Chasing Tadej Pogačar – What it's like covering the best cyclist in the world in his era of domination

I worked full-time in cycling journalism for a year before I attended one of Tadej Pogačar's races in person at, the first time being at the Canadian one-day races in 2024. Just six minutes into him speaking to the press in Quebec, a missed flight, lost luggage, and a trip to Disneyland Paris had become the topic of conversation.

While the latter never materialised during the three-hour layover he and a few other members of UAE – including his press officer whom he blamed for not wanting to go – had as they corrected their entry requirements, it was a first sign of the casual, nonchalant best rider in the world's personality I'd come to see on TV interviews and video-call press conferences.

Since then, I've covered almost half of his race days in person, the rest from my desk, attended countless press conferences, and got a closer look at how someone just 11 months older than I am juggles the fame and pressure of being cycling's top star, documenting it in 100s of articles.

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In 2025, my first race coincided with Pogačar's at the UAE Tour, and though representing the home team, he was markedly more snappy than five months earlier in Canada, unwilling to play ball when questioned about his power numbers and a possible debut at Paris-Roubaix at the pre-race press conference.

But what those seven stages, the majority of which saw him in the red leader's jersey, gave was a unique insight into the Slovenian. Granted, by the time we reached Jebel Hafeet and the race's conclusion, he probably wasn't best pleased to see the seven journalists who'd been waiting for his arrival at a small red tent every afternoon again.

Still, though, be it warming down on his time trial bike or after a 100km ride in the breakaway, it's a rare level of access to him as a rider and person that I and everyone else in the UAE wouldn't enjoy with the World Champion for the rest of the year.

His answers are longer, more thoughtful and unlike at the Tour de France, where the written press are often the last group to speak to him through a TV screen in a sweaty gymnasium media centre, where only two or so questions will be allowed, in the UAE you could well be the second or third person to speak to him post-stage.

Andy McGrath, who was working on a biography of the modern-day cycling superstar, Tadej Pogacar: Unstoppable, which comes out this week, got the best answer out of him, though, after he and Domen Novak had repeated their post-nature break attack from last year's Tour of Catalunya on stage 5 in the UAE.

Just what was he doing? Was he bored or trying to have fun? Or was he trying to make sure he was training enough? Neither it turns out, as when Andy asked if it was due to a bet with his sogineur Joseba Elguezabal, similar to one the pair had indulged in before, Pogačar confirmed that this was half true.

"I'm not a betting person, but today there was a bet involved," said Pogačar. "We found a nickname for Florian [Vermeersch] from one cartoon – Frankie the turtle, who in Slovenian is called Franček, so that's his nickname now.

"He said if I win today, he would put a tattoo on his forearm with Franček, so that was the only bet I did in a long time now, actually."

Once again, while this was the most decorated rider in the peloton speaking, he was just having fun, albeit at a less prestigious event than say the Tour, but his personality was peeking through.

'Social media is the cancer of our society'

After victory there, he switched into one-day mode, as did I, with our next intersect supposed to arrive at E3 Saxo Classic. Although not wanting to comment on it before the UAE Tour, Paris-Roubaix was in his future after all, so it would be at the Tour of Flanders where our paths would cross next.

Often, in the arranged media conferences which he so frequently has to sit through, his answers are the same – as are most riders' to be fair – "we'll see", "I hope to have the legs", "we'll focus on ourselves", you get the gist, but for some reason, on a random Thursday in Waregem, he decided to spice things up.

He waltzed in, hands in his pockets beside his press officer, Luke Maguire, and again went through the motions of complimenting Mathieu van der Poel's ability on cobbles, talking about his two previous appearances and how he obviously hoped to win, but it was a question about Wout van Aert that drew out his honest side.

Fresh off his and Visma's shocking three-against-one loss to Neilson Powless at Dwars door Vlaanderen, Van Aert had been the subject of ample criticism from the Belgian press and social media, but the Slovenian was quick to his defence and denounced the platforms vehemently, to his press officer's shock.

"I mean, social media is the cancer of our society," he said. "You can be on social media all day, and there are a lot of positive things, but always the negative things come out the most.

"It can ruin your day and it's really not worth it to follow social media and news, no offence to you guys," Pogačar said, staying polite as he gestured to the room full of international journalists.

"It's best not to care about those things and the easiest way to not care about those things is to not read them and not be anywhere present."

He's often a straight talker, but this was a more honest assessment that he tends to give in person, but says a significant amount about how he's experienced social media comments throughout his rise to the top, as while his Instagram is active, he's clearly trying not to see everything written about him. Quickly, everyone flocked to the corners of the hotel restaurant where the press conference was held to get the story and the quotes out there.

