Girlfriend's omission influenced Pogacar Paris withdrawal

Tour de France champion Tadej Pogacar says the Slovenian Olympic Committee (OKS) not selecting his girlfriend Urska Zigart helped sway his decision to withdraw from Paris 2024.

Pogacar, who won his third Tour title on Sunday, pulled out of the Games with "extreme fatigue", the OKS said in a statement on Monday.

The Giro d'Italia-Tour de France double winner competed in a criterium race in the Netherlands on Tuesday.

Speaking before that race Pogacar said of Zigart’s omission: "It’s not the main reason, but for sure it didn’t help.

"I think she deserves her spot. She’s the double national champion in road race and time trial.”

Slovenia have selected Urska Pintar, 38, and Eugenia Bujak, 35, for the women's road race on 4 August.

Six-time Slovenian champion Bujak did not compete at this year's national championships where Pintar, national champion in 2023, finished second, 10 minutes and 47 seconds behind 27-year-old Zigart.

"[Zigart] is the only woman cyclist in Slovenia that ever achieved top 10 in week-long World Tour races,” Pogacar told the Dutch broadcaster NOS.

"She did great in the last two years winning points for Slovenia and, without her, they wouldn’t have two spots in the road race."

The Games start in Paris on Friday and 25-year-old Pogacar was scheduled to take part in the road race on 3 August.

He is expected to represent Slovenia in the World Championships in Zurich on 29 September.

Only Belgium's Eddy Merckx (1974), Ireland's Stephen Roche (1987) and the Netherlands' Annemiek van Vleuten (2022) have completed cycling's triple crown of a Giro, Tour and World Championship win in the same year.