There was a South African flavour to the inspiring success of 22-year-old Tadej Pogacar’s victory in the 2020 Tour de France, which finished in Paris.
South Africa had two riders in the race, with Daryl Impey finishing 97th overall in the colours of Mitchelton-Scott. Ryan Gibbons, riding in his first Tour and with painful damaged ribs, which were aggravated in an early fall, pedalled to 121st position overall for NTT Pro Cycling.
However, there was also plenty cause for celebration at UAE Team Emirates headquarters with Dr Jeroen Swart leading the UAE Team Emirates medical staff, while John Wakefield, Adriano Rotunno, Raaghib Fredericks, Jarrad Van Zuydam and Jarrod Suter were all part of the victorious team for cycling’s most prestigious annual event.
Wakefield is a director of Science2Sport and was performance co-ordinator of UAE Team Emirates, Rotunno a sports and exercise medicine physician at the Sports Science Institute, Fredericks a sports and exercise physician, Van Zuydam and Suter are sports physicians.
Collectively, they helped Pogacar to make it a Slovenia 1-2, with long-time yellow jersey wearer Primoz Roglic being denied victory in the penultimate time trial stage, to provide one of the most dramatic finishes in the Tour’s long history.
Yellow yellow everywhere! pic.twitter.com/bvBgi68EoS
— Dr Jeroen Swart (@JeroenSwart) September 20, 2020
Swart tweeted on Sunday that ‘I’ve seen many comments about people wanting Tadej to win because they don’t like Primoz. Every time I’ve spoken to Primoz he has been the nicest guy I can imagine. His wife is there at the races cheering him on wildly. He deserves to win as much as anyone. Stop the negativity.’
Pogacar turned 22 on Monday, a day after winning the Tour.
Super stoked for @AdrianoRotunno and that he could be there in the moment. One of the hardest working and humble guys in the business and also one of the sharpest. https://t.co/AG5X4nJwDV
— Dr Jeroen Swart (@JeroenSwart) September 20, 2020