After Tadej and his fiancée Urška Žigart received the Golden Rog Wheels as the highest-ranked Slovenian male and female cyclists on the UCI ranking, they were also in the spotlight at the Cycling Federation of Slovenia’s Evening of the Stars. As expected, they were declared Male and Female Cyclists of the Year. Tadej received this award for the fifth consecutive year (in 2020 he shared this title with Primož Roglič), while Urška received it for the first time.
»These awards mean a lot to me. You work hard all year to race and prove yourself. It’s nice to reminisce about it during the off-season break. That’s why these events are beautiful and dear to my heart,« said Tadej, who was awarded the prize by the Prime Minister of Slovenia, Robert Golob. In the Ljubljana Festival Hall they also played a video highlighting his exceptional season, in which he celebrated a record 25 victories, including the Giro, Tour and World Championship in Zürich.
»It’s nice to see a short video that sums up almost the entire season. There were many beautiful victories this year, all the biggest races. The World Championship might have a bit more significance, but I can’t decide which victory is my favorite; the whole season was outstanding,« Tadej reflected once more on the remarkable year 2024, in which his weaknesses, if he has any, remained hidden from his competitors.
»In cycling you can’t avoid bad days, probably in sports in general. I had a few this year too, but luckily it wasn’t visible from the outside, so I can keep to myself which ones they were,« continued Tadej, who, has not yet put together a competition calendar for 2025 with his UAE Team Emirates, but it is clear that he will defend victories in many races and take on new challenges.
»I’ve already defended victories in quite a few races, but a new defense will be the world champion title. It’s a specific race; it hasn’t often happened that someone has been a world champion twice in a row. Some have succeeded, but they were special cyclists. The hardest will be defending the rainbow jersey, but I will go with more joy to races where I haven’t won yet and will try to take the victory,« Tadej does not hide that his ambitions will remain high in the future.
He has already started working for the next competitive year, although he still has some ceremonial award presentations ahead. He is a hot favorite for the Velo d’Or for the world’s best cyclist, which will be awarded in Paris on December 6th, and for the title of Slovenian Athlete of the Year. The award ceremony will be in Ljubljana on December 10th, when Tadej will already be at the UAE Team Emirates training camp in Alicante.
»I still have a few events ahead, and then the first December training sessions with the team in warmer places, where we will start serious work. The highlight of the break at home was that I could see my parents and friends and that I saw Slovenia,« added Tadej.
Foto Luka Vovk/Sportida/KZS