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Tadej Pogačar pretended to be smoking and the Internet promptly freaked out

Slovenian is recuperating after crash at Liège–Bastogne–Liège

Tadej Pogacar Photo by: Tadej Pogačar @TamauPogi

Tadej Pogačar posted a photo of him “smoking” Internet responded by completely freaking out. Pog is resting up following a nasty crash at Liège–Bastogne–Liège, where he busted up his palms and fractured his wrist. So he seems to have a lot of free time on his mangled hands.

On Thursday he posted some photos of what he’s been up to as he recovers. “Enjoying some time off to enjoy the little things in life. Not thinking about bike or the rehab yet, but maybe this changes when Urška leaves for La Vuelta,” He added. “Drop me some good movies and series in the comments, because I can’t even play FIFA.”

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He’s of course referring to Urška Žigart, his girlfriend. The pair became engaged in September 2021. Just like Pog, Žigart is a professional cyclist. She rides for Team BikeExchange–Jayco.

In one of the photos of his down time, it seems that he is smoking, an odd choice for a pro cyclist. The photo was posted on several different platforms and many of the comments were about how shocking it was to see a cigarette in his mouth.

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Of course, had this been 1930, it would have been perfectly normal for a cyclist to have a dart before a climb.  Sports History Weekly described how cyclists in the old days had different strategies when it came to getting going uphill. “Smoking was believed to open up the lungs and riders would even light up before taking on a big climb.”

But that was then, and this is now. Besides, if you look closely it’s just a breadstick, as many people pointed out.

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