Until this summer, most cycling fans outside of Norway had never heard of me. But then I went on to have an incredible Tour de France with 10 days in the polka-dot jersey, three days in green, second on stage two, and five days in the break. It was something that I didn’t believe was possible before the start, but it’s now given me the confidence that I can win a stage of the Tour and also a Monument like Flanders or Roubaix.
Getting to this point, however, hasn’t been easy. From when I was a teenager, I was always very skinny – too skinny, to be honest – and I didn’t achieve my full potential. All of my role models were super light and I thought I had to be around 58-59kg if I was to have an FTP of 360 watts and push six watts per kilo up a hill. That was the weight I aimed for, but I didn’t eat enough and because of that I couldn’t build my FTP and power, my body wasn’t working as well and I suffered from delayed puberty.
I was riding for Continental teams from the age of 19, and joined Uno-X’s development team when I was 21, but my career development had stalled. I realised I had to do something to be a better rider, and in 2019 at the age of 23, I came to the understanding with the team’s nutritionist James Moran that my body was built for having muscles. So I started the process of adding 20kg of weight. It was hard, but immediately my body thanked me for it as 80kg is, I think, my natural weight: I grew seven centimetres; it was the time I started dating girls and my testosterone levels increased; I felt much stronger and less tired; and I was no longer stressed about how much I was eating, and found that I had more energy to spend with people.
It’s very important to know your body and its capacities. Some people are meant to be very skinny, but others, like me, are not. I’d tell all teenagers it’s better to eat more and work on your power, and worry about losing weight when you’re at a professional level and there’s experts to help you. At that age, you can’t only think about cycling. I look in the mirror now after my issues and I am very happy with what I see, and my body is much happier too. My weight is very stable, I recover better – when I was skinny I was inconsistent – and my performances are definitely better.
I’d had a few good results before this year – I was third on stage 18 of the Tour in 2023 – but this has been my best season yet. I was second at Dwars door Vlaanderen, in the mix at other Classic races, and then won my first pro race in June, the Brussels Cycling Classic. Just before Brussels, I had my first ever block of altitude training, three weeks in the Sierra Nevada. I immediately felt that my body was reacting really well from the camp, and the day before the Tour I achieved a new five-minute peak power. I knew I was coming into the Tour with good form.
The team’s main goal for the first week was to take the mountain’s jersey, but I wasn’t the one who was meant to do so. On the first stage, a few of my teammates tried to get in the breakaway but couldn’t, but then I was able to bridge across to the break and I took the most King of the Mountains points. It was not the idea for me to go for the KoM classification, but once I got hold of the jersey I was 100% committed to keeping it. Day two I was in the break again, and I realised the green jersey was also available. My DS told me not to risk the polka dot, but I went for the green regardless, and in the end I finished second in Bologna and had both jerseys. It was crazy.
Because the points classification is rated higher, I wore the green jersey for the next three days – it was so cool because I’ll never again wear the green jersey in the Tour de France. On stage eight, I was then in a solo break for 170km, which to some people might sound awful, but I liked it. Ever since I was young I’ve had this relationship with pain. When I was 15, I would go full gas every day during the summer holidays, use the hardest gear on the climbs and try to get as much pain as I could in my legs. I just love pain. But I have learned as I’ve gotten older that I do need some rest days, and nowadays I’ll only submit my legs to pain three times a week as that’s a lot smarter.
The day I lost the mountain’s jersey, the PR speaker on the podium said, “and the leader of the mountain’s jersey is Jonas Pogačar!” It made me laugh – 10 days in polka-dot was a long time and it had effectively become mine. Some days after the podium it was difficult to get in the team car as so many people were wanting autographs and pictures with me. I had 7,400 followers on Instagram before the Tour and all of a sudden I had 57,000. I now have to think a little bit more about what I’m posting!
Since the Tour, I’ve signed a four-year contract with Uno-X as I believe it's the best place for me to develop and to win a stage of the Tour. It’s been a long process in the past five years, but now I’ve got the right body shape, my positioning and understanding of tactics in the peloton is much better, and I feel like my development is improving year-on-year. I’m confident about the future, but I know I’ll never again have a crazy 10 days like I had this summer.
- Jonas
You can read more from the In My Words series here.