I didn't cover Pogačar after victory in Flanders as I was awaiting the finishers of the women's race in the mixed zone, so the next time I saw him was before the Critérium du Dauphiné, sporting a slightly dejected look and a backwards Pissei cap, perhaps exposing just how little he wanted to speak to media that day.

Even still, after 13 minutes of general race chat, he couldn't help but half-joke about how he keeps himself from getting bored with a new calendar each year. Though there does have to be one constant race appearance which irks him.

"I just want to experience new things, not to be bored, because, yeah, probably I wouldn't last long," said Pogačar. "That's the main reason why we change the program here and there, but, yeah, unfortunately, I'm stuck with the Tour every year."

I find it similar to his racing, this feeling of being unable to stop himself from saying it. Just like he has to attack at any given moment, no matter the distance, on occasion, amid all the usual press conference spiel, he lets his honesty come out. It's not quite as frequent as someone like Remco Evenepoel, who always wears his heart on his sleeve, but it is certainly in there for Pogačar too.

Capturing the dominance

The Dauphiné brought with it the first face-off between Pogačar and his two main rivals for the upcoming Tour de France, Jonas Vingegaard and Evenepoel, though they were no match for the rainbow jersey once racing hit the mountains – despite a blip in the time trial.

While Pogačar's rampant solo rides can make your life easier at times as a journalist, given it feels like you know he is going to win the race before it starts, it does annoy fans, can make readers lose interest, and does pose of the question of just how do you cover it this time?

After the Dauphiné, we opted for an opinion piece which I wrote about Pogačar and how I don't find him winning nigh-on every race all that boring – perhaps because I look through the lens of a journalist, not a fan and sit in the camp of it being a privilege – which certainly isn't the mainstream view of his dominance.

I spoke about how it feels, unlike many current sports in 2025, like this genuinely is the best we've ever seen – at least for 50 years since Eddy Merckx – and how his propensity to attack at any given moment be it 106km to go, 100km to go or 80km to go, shows his willingness to risk losing in pursuit of the most emphatic victories.

Obviously, a lot of people didn't agree, saying I was being contrarian in pursuit of clicks; someone even labelled me a UAE Team Emirates-XRG staff member, which I thought was amusing. But I stand by the opinion, given that I grew up watching Team Sky trains, who were far less exciting and how when he does lose and his grand move doesn't pay off, it amounts to the most thrilling race you can possibly get – take stage 11 of the 2024 Tour de France or this year's Amstel Gold Race, for example.

This was true, too, of the World Championships time trial in Rwanda, where Evenepoel came past him on the final climb despite starting two and a half minutes after Pogačar. For a few hundred metres, he was human again, though the doubt that was planted wouldn't amount to anything when he destroyed the field in the road race.

With more dominance, writing about Pogačar does get largely repetitive; that's what's going to happen if you win almost every race you start, but the approach has somewhat shifted away from the undying superlatives, and over to questions of 'What's left to win?' 'When will he stop?' 'Is he getting tired of races like the Tour?'

I only covered the first half of the Tour in person this year, when he was winning stages and building out his overall lead, and the second half from my desk, so I didn't see as much of his growing tiredness with the race, which we now know was partially down to a knee injury.

But the interview he gave to L'Equipe before the finale in Paris did give away a bigger clue that he has thought about when his time at the top may come to an end. He said that the LA Olympics in 2028 will be a key goal before considering retirement, and his current contract runs out in 2030, so by then, he could well have all the records he wants and be free to end the modern era's best career yet.

When I got started in cycling journalism, I didn't particularly think about writing about a potential 'greatest of all time' in the sport you cover, much as Roger De Vlaeminck won't agree with that sentiment, but I do feel that only the end of his career can bring an appreciation of quite what he's managed.

Until then, for some, it will remain speculation, supposed boredom and a desire that someone new reaches his level that follows, the latter of which will likely happen, be it Paul Seixas, Lorenzo Finn, or someone who isn't even a professional yet, as time does come for all of the greats.

Pogačar's time at the top will come to an end, and as a journalist, it has felt like what it must've been like to write about Merckx or Hinault, Messi and Ronaldo, or Usain Bolt, to take examples from other sports.

Hopefully, before he does hang up his wheels he doesn't lose the albeit wavering but occasional brutal honesty, backwards caps, or the desire to go to Disneyland Paris when a race is just over the horizon. It's these frequent glimmers of personality that have made the dominant force he is on the bike more relatable and given an understanding to who he might be if not just the best male cyclist we've seen for 50 years.