This article was first published in Issue 139 of our magazine
What is it like to work for a leader like Tadej Pogačar?
With Tadej, you have two different reasons why people like to work for him. Everybody wants to help him because he is the best rider in the world, but he is also a nice person. Even if he wasn’t the best in the world, everyone would be happy to help because of the person he is. I respect how he deals with all the attention he gets too. I have spent some time with him and got to know the life of Tadej for two or three days and it’s not always a gift to have this attention. Not many people could handle it like he does. Sometimes I come out of the bus and people ask me if I can get Tadej to sign something because they have been waiting there six hours – you can’t say yes to everyone.
Although you work for Tadej often, you also get your own chances from UAE Team Emirates-XRG to try to win. Is that important to you?
At the Tour de France this year when I won stage 15, it was really unexpected. I took the chance and I am very grateful, but the team had already given me a gift to go for the polka dot jersey earlier in the race and wear that for a few days.
There are many races where I am really the leader, like in the Classics, and I like having a mix because it motivates me in training to be the best version of myself. One part of that is for helping the team, the other part is for myself.
On stage 15 of the Tour, you made your winning attack with more than 40 kilometres remaining. What goes through your head when you are off the front alone for that long?
To arrive as fast as possible to the finish. It’s not that I think about how nice it is to win. You’re fully focused doing what you need to do, taking every corner perfectly, hydrating, and keeping the body cool. In the moment, I’m not thinking about anything but going as fast as I can.
What goes into preparing for the Tour de France?
Just yesterday we were talking about the calendar for next year and what races I am going to do. I said to the team: the Tour de France is nice, but for me the nicest thing about it is the preparation. We go on the altitude camp with a good group, we have a lot of fun, we make a barbeque, we’re spoiled by the team to have two chefs at the training camp in an amazing hotel. The highlight of the race for me was the preparation.
Your social media shows you doing mountain biking, gravel riding and long-distance rides. How do you balance fun with performance?
I’ve learned from Tadej how important it is to find the balance. Maybe in the past I was a little bit too focused, a little bit too professional. I think this is important for ninety percent of the time but ten percent of the time you can be more relaxed. A lot of cyclists talk about the sacrifices we make for this job but it’s not like that for me personally. I know how lucky I am to do this and I’m passionate about that. Some guys don’t appreciate it enough. We have a super good life – of course it isn’t always sunshine but I’m lucky that I appreciate that a lot.
What is it like to race as Belgian champion?
I am proud to be Belgian – I don’t live there anymore because it’s nicer to ride in the sun, but every time I go training and wear this jersey I am proud to have it. I think it is one of the nicest to have in the peloton. Of course, I prefer to be world champion, but I’d choose the national jersey of Belgium over European champion, for example.
When I became national champion, this season was already a big success for me and to win a Tour stage as Belgian champion was amazing. Since then, I have become like ten times more popular and recognised when I am out training. People ask me to stop for a picture and that never happened before. Belgium is a huge cycling nation and for a lot of riders that is pressure, but for me it is a super nice type of recognition.
How did your career in cycling begin?
My father was a professional cyclist, so from pretty early on I was into cycling. It’s a family thing and because of this, cycling has always been my life. I got a lot of gifts from cycling and I’m happy my father put me in this world.
If you could give one piece of advice to your younger self, what would it be?
If I knew that I would be 100 times better! But I would say to myself when I was starting my professional career that food is very important, it’s important to be carbohydrate loaded and combine that with your training. You need to burn the carbs of course, but I would train harder and eat more.
What is your go-to ride food when you’re losing energy?
I live close to Italy, so I really like focaccia. If I’m in France I stop in the boulangerie for something sweet. In Germany I like pretzels – that’s the salt I need and carbs, not so much fat.
What is your perfect rest day?
Even on a rest day, the bike is my life. I like to do an easy ride and enjoy the sunshine. If it’s good weather then I’ll go to the beach in the afternoon. That is perfection.
We’ve spoken a lot about how much you love what you do, but is there anything you don’t like about cycling?
Like everyone, sometimes I am a little bit scared in the finals. I’m super happy I’m not a sprinter, every time I see a sprint it looks so hectic and dangerous. I don’t like to do the flat finals, that’s not my thing and everybody knows there are big crashes. I am lucky – I need to touch wood – but I don’t crash so much. That is because I’m not there when it is super dangerous. Everybody needs to be in front and fight, but that can be scary.
Can you remember your most difficult moment on a bike?
I don’t remember which year, but once I was preparing for an altitude camp before the Tour and I was totally alone. It was horrible, I was trying to be the best version of myself, but every day I became less and less. It was so hard because I was making the effort but not getting the results.
What is your proudest moment?
It’s a cliché, but becoming a father. On the bike, the Tour victory probably made me the happiest, but there are no highs without lows. When you win after a difficult period it makes it even better. In 2020 I didn’t have a great year and was struggling, then I went to the Vuelta and won a stage. It was so nice to end the season like this.
Finish this sentence: happiness is…
Happiness is being with the people you love.
Do you think having a strong mentality has helped you have such a long and successful career?
I spoke with a mental coach once about strong and weak personalities. He told me that these don’t exist, they are just different personalities. Sometimes you have riders who are strong physically, but if you ride next to them in the peloton they feel intimidated by others and think they can’t fight with them, because they think someone else is a better rider. I don’t struggle with that. It was really interesting working with a mental coach, he helped me pick my goals and how to reach them. I learned a lot.
