Tadej Pogacar on Tour de France miss: "I don’t believe in revenge"

Tadej Pogacar has won both the 2020 and 2021 Tour de France, and heading into 2022 he was the man to beat after a storming season. Whilst he had to settle for second place behind Jonas Vingegaard, he admits that he doesn't hold bad emotions regarding it.

“I don’t believe in revenge. This is only sport, just a game. You don’t need to take revenge against anyone. You play and if you lose, you lose. If you win, you win. I always try to be the best, better than everyone else. And I try to get better, but it’s not a revenge," Pogacar said in an interview with El Mundo. The Slovenian won the Madrid Criterium this weekend, and has talked to the media afterwards.

After winning the UAE Tour, Strade Bianche and Tirreno-Adriatico consecutively, and fighting for the win at both Milano-Sanremo and the Tour des Flandres where many other riders were better suited on paper, it was no surprise that the Slovenian was the number one man to win the Tour de France as long as he avoided any major mishaps. He has, but one difficult day on stage 11 at the Col du Granon brought down a possible third title.

“It was a great Tour. Finishing second for me was a new experience. I do not accept that it was a loss," Pogacar continued. “I also gained some new fans, and I believe I can be happy with how things turned out. I take a lot of positives out of it. It was the best way to lose the Tour.” Although he looked at his best throughout the rest of the Tour, he was unable to dislodge Jonas Vingegaard who was consistent throughout the whole race and had a very strong Jumbo-Visma collective.

“I learned a lot from the Tour. There were some errors, some things I would have done differently, things I could do better, but nothing catastrophic. Just small things. In every race you do there are good things and bad things. In the end, you bring this all together and go into the next race even better prepared. That’s why I believe that for 2023 I can be very, very confident and motivated to be even better than this year," he added.

With the addition of riders such as Adam Yates and Jay Vine it is certain that Pogacar will have even more climbing support to rely on, whilst the signing of Tim Wellens could provide more support for the cobbled classics if that is the plan the team set up to do.

Pogacar is now beginning to build up for 2023, with a team camp scheduled for later this month. He's been to the UAE and Colombia over the off-season on holidays, but is ready to restart the work towards another ambitious year.

“It was a different off-season than others, and I would say that I really relaxed my mind and my body. It was a great break from the bike. And now I am more than ready to start my training for next season," he concluded.