Peter Sagan - Slovakia
✅ 1st Slovakian to win a stage of Le Tour de France,
🏆 Winner of 12 stages of the TDF, 7 green jerseys, 3-time World Champion
📆 Pro years: 2009 - now
Who still needs to introduce Peter Sagan? We are going to do it anyway, just because this superstar cannot be talked about enough. In the international peloton, Sagan is known as one of the best bike handlers. But it’s really no surprise, with his background in both mountain bike and cyclocross. He won the Junior World Championships on the mountain bike in 2008 and finished 2nd in the cyclocross World Championships the same year.
Fast forward a few years, in 2010, he is now a professional road rider in the Liquigas team. His team decides to make him race Paris-Nice to replace his friend Maciej Bodnar who just broke his collarbone. The young Peter, 19 years old, goes on to win 2 stages and the green jersey. Everyone is then wondering: “Who’s this guy, and what just happened?!”
2 years later, Sagan is at the start of his first Tour de France. This time, all his competitors are expecting him to shine, but not to this level. In the first stage, he follows a move initiated by Fabian Cancellara and Edvald Boasson Hagen and outsprints them easily to win the first stage in Slovakia’s history on the Tour. A bad performance in the prologue the day before keeps him from taking the Yellow Jersey. On stage 3, an uphill sprint finish, he annihilates all his rivals to finish by a few bike lengths in front of everyone. He even wins a bunch sprint stage a few days later, to make it 3 wins. He finishes this 2012 Tour with his first Green Jersey.
7 Green Jerseys and 3 World Championships later, among other victories, Sagan is now one of the best riders in history. His popularity overcomes the borders of cycling world and his impact on this sport in Slovakia has been overwhelming.
Want to learn more about Peter Sagan? Watch this video 🎬
Tadej Pogačar - Slovenia
✅ First Slovenian winner of the Tour de France and the youngest winner since the 1904 Tour
🏆 Winner of 2 Tours de France and 9 stages
📅 Pro years: 2019 - now
Tadej Pogačar was born in Komenda, a small town of 5,700 inhabitants. There, everyone heard the story of the recruiter who arrived on a village race, saw the young Pogačar alone behind the peloton and asked: “Who is this struggling little guy?”. The answer burst out: “Not at all, he is in the lead and he will soon take a turn to everyone!”.
It was to mimick his big brother that Pogačar started cycling at the age of nine. A late-growing teenager, he remained for years smaller than other riders of the same age. A size that gives him a nickname: "Tamau Pogi" ("little Pogi") in a Slovenian dialect. He wanted to show everyone that he could do it, and his strength of character propelled him to the top.
Specialist in stage races, Tadej Pogačar began to stand out in 2019 when he was only 20 years old. Precocious, he won the Tour of the Algarve, the Tour of California, and 3rd in the Vuelta a España, even winning 3 stages!
In 2020, he becomes the first Slovenian winner of the Tour de France and the youngest winner since the 1904 edition! He takes the Yellow Jersey off the shoulders of his compatriot Primož Roglič during the time trial of the penultimate stage at the Planche des Belles Filles.
In 2021, he won the Tour de France again, the second in two participations! He also won several prestigious races (Tirreno-Adriatico, Liège-Bastogne-Liège, the Tour of Lombardy and the Tour of Slovenia). At the end of the season, he is number 1 on the UCI ranking.
In 2022, Pogačar is sensational at the start of the season, especially during the Strade Bianche that he wins after a solo breakaway of 50 km. For his performance, he is compared to Eddy Merckx. He is taking part in his 3rd Tour de France, where competition is raging within the peloton. See you on July 24th for the final general ranking!
Jan Svorada - Czech Republic
✅ First Czech rider to win a stage of the Tour de France
🏆 Winner of 3 stages of the Tour de France
📆 Pro years: 1991 - 2005
Svorada is a really unusual rider. The main reason is because his career began just before the end of Czechoslovakia. He became Slovakian when the country split in 2 in 1993 but crossed the border to become Czech 3 years later.
Jan Svorada was a sprinter, and one of the best ones. In in second year as a pro, he won his first stage of the Tour de France and 3 stages of the Giro. All of those victories were won under the Slovakian flag.
In 1996, he then turned Czech and didn’t lose any time to become Czech champion! But Svorada had to wait 2 more years to strike again on the Tour de France. His history with the Tour de France is not the easiest one, as he only finished the race 3 times out of 8 starts. He was not known as a good climber, which didn’t help about that either.
Yet, in 2001, he reached the last stage of the Tour de France and won on the prestigious Champs-Elysées in front of Zabel and O’Grady. That day, Zabel also stole the green jersey from O’Grady by 8 points.
Svorada retired in 2005 after 15 years as a pro, including 2 as a Czechoslovakian, 3 as a Slovakian, and 10 as a Czech. His biggest wins were 5 stages of the Giro, 3 stages of the Tour de France and 3 stages of the Vuelta.
Eduard-Michael Grosu - Romania
✅ First Romanian to complete a Grand Tour
🏆 17 wins as a professionnal rider
📅 Pro years: 2014 - now
Born in 1992, Eduard-Michael Grosu is a Romanian professional cyclist. The history of Romanian cycling does not reveal a large number of riders who turned professional.
In addition to multiple national championship titles in his country, his record includes numerous selections with the Romanian national team and several victories in races of the UCI calendar. In 2015, with his compatriot Serghei Țvetcov, he became the first Romanian to complete a Grand Tour. On a personal level, he notably finished 5th on one stage.
In history, 4 Romanian cyclists participated in the 1936 Tour de France but they were not listed as professional riders: Virgil Marmocea, Nicolae Tapu, Constantin Tudose and Gheorghe Hapciuc. Unfortunately, they would not complete the Tour that year.
In the next few years, Romania may see cycling develop. The fervor and enthusiasm around this sport could give ideas to the youngest to become a professional rider, especially with L'Etape Romania by Tour de France celebrating its first edition in 2022!
