Above , from left : With girlfriend Urška Žigart , a fellow Slovenian pro riding for Women ’ s WorldTour Team BikeExchange ; celebrating his maiden Monument win on the Liège-Bastogne-Liège finish line in April . Below : His win in Laruns in the Pyrenees was the first of his three 2020 Tour stage victories in the mountains .
at the race as a whole . Last year , David De La Cruz was hit by bad luck on the first day , Fabio Aru was forced to abandon on stage 9 and Davide Formolo broke his collarbone . I ’ m keeping my fingers crossed that the black cat that crossed our path will take a different route this year .
What are your thoughts about the route of the 2021 Tour ? It ’ s very different to last year ’ s route and probably a little less suited to my natural qualities . But I can assure you that I ’ ll prepare myself as well as possible to adapt to its specific challenges . If it had been
up to me , they could , for instance , have added one or even two more summit finishes in the mountains , terrain where I always feel particularly comfortable . That ’ s my natural habitat . The two individual time trials are likely to be fairly crucial when it comes to the overall classification and I ’ ll have to perform well in them . I won the time trial last September , but I want to keep improving in this discipline and I ’ m doing work specifically on this . I ’ ve got into the habit of riding my time trial bike more regularly than I used to during training . I believe that this is necessary in order to be as comfortable and efficient as possible in this discipline .
When you think back to the last Tour de France , what images come to mind most often ? It ’ s not easy to single out any one moment because those three weeks of racing were an overall experience . Don ’ t forget that it was my very first Tour and as a result it was a fantastic discovery . But riding onto the Champs-Élysées with the yellow jersey on my shoulders , surrounded by my teammates , and then sharing that joyous experience with my family a few moments later is
something that I ’ ll never forget . It ’ s etched in my mind forever . But I prefer to think about the next Tour rather than remembering the last one , that ’ s my character .
Your girlfriend Urška Žigart is also a professional cyclist . Does having the same career bring you closer together ? Yes , I think so . When we ’ re at home , we often go out training together , even if the make-up of our sessions is different . We encourage each other . Cycling is a very demanding profession and I think that knowing its constraints enables us to get on even better as a couple .
THE TWO ITTS ARE LIKELY TO BE FAIRLY CRUCIAL WHEN IT COMES TO THE OVERALL CLASSIFICATION ”
You won a very unusual September Tour de France . Do you think that the traditional July schedule might have an impact on your performance in some way ? Are you worried about the heat , for example ? We had to deal with quite high temperatures during several stages in the last edition of the Tour , despite the autumn dates . I think the heat is a factor that affects all riders in the peloton in the same way . It ’ s not something that really scares me . ●
PHOTOGRAPHS : BERNARD PAPON / L ’ ÉQUIPE , INSTAGRAM
14 | TOUR DE FRANCE 2021