There is this photo, taken in a café somewhere in Slovenia, that says more about Tadej Pogacar than the pictures showing him on his bike. In this photo, which he shared on social media two and a half months ago, he is sitting at a table in a café, his right hand propped up and a cigarette in his left hand, which he puffs on with relish.
The left wrist and left forearm are heavily bandaged. Pogacar posted the photo a few days after his crash at the Liège-Bastogne-Liège race, which broke three bones in his wrist. That was the end of his spring season, in which he was the outstanding driver. Now the wrist was broken and the Tour de France started in two and a half months. Training on the bike was out of the question for a long time, the big duel between him and the Dane Jonas Vingegaard was on the brink.