"I've never seen an athlete with that capacity" - Tadej Pogacar's former coach explains what makes him so good

Iñigo San Milán was one of Tadej Pogacar's coaches early in his career and a key figure in his development. The Spaniard has talked about his former tutor yesterday regarding his current Tour de France and the sheer genetic ability of the World Champion, with nothing but praise thrown in his direction.

In words to the El Partidazo podcast from Cope he recalled his work with the Slovenian who took his 100th pro win yesterday in Rouen, attacking on the final climb, but then beating Mathieu van der Poel and Tadej Pogacar in the final sprint.

"In 2018 when he moved to pros and I started working with him as performance director at Team UAE with a mission to elevate that team to be one of the best internationally. I quickly saw that it was going to be another level. I saw it clearly and told him so," San Milan said.

Right from the start it had been clear the Slovenian was going to be big. "Tadej was one of the best in the amateur world, he had done good races, but he had to improve different areas: how he planned, training, nutrition, recovery, monitoring.... And, well, that's where we started working with him and we quickly saw that he had huge potential."

Asked about Pogacar's physical characteristics that make him different from the others, San Milan answered the following: "He has a great capacity, very important metabolic efficiency. When the rest of the riders go at 8,000 revolutions per minute he keeps going at 3,000. So he has 2,3,4 gears more than the average".

This is regarding the Slovenian's ability to produce energy and also recover from big efforts. "It's all about mitochondrial activity. Mitochondria is where energy is produced in the muscle and where lactate is cleared. It has an incredible lactate-clearing capacity. I've never seen an athlete with that capacity. That allows that muscle to function at a much higher level at higher intensities than the rest."

This was a talent that Pogacar had, which was then developed further as a pro in UAE. He has since become already an historical figure in the sport and the absolute headliner of the current peloton. "In amateur he was one of the best, but not the best, we had to polish him and the moment we started to do it he started to grow and grow and he continues to grow. It's a pleasure to watch him," he concluded.