(this article is not behind a paywall and seems to cover the key points)
According to multiple outlets Tadej said he was too tired to race the Olympics after the Giro-TdF double, but the way he was racing in the last week, it would have been exciting to see him race at the Olympics road race and TT (it feels like he would have been a strong contender given the form) and then taken a bit of downtime before UCI Worlds Road Race in Zurich on Sep 29th. In his post race interview at the TdF he said the rainbow Jersey looks good on Mathew Van Der Poel but he wanted it. He never mentioned the Olympics
But looks like he is passing up on the Olympics. So no defending Gold medalist (Richard Carapaz not selected by Ecuador) and no TdF and Giro champion either.
Chances for Olympic gold medals only come every 4 years. This guy is in “all time form” of any cyclist who ever lived, so it opens the doors to others but I was thinking this guy had a chance of a Giro + TdF + Olympics + Rainbow quad which would one up Stephen Roche 1987 who did the triple. The he triple was Giro + TdF + Rainbow no Olympics , in his time only amateur cyclists were racing Olympic Road Race
Cycling gods, please let Wout finish higher than 2nd for “once” in his life.
Well he foiled Cav’s plans for three years taking the win on the champs in 2021 and then headed on a redeye to Tokyo to maximize time there, when others left the TdF early to get over jetlag. That was a pretty awesome race when Wout was in the form of his life (and towed Tadej around) but Carapaz had a more amazing day!!!
It looks like Van Der Poel was on an Olympics training camp for three weeks in France, so he may have something to say about Paris even if Tadej was there.
Completely agree. Normally if VdP targets a race it’s hard for anyone to anything about him. However, with Pogacar being on the form he was during the Tour de France, it’s hard to imagine anyone else winning Olympic gold than him. All the pressure is now on VdP, fortunately he’s shown to be able to handle the pressure of being the outright favorite.
Didn’t Tadej’s other half fail to get the olympic selection she was expecting/wanting? I wonder if there is an element of solidarity informing his decision making.
Tadej isn’t happy with the Slovenian Olympic committee for leaving his partner off the female road team. She was the highest rated female cyclist in Slovenia. My guess is he and Urksa with take a nice little beach vacation and then he will resume training for the World Championships.
Tadej isn’t happy with the Slovenian Olympic committee for leaving his partner off the female road team. She was the highest rated female cyclist in Slovenia. My guess is he and Urksa with take a nice little beach vacation and then he will resume training for the World Championships.
Only stupid people make career decisions based on what their partner wants/spouse wants when there is a once in a lifetime opportunity (they usually don’t come by again).
Let me explain. If you have a chance to do something really impactful, the partner supports and gets out of the way. Why? Because eventually a month, a year or ten years from now the person could be split up with that partner and then they have neither the partner or the big career opportunity (the gold medal)
I am saying “stupid” because he could be split up with this girl sometime down the line and he won’t have her, nor the gold medal. There is a line up of women all the way from Vichy to Vladivostock happy to date Tadej.
The “too tired” feels hard to understand given he was on fire this week. It seems there is something else. If it is a girlfriend non selection thing, the rest of the peloton should be thanking this woman for having some much control over him that he is crazy enough to give up a golden opp for her career (which is nothing relative to his so far).
He was really upset when they left her off and fired off a harsh rebuke. I don’t think it is the only reason, but definitely part of it. At minimum, I suspect he wants to take a break and spend time with his person. And I respect him for that.
Tadej isn’t happy with the Slovenian Olympic committee for leaving his partner off the female road team. She was the highest rated female cyclist in Slovenia. My guess is he and Urksa with take a nice little beach vacation and then he will resume training for the World Championships.
What was the reason for leaving her off the team? What was the qualification process?
The Slovenian Olympic coach pick two woman who are on his professional team instead of Tadej’s partner, even though she is the Slovenian national champion and beat one of the women by 10 minutes in the national championship race. Olympic selection in many countries is rigged.
Just because he was on good form doesn’t mean he wasn’t tired though. In particular, he probably knows himself well and knows that if he keeps pushing he’s going to end up in a hole that’ll bury the rest of his season. This plus I still don’t think he’d win the Olympics anyway, and I suspect he feels similarly, so no need to crush himself for a much smaller liklihood of success.
