You’d think after winning Il Lombardia for a fifth time on Saturday, Tadej Pogačar would have a day off. But no, the world champion was back in action the following day on his home roads in Krvavec, Slovenia, in a charity race against 1,189 cyclists up a 15km climb with 1,189m of elevation gain.
Pogačar passed every participant with the exception of four-time British hill climb champion and 2024 runner-up, Andrew Feather.
The Pogi Challenge charity ride started with a non-timed 9.1km warm-up, before participants headed up the timed climb itself. Sportingly, Pogačar gave them a six-minute head start.
He passed all 1,189 riders with the exception of Feather who, although his time of 44:15.3 was around 2.5 minutes slower than Pogačar’s 40:44.5, was still over three minutes ahead of him arriving at the finish line.
After the event, Feather told Cycling Weekly: “I kept on looking over my shoulder thinking he was going to come up at some point, but he didn’t – he didn’t manage to catch me.”
Interviewed in Slovene after the race by journalist Igor Tominec, Pogačar was asked if UAE Team Emirates would be signing Feather for 2026.
"We already have a full team. Those who go uphill so fast could be used in races. Everyone has their own path, maybe they don’t even want to be among the professionals themselves. I have respect for those riders,” he replied.
Now aged 40, back in 2019 we took Feather to the Human Performance Lab at the University of Bath, finding that his VO2 max was good enough to rival Tour de France riders.
Whether Feather wants to turn pro is moot. He already has a full-time job as a lawyer in the UK, but is looking to retake the British hill climb title at the 2025 event, which takes place on Bank Road in Matlock, Derbyshire on Sunday, 26 October. The climb isn’t quite as long as that in Slovenia, with an elevation gain of 101.44m in 805 metres.
