After winning the men’s road race at the world championships, Tadej Pogačar finished up an incredible year that saw him break records and become the first male cyclist in 37 years to win the rainbow jersey, Tour de France, and Giro d’Italia all in the same year.
After achieving the so-called “Triple Crown” of cycling victories, Pogačar becomes a member of an exclusive group of athletes that consists of only three people who achieved the same: Annemiek van Vleuten, Stephen Roche, and Eddy Merckx. Although van Vleuten accomplished this feat in 2022, Roche, in 1987, was the last male cyclist to win all three races in a single year—a period when the sport was very different from what it is today.
Making history
Since 1998, it has become less common for cyclists to go for two race victories in a single season. Pogačar was the only male rider to have won both the Tour de France and the Giro d’Italia simultaneously after all these years.
After his victory, the athlete admitted: “After many years fighting for the Tour de France and other races I never had the world championship as a clear goal, but this year everything went smoothly already… After the perfect season it was a really big goal to win the world championship and I can’t believe it happened.”
The Slovenian has undoubtedly established himself as a generational star this season due to his exceptional ability to win races of nearly any duration and on a variety of terrains.
Source: CNN