in 2019.
Tadej Pogačar nicknamed as Poj was born on 21 September 1998 in Ljubljana, Slovenia. He has 1.76 m of height and weight of 66kg.
In 2024, he became only the third male cyclist, after Eddy Merckx in 1974 and Stephen Roche in 1987, to achieve the Triple Crown of Cycling, winning the Giro, the Tour, and the World Championships in the same year.
He is the only rider in history who took the Triple Crown and two monuments (Liège–Bastogne–Liège and Giro di Lombardia) in the same year.
The Slovenian cycling gem wearing the UAE Emirates XRG team jersey is also the youngest four-time Tour winner in history.
In addition to his high-profile victories in prestigious three-week races, Pogi has also won an Olympic bronze medal and is the current world road race champion.
At the age of 25, he reached a historic milestone in the UCI World Ranking, becoming the first cyclist to pass the 10,000-point mark.
He will return to the Tour in 2026 and target a record-equalling fifth victory, but also hinted he may not race on much longer than 2028 and the Los Angeles Olympics.
One of a new generation of winners, Tadej Pogačar already has three overall Tour de France victories and a Giro d’Italia win under his belt despite his relatively tender 26 years.
The Slovenian enjoyed a hugely successful early-season this year with wins at the Volta a Catalunya, Strade Bianche and Liège-Bastogne-Liège, but it got even better with wins at the Giro d’Italia, Tour de France, World Championships and Il Lombardia and Tour de France.
He has one Olympic medal – so far, at least – in his palmares: a bronze from the Tokyo road race.
He began his career on a small green Billato bike.
When Pogačar won the Tour de France in 2020, he became the second youngest rider ever to do so. He was 21 years and 365 days old when he won in Paris.
He also became the first Slovenian rider to win the Tour de France in 2020 before winning it four times consecutively.
The Slovenian is just the third male rider ever to win the Giro d’Italia, Tour de France, and World Championships.
His longest posted ride on Strava is the 2020 Milan-San Remo at 304km (189.5 miles).
Pogačar was a successful junior cyclist, notably winning the 2018 Tour de l’Avenir. He burst onto the professional scene with a stunning victory at the 2020 Tour de France, becoming the youngest winner since 1903.
Beyond Grand Tours, Pogačar excels in one-day classic races.
He has won the Tour of Flanders, Liège–Bastogne–Liège, and Giro di Lombardia multiple times. In 2024, he became the only rider in history to win the Triple Crown and two monuments (Liège–Bastogne–Liège and Giro di Lombardia) in the same year.
Pogačar was a successful junior rider, winning the 2018 Tour de l’Avenir.
Aged 20 in 2019, he became the youngest cyclist to win a UCI World Tour race at the Tour of California, and won three stages of the Vuelta a España en route to an overall third-place finish and the young rider title.
In both his 2020 debut at the Tour de France and the following year, he won three stages and the race overall, as well as the mountains and young-rider classifications, becoming the only rider to win these three classifications simultaneously.
Riding Style:
Pogačar is known for his aggressive, attacking style, often taking risks and pushing the pace, which he jokingly refers to as a “stupid instinct”.
Personal Life and Impact:
Pogačar is known for his affable personality and his dedication to the sport. He has also established a youth and junior cycling program in Slovenia to foster the next generation of cyclists.
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