Tadej Pogačar revealed that his injuries sustained in his crash at the Vuelta a España were more extensive than first reported. Initial reports stated that the five-time Tour de France winner had suffered a concussion, fractures to his left collarbone, a stable C7 cervical fracture as well as various cuts and bruises. But weeks after his crash, further exams showed that he had broken two more vertebrae.
“There’s actually a funny story,” Pogačar began the interview with The Athletic. “Two weeks ago, I was in Slovenia and I went to do another CT scan. I knew I had a C7 fracture, but then we saw I had two more broken vertebrae, the T1 and T2.”
“At that moment, I was happy I didn’t do the European Championships, which had been my initial goal. When I saw I had three broken vertebrae? I’m just happy to be alive, actually, or just to be standing.”
He added that he has largely returned to his normal routine, although he is still taking precautions as he continues his recovery.
“I don’t have discomfort anymore,” Pogačar said. “I have to be careful not to crash on the bike, or do some heavy lifting with my left arm or with my neck. But I can do basically everything normal now.”
The UAE Team Emirates rider admitted that the two weeks post-crash were difficult, with concussion-related nausea and dizziness affecting his coordination and forcing a delay in getting back onto his bike, or at a minimum, on the rollers.
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“For the first two weeks, I was really mentally not OK. I was really down. I was not a fun person to be around. I don’t think Urska [Zigart] was happy to see me around the house, because I was just, like, depressed. You know, just not feeling anything.”
Everything changed once he got back into training.
“When I started to get on the home trainer, to go to physio every day, then I started to feel better — also in the head. But it was a day-to-day fight.”
“Now, in Monaco, I go for runs, swum a few times — it’s important to build a really good base now through the winter. Actually, it’s not winter yet here — I was in shorts today riding outside. But I‘m feeling like I’m getting back into the proper rhythm of training and recovery.”
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Lyne has been involved in professional cycling for more than 15 years in both news reporting and sports marketing. She founded Podium Insight in 2008, quickly becoming a trusted source for news of the North American professional cycling world. She was the first to successfully use social media to consistently provide timely and live race updates for all fans. She is proud to have covered men's and women's news equally during her tenure at the helm of the site. Her writing has appeared on Cyclingnews and other news sites.
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