Tadej Pogačar: ‘Today was one of the worst days of my life on the bike’

UAE Team Emirates leader loses more than five minutes on Tour de France queen stage

Tadej Pogacar at the finish of stage 17 of the 2023 Tour de France
Tadej Pogacar at the finish of stage 17 of the 2023 Tour de France
(Image credit: Zac Williams / SWpix.com)

Today was the day the race for the 2023 Tour de France yellow jersey died. Or more specifically when one of its two main protagonists pronounced it so.

Tadej Pogačar didn’t last long enough to see the hardest slopes of the day from his nemesis’s wheel. On the lower slopes of the long and fearsome Col de la Loze he radioed to his team-mates: “I’m gone. I’m dead.”

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Having trained as a journalist at Cardiff University I spent eight years working as a business journalist covering everything from social care, to construction to the legal profession and riding my bike at the weekends and evenings. When a friend told me Cycling Weekly was looking for a news editor, I didn't give myself much chance of landing the role, but I did and joined the publication in 2016. Since then I've covered Tours de France, World Championships, hour records, spring classics and races in the Middle East. On top of that, since becoming features editor in 2017 I've also been lucky enough to get myself sent to ride my bike for magazine pieces in Portugal and across the UK. They've all been fun but I have an enduring passion for covering the national track championships. It might not be the most glamorous but it's got