Tadej Pogacar no longer rides alone in Spain - World Champion followed by motorbike as incidents and harassment increase

Cycling is a growing sport, more and more the main figures get more exposure and are also more commonly recognized on the road. One of the sport's great advantages is the fans' exposure to the top riders, however that has become excessive for some, who have begun experiencing consequences. Because of them, Tadej Pogacar is now being followed by a motorbike during his current training camp in Spain.

Joxean Matxin is the one who has revealed this, providing in-depth insight about the difficulties that the team's riders and the Slovenian himself face out on the road. “This is about moments and getting more views, something that's very fashionable these days. I've seen some very complicated situations where many cyclists, caught up in the excitement, start recording in the middle of the road," Matxin said in an interview with AS.

Whilst not directly, his mention also refers a recent incident in which Jonas Vingegaard shouted at an amateur rider who was on the opposite lane so as to record a video of Visma riders training in Spain. "If at that moment a cyclist gives you a rude response because you see a car coming towards you when you're encroaching on the opposite lane, the one who probably comes out looking bad is the one who gives that response, when the context is completely different.".

Both Pogacar and Vingegaard are nevertheless still under some level of criticism on social media. "What we see is what we perceive as right or wrong. Sometimes we don't consider the full context of the situation".

Notably, after Jonas Vingegaard suffered a crash during a recent training camp in Málaga, the rider who was reportedly following him wrote after the matter: "You can be professional, but you can also be humble. He was going down fast just to get rid of me and ended up on the ground. I don't make a living from this and I'm an amateur like most people, so I don't think his anger as a professional is justified because of that". Because of this, the Visma rider still found himself criticized over his actions.

Recently Tadej Pogacar had an incident that also marked him. Whilst he was not victim to a fall, he was insulted by a supposed fan. "If you find me in conversation with someone and you ask me for photo, I ask you to give me two minutes to finish talk. Do you wait two minutes or show me middle finger and take off angry," he said in a recent statement. Last summer, the Slovenian rode around Monaco in a 'do not disturb' personalized jersey, following his fourth Tour de France win.

"We have to put ourselves in each other's shoes. If we make a mistake at any point, we apologize. If, as Tadej said, you're talking and someone asks you for a photo while we're doing this interview, you ask them to wait and they get angry... Who's right? The one who gets angry or the one who asks for two minutes of patience? We all have to put ourselves in each other's shoes, as they say in Italian. We have to be willing to apologise and be respectful.”

Matxin admits that the Slovenian is now being protected, not riding by himself in Spain, to prevent such tense and potentially dangerous situations developing. "An example of situations we've had during our training camp in Alicante: we had a motorcycle to protect Tadej, because we ride in small groups. If you have groups of 20, the cars behind can't overtake them. So we ride in groups of eight, but if cyclists join in, they become too large," he explains.

"Now, what we do is put a motorcycle behind Tadej to ensure that the small group is respected and that cars can pass without creating a traffic jam". The Slovenian is preparing for the start of his 2026 season and is currently enjoying the better weather in the Spanish coast.