Yesterday, the Slovenian secured overall victory in the Tour de France, becoming the first since Marco Pantani in 1998 to succeed in winning the Tour de France and the Giro d’Italia in the same calendar year.
But, like so many other successful cyclists, Pogacar has been hit by question marks about whether he competes clean, or whether he used performance-enhancing drugs during his career. And at the press conference he had to answer just such a question, but didn’t seem surprised.
– There will always be doubts, because cycling was so damaged before, before my time. And in all sports, in all walks of life, it’s like if somebody wins, there’s always jealousy, and there’s always haters, he said, adding:
– If you don’t have haters, you haven’t succeeded.
Hear more of Pogacar’s answer in the clip above.