Tadej Pogačar Has To Abandon The Vuelta | Emergency Ned Solo Podcast Reaction

Emergency podcast here, unexpectedly having to relay the, um, devastating news for the Vuelta that the race leader, the overall favorite, the man in the red jersey, the incomparable Tadej Pogačar, has, uh, suffered a crash today at the Vuelta in unexpected and bizarre circumstances that forced him to abandon the race.

And for the first time in his career, Tadej Pogačar has had to depart a Grand Tour in his extraordinary career before the end of the race.

This is obviously of huge importance, not just to what remains of the Vuelta, but also in terms of, uh, his immediate future.

Bearing in mind, uh, we're recording this relatively soon after, um, the, the crash, and we're still awaiting news of the extent of his injuries, which let's hope are not too severe and won't hamper the rest of potentially his season, but certainly not his, um, his upcoming plans for the winter and beyond.

Um, but also just in terms of setting into context what, what this means for Tadej Pogačar and actually how rare it is that in his amazing career, there has been such a significant setback because let's face it, road racing is an incredibly unpredictable, unreliable sport.

And as we often say in cycling commentary, I suppose, you never know.

You know, it's a long way to the end of the race.

It's something of a cliché that we always say, um, that around every corner lurks a potential for your race to be ended.

And the reason we say that is because it does happen from time to time, and today it happened to the most exceptional bike rider, not just of this generation, but arguably that the sport has ever seen.

For those of you who are just catching up on this and, and didn't actually sort of observe what was going on today and what today's stage was all about, it was a fairly straightforward stage today that should have, would have, could have, in fact did end in a bunch sprint ultimately, and we'll come to that.

A bunch sprint that was won by the Frenchman Bryan Coquard, again in exceptional circumstances and featuring a crash in the last few hundred meters as well.

But, um, that crash with respect to the riders who came down and the result that was affected by that seems, um, small in comparison with what happened some thirty-three kilometers further back down the road.

Emergency podcast here, unexpectedly having to relay the, um, devastating news for the Vuelta that the race leader, the overall favorite, the man in the red jersey, the incomparable Tadej Pogačar, has, uh, suffered a crash today at the Vuelta in unexpected and bizarre circumstances that forced him to abandon the race.

And for the first time in his career, Tadej Pogačar has had to depart a Grand Tour in his extraordinary career before the end of the race.

This is obviously of huge importance, not just to what remains of the Vuelta, but also in terms of, uh, his immediate future.

Bearing in mind, uh, we're recording this relatively soon after, um, the, the crash, and we're still awaiting news of the extent of his injuries, which let's hope are not too severe and won't hamper the rest of potentially his season, but certainly not his, um, his upcoming plans for the winter and beyond.

Um, but also just in terms of setting into context what, what this means for Tadej Pogačar and actually how rare it is that in his amazing career, there has been such a significant setback because let's face it, road racing is an incredibly unpredictable, unreliable sport.

And as we often say in cycling commentary, I suppose, you never know.

You know, it's a long way to the end of the race.

It's something of a cliché that we always say, um, that around every corner lurks a potential for your race to be ended.

And the reason we say that is because it does happen from time to time, and today it happened to the most exceptional bike rider, not just of this generation, but arguably that the sport has ever seen.

For those of you who are just catching up on this and, and didn't actually sort of observe what was going on today and what today's stage was all about, it was a fairly straightforward stage today that should have, would have, could have, in fact did end in a bunch sprint ultimately, and we'll come to that.

A bunch sprint that was won by the Frenchman Bryan Coquard, again in exceptional circumstances and featuring a crash in the last few hundred meters as well.

But, um, that crash with respect to the riders who came down and the result that was affected by that seems, um, small in comparison with what happened some thirty-three kilometers further back down the road.