"A cannibal? I eat sweets" - Tadej Pogacar jokingly plays down comparison to 'the Cannibal' after his fifteenth Tour stage win
Cycling
Tadej Pogacar had no mercy with Matteo Jorgenson as he took the stage win on his 'home climb', the Isola 2000. Will his victory counter at this year's Tour de France stop at four, or will he add another either on Col de la Couillole or in Nice?
The Slovenian's hunger for victories already awarded him the 'Cannibal' title among many fans and experts, yet the UAE Team Emirates feels more like a 'Cookie monster', he confesses. "A cannibal? He eats human flesh. I eat sweets at the finish and gels and bars on the bike," Pogacar told Sporza jokingly. "Yes, of course, I know what you mean. But let's not talk about cannibalism. That's not so nice."
Besides, he argued, "With my fourth stage win, I've already balanced things out with last year when I got two. So now I can say I have three stage wins every year." With five Tour de France starts to his name, the 26-year-old Slovenian is currently at 15 stage wins.
"I was here training a lot after the Giro, and I was speaking to my teammates about how we wanted to race this day right up to the point where I attacked," Pogacar explained. "And it went really, 100% perfect."
Last year his preparation was a bit hampered by the wrist fracture at Liege-Bastogne-Liege. "I was riding with the bandage up until the Slovenian National Championships and I was still wearing it at nights during the first week of the Tour," he recounted. "It was a big issue last year. I was not ready physically and mentally for the Tour."
However, this year was different. With no major setbacks, Pogacar headed confidently towards the Giro-Tour double: "Everything since Lombardy last year, in fact, has gone smoothly, so this is the biggest factor in my 2024 success. This year, I'm back to the 'old me' - and still improving," he assured,
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Ondrej ZhasilCycling Journalist
Ondřej Zhasil is a cycling journalist at CyclingUpToDate and has been part of the team since 2023. He is based in Ostrava, the third-largest city in the Czech Republic, and covers professional cycling across the main UCI competitions, including the Tour de France, the Giro d’Italia, and La Vuelta a España. A key focus of his work is startlist analysis and pre-race coverage, where he examines team selections, rider line-ups, and tactical scenarios ahead of major events.
Alongside WorldTour coverage, Ondřej has developed specific expertise in junior cycling and in racing across East Asia, including competitions in China and Japan. He also maintains a broad working knowledge of other disciplines and levels, including cyclocross, while continuing to expand his understanding of mountain bike racing.
Ondřej holds a bachelor’s degree in Mathematics and Physics, which supports his analytical, data-driven approach to performance and race analysis. In his reporting, he regularly uses ProCyclingStats for results, statistics, and historical context. He places strong emphasis on careful sourcing, editorial accuracy, and updating articles promptly when new, verified information becomes available.
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- Raise thine hand if the money you have made for retirement slips away on poor investments.Most of us will outlive our financial comforts because we don't have the financial acumen to ensure a comfortable lifelong retirement and that is a statistical fact not my opinion.Many millionaires have pissed their money away or had it taken away by so called conniving "financial advisors".The world of wealth is a dangerous place that most of us will never experience nor appreciate.
Brucegel15-11-2026 - You are interested in Pogi for one reason only, you feel like you are somehow related because you share some vague geographical identity. Other than that you have very little interest in cycling as all your posts show, if it can’t be connected to Pogi you have nothing to post. That said, recent activity here shows we are attracting quite a crowd from his region.Jumpyjohn15-11-2026
- From knowing past cycling stars with shops I can only say, think it through. Not only is it mundane after a while but it really doesn’t take you out of the limelight, in the end you’ll be trying to stay away from the place yourself whilst all your fans keep coming for you.Jumpyjohn15-11-2026
- Careful investment? I think he can live very comfortably with zero investments, what does he need more? The world would do well if more people set a target for how much they need or would make them “happy” and then stop worrying about perpetually having to make more.Jumpyjohn15-11-2026
- Yes, Roglic could theoretically have beaten Sepp. Jonas must have had complete confidence that he could come back and win the Vuelta another year. Visma had not allowed Roglic to ride the Tour that year, so his future did not look so bright, despite his narrow Giro win..Hills3315-11-2026
- So far, a good series about riders before my time, even if the text feels AI generated like so much on this site. About the rider, he seems like one of many who are active fan favorites but don’t survive in the stories of cycling, a few decades later - I didn’t really know anything about him and this was a good read, thank you!RidesHills15-11-2026
- A calm, honest documentary, a bit of hagiography but mostly not too much. When he talks about a coffee shop, it aligns with several things in his world - he might want calm, but he does (more than a little bit) have someone near him (his fiancee) who makes sure that things happen the way he expects. Many atheletes have retired only to find out just how much others were taking care of their lives for them. If they work out (I'm old, things happen), I am sure it will take a renegotiation, which is a good thing. I truly enjoyed watching it, seeing him, seeing her, seeing the whole system built around him.RidesHills15-11-2026
- You do? My mother grew up around Bleiburg (Pliberk), across the border in Austria . My grandparents lived close to the train station in Bleiburg, and I spent a lot of the 70s and 80s there. The "Jugo" train of my youth went to Dravograd or Maribor, exotic places (behind the wall) at the time. What a moment that was, the 10 days war of '91 - times sure have changed.RidesHills15-11-2026
- I hope he rides a bitmij15-11-2026
- Greatest athlete this world has ever produced ! LOL ... you definitely are a comdian ! Cycling is so sprecialized and you think he's the greatest athlete ever ! Still laughing !frieders315-11-2026
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#TDF2024 Two stages left: 💛 @TamauPogi 4th @JooAlmeida98 7th @AdamYates7 #UAETeamEmirates #WeAreUAE
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