Pogecar’s Tour de France training area: his kitchen.

Tadej Pogecar is no ordinary pro cyclist.

Already at the young age of  24 he was won two editions of the Tour de France and three of cycling’s five monuments. His astounding versatility allows him to win one day races and stage races — and claim victory on any surface — cobblestones, the white gravel of Italy and the paved roads of the highest mountains.

However, since his high-speed crash and broken wrist at this year’s Liege-Bastogne-Liege, he’s taken on a new challenge that perhaps only he can overcome. He’s tuning up his form to win a third tour by riding an indoor bike in his kitchen. 

No, not racing the Criterium du Dauphine or the recent Tour de Suisse. Instead, still wearing a cast on his wrist and unable to venture outside, he’s hammering the pedals right there in his kitchen.

Anybody who has ever ridden a stationary bike for more than 30 minutes can tell you how boring and miserable that form of punishment can be. While his chief rival Jonas Vingegaard (Jumbo-Visma), the man who knocked him off the Tour throne last year was destroying rivals on the road, Tadej was torturing himself in the food prep area.

That’s the kind of ultimate sacrifice that it takes to win the biggest, most prestigious cycling event in the world. You want the final yellow jersey in Paris? Then get back in the kitchen. Consider the extra degree of difficulty as he’s forced to stare for hours each day at the refrigerator, imagining all the delicious food and snacks nearly within his reach. That’s a whole other level of pain and self-discipline.

Only a supreme talent like Tadej, a rider that cycling legend Eddy Merckx says “can win everything” would be able to pull this feat off. No, he’s not at altitude camp, he’s at his very own Kitchen camp.

This brings new meaning to time-honored cycling cliches. Careful, Tadej, you don’t want to “overcook” your form. If this is the second coming of a Merckx-ian Cannibal, this one is training right next to all the food.

Tadej Pogacar is known for this mental toughness and dedication. He knows better than anyone that if you can’t take the heat of the Tour de France, then get out of the kitchen.