Pogacar's fatigue in the words of UAE DS Gianetti: "The physical and mental demands are very, very significant"

Tadej Pogacar had the Vuelta a España outlined in his schedule for this year but the Slovenian arrived at the end of the Tour de France mentally and physically exhausted. It was not healthy to keep racing at that same level at this time, and team DS Mauro Gianetti went in depth as to why the World Champion was so tired by the end of the Grand Boucle.

“Being Tadej Pogacar today is nice, but it’s not easy. He has a lot of pressure. When he races, everybody expects him to go well, to win, to put on a show. So it’s important for us to manage this aspect, Gianetti ensured to Domestique. "He’s not just a rider – it’s an important dimension, being Tadej Pogačar, so he needs to have enough physical and mental rest to be happy in the races, to enjoy himself and to provide entertainment like he has always done.”

In the final week of the Tour he had to race more conservatively as Jonas Vingegaard and Team Visma | Lease a Bike gave it their all to assault the yellow jersey, and with virtually no easy day at this year's race, it took a bigger toll than all other Tours had.

Combining that with countless trips to the podium and media appearances; the months of specific preparation at altitude and at the equally brutal Criterium du Dauphiné, then you had a rider who was still above the competition but was already showing very clear signs of fatigue. His short answers and brevity in interviews and celebrations over the closing days of the race were an obvious sign, and he has also acknowledged having thoughts of retirement for the upcoming years.

“He lived a very stressful Tour. It was a very demanding Tour, especially from a physical point of view. There were a lot of transfers. And for him, being Tadej, it became very difficult. He’s a very uncomplicated lad, and being there every day as the centre of attention becomes tiring. He was tired, like everybody, I think," the Swiss continued. But all of that did come with it's well-earned reward.

“But he won the Tour, and he won it with a smile. On the last day in Paris, he put on an incredible show together with van Aert [on Montmarte], and I think this was the best possible answer. He could have sat calmly in the middle of the bunch, but he wanted to make the race and honour himself, honour Tadej Pogacar, honour the Tour de France and honour his rivals. I think what he did on the last day in Paris, with a smile, was the answer to everything that had been said.”

“Doing the Classics like he did this year, all the Classics, from Strade Bianche to Flanders to Roubaix to Amstel and Liège, it’s a very, very high level of demand and maybe from the outside people don’t realise that. People think they’re just one-day races, but a Paris-Roubaix is more shattering than a week-long stage race," Gianetti adds. 

After the cobbled classics, the World Champion added another Flèche Wallonne and Liège-Bastogne-Liège to his palmarès, winning seemingly comfortably both races.

“Doing all the Classics is more shattering than doing a Grand Tour, especially when you do all the Classics like he did, because there’s the transition from the pavé to the climbs, there are changes in temperature, you have different parcours and you have to go up against different champions to the ones you race against in the Grand Tours. The physical and mental demands are very, very significant, so it absolutely wasn’t a good idea to participate in the Vuelta.”