Tadej Pogacar, the Tour de France champion, will not be participating in this year’s Olympics, citing his Slovenia federation’s decision to drop his girlfriend.
Pogacar’s fiancée, Urska Zigart, who is also a cyclist, is one of the country’s best performers but was bizarrely dropped from the Olympics team.
A statement from the Slovenian Olympic Committee said Pogacar wasn’t selected due to fatigue after winning his third Tour title in Nice on Sunday.
Tadej Pogacar cites girlfriend's absence as reason for Olympics withdrawal
However, the 25-year-old said although he was fatigued, the decision to drop his girlfriend from the Olympic team also contributed to his withdrawal.
“It’s not the main reason, but for sure it didn’t help. I think she deserves her spot. She’s the double national champion in road race and time trial,” Pogacar said, as quoted by the Guardian.
“She’s the only woman cyclist in Slovenia that ever achieved top 10 in week-long World Tour races… She did great in the last two years winning points for Slovenia and, without her, they wouldn’t have two spots in the [Olympic] road race.”
In a separate post on social media, Pogacar wrote: “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.”
While Pogacar expressed his disappointment over events, he added that he could now “go on vacation” with his girlfriend since neither of them was going to the Olympics.