He has the face of a 22-year-old student, an impression reinforced by hair a little longer than at the end of last summer.
Apart from this hair detail, Tadej Pogacar has not changed much since his triumph on the Champs-Elysées.
The Slovenian remains, and probably for quite a long time, the youngest winner of the Tour de France since 1904. On September 20, on the podium in Paris, he was exactly 21 years and 364 days old.
A triumph, the day before his birthday: "Yes, I can confirm that I have remained the same Tadej," confides the leader of the UEA Emirates.
My life is identical to the one before, except that I am slightly more in demand, more famous.
I have to respond to a few more interview requests and then, on the street, sometimes I get recognized and asked for a selfie.
For the rest, everything is strictly the same.
"
"I didn't buy myself a new apartment"
The Slovenian still lives in Monaco with his partner, the Slovenian cyclist Urska Zigart, ranked around 100th place in the world: “With the bonus (500,000 euros) of winner of the Tour, I did not buy myself a new apartment, confirms- he.
I kept the same, which is not that big.
I haven't changed my lifestyle.
My only folly is to have bought a watch for all my teammates, but that is normal custom for a Tour winner.
On a personal level, this money gave me the opportunity to invite my friend to one or two good restaurants.
That's all.
"
In Monaco, Pogacar lives a few meters from another Monegasque resident, the world number 1, winner of the Tour of Spain and his compatriot: Primoz Roglic.
To believe that the fate of these two is linked.
Pogacar styled his elder at the top of the Planche des Belles-Filles the day before his arrival in Paris to succeed in the heist of the century.
UAE Team Emirates make their first public appearance in the UAE at Emirates Group Headquarters after their historic win at the Tour de France, as they get ready to complete their annual training camp ahead of the 2021 cycling season.
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- Emirates Airline (@emirates) January 7, 2021
Sacred Slovenian sportsman of the year 2020, Roglic lost his precious tunic there and Pogacar won the Tour there and suspicions about his extraordinary performance.
Doubts that he brushes aside with the back of his hand: “You think my performance in the time trial that day was weird?
he smiles.
Is that so!
I admit it was unexpected but it was nothing amazing.
"
Part of the peloton is not of the same opinion, in particular the riders of the Jumbo-Visma, the Roglic team, which did not fail to display its questions.
Pogacar is calm, and if all this annoys him, he doesn't show it: “Yes, I have read what they say about me, about these doubts.
But what can I do about it?
he said.
I trace my route.
I imagine that those who said that did it out of disappointment when they saw that the victory in Paris escaped them so little.
Me, I don't argue about how other people run.
"
"That day everything was perfect, what do you want?"
Primoz Roglic and his teammate Tom Dumoulin expressed reservations about Pogacar's performance in a Dutch TV show: “Those who criticize forget a lot of parameters, the 2020 yellow jersey answers them. In the rise of the Belles-Filles, I ' was in an exceptional day, that's how it is.
That day everything was perfect, what do you want?
I had prepared this time and we left nothing to chance.
The change of bike on the way up was perfect.
It's a detail, but one that can make all the difference.
"
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On June 26, the Slovenian will of course be in Brest at the start of his second Tour de France.
He has already promised by sliding that he will also participate in the Strade Bianche and Tirreno-Adriatico in March, the Ardennes classics in April, the Critérium du Dauphiné in early June and the Vuelta in mid-August.
Pogacar does not want to be the rider of a single event.
We are the first professional cycling team to receive the Covid-19 vaccine.
⬇️ Take a look at some of the photos from Abu Dhabi.
@ G42ai #UAETeamEmirates #RideTogether #BringLifeBacktoLife pic.twitter.com/CvUaMwlPjc
- @ UAE-TeamEmirates (@TeamEmiratesUAE) January 8, 2021
“On the Tour, it's the first time that I'm going to come back to a race to defend a title,” he admits.
I know it's a cliché what I'm saying, but it's always more difficult to confirm than to win the first time.
So I'm doing my best and I'm working hard to make that expression lie.
I also know that the route of the Tour 2021, less mountainous, is less favorable to me than the previous one.
Whatever happens to me now in life, I have already won the biggest race in the world and, finally, what could happen to me now?
Nothing.
So I am much more relaxed to tackle a lot of things.
"
Vaccinated against Covid-19 since early January during an internship in Abu Dhabi - "something normal", according to him - Tadej Pogacar is less afraid of the virus among the vagaries of the season which begins to achieve his goals: "Anything can happen to put our plans to the ground: a bad fall, an accident. On a bike as in life, anything can go fast. And no one is in a more hurry than the Slovenian.