the perils of cycling fandom

on tadej pogačar and ruta del sol

I often keep in mind a conversation I had last year in Ljubljana with a Slovenian friend of mine who’s a big cycling fan. After the conclusion of the 2022 Tour de France, my friend, let’s call him Luka, expressed his great distress over a glass of beer. Tadej Pogačar, of whom Luka is an admirer, had just lost the Tour to Jonas Vingegaard, and Luka’s res…