PARIS (AP) — Three-time Tour de France winner Tadej Pogacar withdrew from the road race at the Paris Olympics late Monday, one day after becoming the first rider to win the Tour and the Giro d’Italia in the same season in nearly three decades.
The Slovenian Olympic Team announced Pogacar had withdrawn from the Aug. 3 road race due to fatigue. His professional teammate, Domen Novak, will replace him rather than Primoz Roglic, the defending Olympic time trial gold medalist, who was left off the nation’s provisional lineup and is likely still recovering from the crash that took him out of the Tour.
“Unfortunately, Tadej Pogacar will not be among (the riders in Paris),” the Slovenian team said in a statement. “He will be replaced by national team colleague Domen Novak. We wish Domen all the best and success.”
Novak will be joined in the Slovenian lineup by Jan Tratnik, Matej Mohoric and Luka Mezgec.
“Once again,” the Slovenia team said, “congratulations to the Tour de France winner for his third victory in the world’s most prestigious cycling race, and we hope he rests well and prepares for his next races.”
The 25-year-old Pogacar has already said he will not race in the Vuelta a Espana in August, the third of the three Grand Tours. Instead, he is expected to recuperate ahead of the world championships in September in Switzerland.
Pogacar was expected to battle two-time winner Jonas Vingegaard all the way to Nice, where the three-week Tour ended Sunday rather than with its customary finish on the Champs-Élysées because of the Paris Games. Instead, he pulled on the leader’s yellow jersey after winning Stage 4 to Valloire and never let his biggest rivals get anywhere close to him the rest of the way.
Pogacar capped his dominance by winning the time trial Sunday for his 17th career stage win. He finished more than six minutes ahead of Vingegaard overall and more than nine ahead of third-place Remco Evenepoel, one of the Olympic favorites.
It made Pogacar the first rider since Marco Pantani in 1998 to win the Giro and the Tour in the same year.
“To win both together is another level above,” Pogacar said after the finish Sunday. “This is the first Grand Tour where I was totally confident every day. Even at the Giro I remember I had one bad day. This year, the Tour was just amazing.
“I’m super happy,” he added. “I cannot describe how happy I am after two hard years in the Tour de France.”
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