24/07/2024

"Just my speculation that it might have something to do with Tadej’s decision” - Jens Voigt believes Urska Zigart's Olympic snub influenced Pogacar's withdrawal

Neither Tadej Pogacar or Urska Zigart will be representing Slovenia at the upcoming Olympic Games in Paris. Can the controversial absence of Zigart from the women's team be correlated with Pogacar's last-minute withdrawal though? In Jens Voigt opinion, it sure could.

“His girlfriend Urska won the national time trial with a four-minute gap to second, she won the road race with a 10-minute gap, and she is not selected,” the vastly experienced Voigt explains of the situation. “And to make it even more funny the national coach is the team boss of the two young women selected for the Olympics. So even for me as an outside observer, I go ‘I wonder what that is’, that’s just my speculation that it might have something to do with Tadej’s decision.”

Slovenian federation re-directs blame for Urska Zigart's Olympic non-selection at national coaches: "It is their responsibility to choose the best"

When it comes to Pogacar's Olympic absence however, Voigt is in no doubt that the Slovenian, who already this year has triumphed at the Giro d'Italia and more recently the Tour de France, will be a very big miss. “I would have put him in an unbeatable decision for the road race," Voigt says. “Plus, Slovenia, despite only having two million people living there, has five/six riders in the top 100, so you also have the right to have four starters possible which is the maximum so Tadej would have had a team around him. He would have been the favourite but has decided to focus on the World Championships and other races at the end of the season.”

However, Voigt does not believe any pros should compete at the Olympic Games, as used to be the custom. “I think we should not go to the Olympics, I think it should go back to under-23 or strictly amateur racing," he concludes. “In professional cycling, we have the Tour de France, we have all the classics, we have the World Championships. We have so many important and traditional races that the Olympics are not as much of a highlight as they would be for say wrestling, so we should give it back to amateurs.”