Pogacar says he is 'just happy to be alive' after Vuelta crash left him with three fractured vertebrae
Tadej Pogacar said he is "just happy to be alive" two months after suffering three fractured vertebrae in a crash during the Vuelta a Espana in August. The 28-year-old Slovenian has been ruled out for the season following the accident.
Pogacar, a five-time Tour de France champion who has won six Grand Tour titles, required surgery on a broken collarbone after the crash. He was initially diagnosed with a fracture in his neck, but further scans in his home country revealed additional injuries that extended his recovery timeline.
"I knew I had a C7 fracture, but then we saw I had two more broken vertebrae, the T1 and T2," Pogacar told The Athletic. "At that moment, I was happy I didn't do the European Championships, which had been my initial goal. When I saw I had three broken vertebrae? I'm just happy to be alive actually, or just to be standing." His injuries also prevented him from defending his rainbow jersey at the World Championships in Montreal last month.
Pogacar also suffered concussion in the crash, which produced dizziness, nausea and poor co-ordination in the weeks after the accident. "I had to be showered with the help of the team doctor. I could not shower. I was getting dizzy as soon as I stood or when I put my head down," Pogacar added. "I was just completely out of it and it was so tough."
He described the first weeks of recovery as especially hard on his mental state, saying he was "mentally not OK" and "not a fun person to be around." "When I started to get on the home trainer, to go to physio every day, then I started to feel better, also in the head. But it was a day-to-day fight," he said.
On his physical condition, Pogacar said: "I don't have discomfort any more. I have to be careful not to crash on the bike, or do some heavy lifting with my left arm or with my neck. But I can do basically everything normal now." UAE Team Emirates-XRG said the decision not to race again until 2027 would allow him to return to full health "without placing a timeline on his return to competition".
Pogacar said he is aiming to return next year but will adopt a more cautious mindset. "If I crash again on the bike now, it can be very problematic. Everybody says that I was lucky, and you're always lucky after a crash where you can walk away and you're fine," said Pogacar. "You see it's pretty serious and not to joke around. It's a bit scary, to be honest, to think about it."