NOS Wielrennen•vandaag, 22:53
Pogacar’s fiancée: ‘The most important thing for me is that he finishes safely’
“He likes that I’m closer, that we can see each other, even if I have to wait two hours for a five-count hug.”
And so Urska Zigart has come to the Tour de France. For Tadej Pogacar, whom she met in 2017 when they cycled with the same team in Slovenia and with whom she has been engaged since 2021.
The duo accepts that the contact is often only fleeting. “You recharge your battery if you can talk to someone about something else, not just cycling.”
Women’s Tour
The 26-year-old Zigart also earns her money from cycling. She was also recently part of the Giro Donne, won by Annemiek van Vleuten. The Dutch won the stage race in Italy, but Zigart did not reach the finish. She passed out after a bad fall. “I grabbed a drink and drove into a big hole in the road. With one hand on the handlebars you quickly lose control of the bike. I fell pretty hard.”
AFPTadej Pogacar with Jonas Vingegaard on his wheel during the 13th stage of the Tour
On the same fifth of July, her friend fought a duel with rival Jonas Vingegaard in the Tour and eventually lost a good minute to the Dane.
“He called me after the finish to ask how it went. I said I hadn’t finished it. Then he asked why not. He knows by now that I never just leave a race. So he was immediately concerned He said: I want to go home. So I said: you are not going home, this is the Tour.”
He feels it all the time. But his freedom of movement is good enough for sprints.
Urska Zigart on the wrist of her fiancé Tadej Pogacar
Pogacar also knows what falling is. He crashed hard in April during the classic Liège-Bastogne-Liège and was left with a broken wrist. The two-time Tour winner recovered in time to take a shot at a third overall victory, but Zigart knows that the pain has not completely disappeared.
“He feels it all the time. But his freedom of movement is good enough for sprints,” she says. “Then you have to bend your wrists. One wrist is much more flexible than the other.”
Finishing safely is most important
Zigart closely follows the battle for yellow between her lover and Vingegaard, the two big favourites, of course. But still with conflicting feelings.
“Everyone is trying to read from their faces how they feel. Everyone is trying to analyze them. For me, the most important thing is that he finishes safely. I don’t want him to be in danger on the descents. The normal worry you have when someone who you love drives 100 km/h.”
2023-07-17 20:53:27
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