After Sunday’s victory in the Liege – Bastogne – Liege race, the competition jury stated in an official announcement that Tadej Pogačar fined for “incorrectly placing advertising on the world champion’s jersey during the award ceremony”. It is supposed to be the logo of Richard Mille, the personal sponsor of Pogačar, on the sleeve of the winning jersey. The confusion arose because Pogačar has been coming to the podium with the same jersey all spring.
UAE Team Emirates XRG confirmed to Italian media that the fine was later withdrawn as the referees subsequently recognized the error. The International Cycling Union (UCI) has recently relaxed the rules regarding personal sponsors on the jerseys used by cyclists at the awards. Before, they had to be identical to the competition jerseys, but now the UCI allows riders a bit more freedom. Therefore, the judges canceled the penalty for the Slovenian champion and Pogi went home with almost 5,500 euros more.
Pogačar also celebrated with the same jersey after the Milan-Sanremo classic, but he did not receive a penalty then. Photo by Marco Bertorello/AFP
Sunday’s victory at Liege – Bastogne – Liege was the fourth for Pogačar, who is not going on vacation yet. Today, the race through Romandie begins with the prologue, where the Slovenian ace will be the first favorite for overall victory.