Definitely. Not to mention he already has a bronze (so he has a medal and has been on the podium at an Olympics). I’d argue bronze vs. silver doesn’t mean that much to these athletes. So he’d be going for gold. If he’s tired, see’s it as a risk to his ultimate season goal of winning Worlds (he said as much at the beginning of the year), and doesn’t feel confident he could get gold, then there’s no reason to go.
Also I strongly disagree with the contention that not going as a way to support a significant other is a “stupid” decision.
The Slovenian Olympic coach pick two woman who are on his professional team instead of Tadej’s partner, even though she is the Slovenian national champion and beat one of the women by 10 minutes in the national championship race. Olympic selection in many countries is rigged.
I have no idea how the Slovenian selection goes, but man if this is true then it is absolutely nuts.
Definitely. Not to mention he already has a bronze (so he has a medal and has been on the podium at an Olympics). I’d argue bronze vs. silver doesn’t mean that much to these athletes. So he’d be going for gold. If he’s tired, see’s it as a risk to his ultimate season goal of winning Worlds (he said as much at the beginning of the year), and doesn’t feel confident he could get gold, then there’s no reason to go.
Also I strongly disagree with the contention that not going as a way to support a significant other is a “stupid” decision.
Partners come and go. Once in a career opportunities don’t come again. If he is tired (which I don’t believe one bit given how he kept hammering everyone only 48 hrs ago), then that would be fine (if Jonas or Remco said they are tired it is believable as they showed it on the tarmac last week. Tadej on the other hand just needs more magic carbs and a bunch of good nights of sleep to contend for gold in Paris.
In any case even if the politics of picking his girlfriend are rigged long term that is a bad call since most spousal relationships fall apart eventually.
Just out of curiosity was he not picked to ride the ITT (even if Van Der Poel has a better shot at gold in the road race , Tadej is riding the best all time watts per kilo and he is plenty aero with his topline watts
Dominating a TT at the end of the a grand tour where only a handful of people care about going all out on a course tailor made for you (hilly, literally in your backyard so you know the roads with your eyes closed) is different than winning a stand alone TT on a pancake flat course. Also it’s not a once in a lifetime opportunity. It’s every four years. And there’s nothing to say he won’t still be going strong in four years and have it be a course better suited for him (LA isn’t exactly flat). Also I’d argue the more once in a lifetime opportunity is the triple crown, since he already has two legs of it.
This is good stuff. Keep it up with the DevSplainin.
Let’s stick to the discussion and explaining counter points is fine. Taking personal cheap shots is not necessary as what you like about me or don’t is not relevant. You can start a thread to complain about me and that can be the topic of that thread. I am cool with that . Let’s focus on the discussion around the TdF yellow being a mom starter at the Olympics.
I can’t recall when that happened.
They all went since pros were allowed to ride the Olympics other than maybe Bjarne Riis 1996 (perhaps he was not thrilled for not being selected by Denmark for LA 1984).
Agreed on once in a lifetime to match Roche 1987 on the triple but once in a lifetime is that quad (that one ups Roche). Still 60 days between Olympic road race and Worlds.
On the Olympic TT with the watts per kilo he did at the TDF that translates to plenty of topline watts (at his weight) that few heavy guys would easily (and I say easily) one up him
In general, I have no problem with you. Feel free to search, you will find no editorial commentary.
Apologize if my statement was a bit harsh. But you do like to double and triple down on your points. And one of your main points here is to call out and question someone’s relationship with their life partner.
Neither of us can say for sure since we didn’t discuss with him. But after training, winning the Giro, training his ass off more, winning the Tour, I can say with near certainty he is looking forward to taking a break and spending time with her.
So if you want to discuss the physiology of rest, recovery, nutrition. Great. If you want to discuss the arc of his career, what is important to make him the best ever. Go for it. But, in my opinion, continuing to say commitment to a spouse shouldn’t be considered, is out of bounds.
I am not saying committment to spouse is bad. He should support her career and I think in any relationship that is good we all do.
But if true he is blackmailing his federation by standing down from Olympics to protest spouse non selection. That is between her and the selectors. It is kind of none of our biz if our spouses don’t get selected for XYZ by their employer (even if we have the same employer…steer yourself clear of that). My wording may not be great (calling it stupid).
The guy is 24 and has limited experience dealing with people in power. His star is bright for a short time and he has implied power for a bit of time but it’s not a great card to play. Let her go fight her own fight.
If it really is fatigue or really not caring about the Olympics then that’s his call.