Nils Politt served Tadej Pogacar faithfully on his way to victory in the Tour. He will not face the dominant rider at the Olympics after all.
After three weeks of brutal toil, Tadej Pogacar and Nils Politt thoroughly enjoyed the party together in Nice’s legendary nightlife. Politt and the rest of the UAE team toasted Pogacar’s third Tour victory until Monday morning, then the superstar and his “bodyguard” parted ways. At the Olympics, Politt can ride on his own account – and also does not have to compete against the “cannibal”: Pogacar canceled his participation in the Olympics on Monday evening “due to extreme tiredness.”
“These were tough but great weeks on the tour. We worked really well together as a team,” said Politt on Sunday, “but now I’m really looking forward to the Olympics, as these will be my first games.”
The 30-year-old from Cologne is travelling to Paris with a huge amount of euphoria from Nice. There, on Sunday, he hugged the scrawny champion Pogacar to his broad chest immediately after he crossed the finish line, then carried him on his shoulders in the jubilant crowd, just as he had (co-)carried him through the three-week tour.
“It’s really motivating when you have a leader like that in your own ranks,” said Politt. The 1.92 m giant mutated into a climber during the Tour, climbing the mountain giants like Tourmalet and Bonette as a pacemaker at the front of the peloton so quickly that specialists like last year’s eighth-place Austrian Felix Gall fell behind.
“Nils did a great job, he got better every day,” even Pogacar marveled. The fact that Politt ended up in 75th place overall, around four hours behind, is irrelevant, he wasn’t riding on his own account. In the Olympic road race on August 3rd – Max Schachmann is the only German competing in the time trial on Saturday – Politt has complete freedom and no longer has to compete with the untouchable Giro and Tour winner from Slovenia.
“If I stay healthy now and let my breath go, then my form will be good. I can recover well in two weeks,” said Politt. The classic ace will probably enjoy the selective course in the Paris area. But Politt is certainly not one of the medal favorites, even if his UAE captain is missing.
Whether the nominated Pogacar would even show up in Paris was already a question on Sunday after his triumph in Nice. On the one hand, he harbors a grudge against the Slovenian sports leadership because his girlfriend Urska Zigart, a double national champion, was not called up for the games. On the other hand, he reacted somewhat evasively to corresponding inquiries.
“I am very tired and do not want to talk about the Olympics right now,” the 25-year-old said, adding that he would deal with that later. He did just that on Monday with the cancellation.
Source: www.sport.de
