Tour de France winner Tadej Pogacar withdraws from Olympics due to fatigue

Tour de France champion, Tadej Pogacar, has been forced to withdraw from the Paris 2024 Olympics due to extreme fatigue, confirmed by the Slovenian Olympic Committee (OKS) on Monday. Pogacar secured his third Tour de France win on Sunday, adding to his earlier triumph in May's Giro d'Italia, thus replicating the notable feat last accomplished by Marco Pantani in 1998.

Slovenia's Olympic cycling coach, Uros Murn, announced the roster changes, citing Pogacar's exhaustion as the reason for his exclusion from the Olympic road race scheduled for 3 August. "Unfortunately, Tadej Pogacar has cancelled his participation because of a state of extreme fatigue," Murn stated.

The Slovenian squad's adjustments were officially endorsed with the inclusion of Domen Novak, replacing the 25-year-old Pogacar. The national coach confirmed, "Tadej Pogacar, being too tired, will not compete, and his place will be taken by his national team colleague Domen Novak." They also congratulated Pogacar on his grand victory in the Tour de France and expressed hope to see him representing Slovenia in the Los Angeles 2028 Summer Olympics.

Pogacar has consistently demonstrated remarkable prowess with victories in one-day classics such as the Tour of Flanders, the Giro di Lombardia, and Liège-Bastogne-Liège. Despite his withdrawal, he was anticipated to challenge alongside rivals like Mathieu van der Poel on the grueling 225km Olympic course.

With plans for immediate rest, Pogacar is setting his sights on the upcoming world road race championship in Zurich this September. He hopes to secure the "triple crown" of cycling by adding the world title to his 2024 Giro and Tour wins, aiming to follow in the footsteps of Eddy Merckx and Stephen Roche.

Richard Carapaz, defending Olympic champion and recent mountains classification winner at the Tour de France, also missed selection for the Ecuador team.

Pogacar plans to use the coming weeks to recover and prepare vigorously for the world championships. "For me, putting a cherry on top of this season would be to have a really nice August, to relax a bit, to prepare well for the world championships, and then give it my all there," Pogacar stated. He aims to dethrone Van der Poel for the coveted rainbow jersey, reinforcing his aim for an extraordinary season completion.