Tadej Pogacar Recounts His Nightmare: New Revelation Shocks Fans
More than two months after his nasty crash at the Vuelta a España, Tadej Pogacar has spoken again about the consequences of the injury that seriously jeopardized his season and which, as the weeks went by, turned out to be even more serious than initially diagnosed—not only physically but also mentally.
The Slovenian star, interviewed by The Athletic, shared behind-the-scenes details that left fans and industry insiders speechless. During a checkup conducted in recent weeks, he discovered that the damage caused by the crash was much more extensive than what had emerged from the initial examinations, the results of which had already been quite serious.
“Two weeks ago, I had another CT scan in Slovenia,” Pogacar said. “I knew about the fracture in my C7 vertebra, but we discovered that I had two other broken vertebrae, T1 and T2.” This unexpected news led him to reflect on the severity of the incident: “When I saw that I had three fractured vertebrae, I thought of only one thing: I’m happy to be on my feet. In fact, I’m happy to be alive.”
Pogacar’s words clearly convey the severity of the accident, which occurred while he was wearing the red leader’s jersey at the Vuelta. In addition to the vertebral fractures, Pogacar also suffered a concussion and a broken collarbone—a combination of injuries that made the first few weeks of recovery particularly difficult.
The UAE Team Emirates XRG champion himself admitted that he went through a very difficult period psychologically as well. “For the first two weeks, I wasn’t in a good place mentally. I was really down, depressed. I wasn’t a pleasant person to be around,” he confessed, explaining how the concussion caused him constant dizziness, nausea, and balance issues.
As time went on, the situation improved, and today Pogacar can look to the future with greater peace of mind. “I don’t have any more discomfort. I just have to be careful not to fall again and not to strain my neck and left arm, but now I can do practically everything normally.”
However, he remains aware that he narrowly avoided far more serious consequences. “Everyone tells me I was lucky. The more you talk to people, the more you realize how serious an injury like that is. It’s a little scary, if you think about it,” concluded the Slovenian champion, whose words inevitably struck a chord with cycling fans around the world.
