Tadej Pogacar Q&A: Winning the Tour de France twice is indescribable

UAE Team Emirates and their champion rider Tadej Pogacar will be looking to reinforce their position at the pinnacle of cycling when they begin defence of the Tour de France title on July 1.

Slovenian superstar Pogacar will be aiming for his third Tour de France victory in as many years, a feat that has been achieved only by cycling greats such as Jacques Anquetil, Eddy Merckx, Miguel Indurain, and Chris Froome.

We caught up with him ahead of the Grand Depart in Copenhagen:

It’s been an amazing year so far for UAE Team Emirates. What are your thoughts on the performance of the team as we reach the midway point of the season? Any standout moments?

It's been a really great year so far. Not just for me but also for the team. If we start to talk about the best moments, we have to go back all the way to January at the UAE Tour. We got off to a great start there with overall victory and since then we've added many more.

UAE Team Emirates' Tadej Pogacar celebrates after winning the UAE Tour on Saturday, February 26, 2022. AFP

Fresh from the brilliant victory in the Tour of Slovenia, how would you describe both your own performance across the stages, as well as the support and teamwork offered by your fellow UAE Team Emirates riders to produce such strong results?

We had a great weekend in Slovenia. It has been quite a while since my last race, but we had been preparing in Livigno at altitude and we knew the condition would be good coming into the race. We hit the ground running on day one and from then on we managed to grab a few more victories along the way.

How special was it being able to race in your hometown, in front of your own fans?

It was beautiful racing at home in front of home crowds. The passion for cycling in