Tadej Pogačar's crash at last weekend's Liège-Bastogne-Liège deprived us of one of the all-time great duels at La Doyenne; just imagine what the Slovenian could have done on the La Redoute to combat Remco Evenepoel. Instead, the world champion simply rode away to victory for a second year running, while Pogačar headed straight to hospital with a fractured wrist.
Cycling's loss is social media's gain, as the injured Pogačar is forced to rest up and heal - and not play FIFA, apparently. We have already had smiley Tadej with his wrist in a doodled-on cast, and now the UAE team Emirates rider is posting photos of himself hanging out with his partner, Urška Žigart. One wonders how much more content we are going to get out of the 24-year-old while he's forced to take a break from the bike.
Meanwhile, Remco has been posting heavily - as a 23-year-old would - in light of his second Liège triumph, and in the run up to the Giro d'Italia, which is just over a week away. Soudal Quick-Step might have stopped him from posting most of his rides on Strava, but it appears he can still post on other social medias all he likes.
Whether the imminent Giro will stop the stream of Instagram posts remains to be seen, but as we will see, his biggest rival at that race, Primož Roglič, is back on Twitter, which is a huge win in the communication war.
Elsewhere in the land of cycling social media, Demi Vollering revealed that she's not an early morning person, two ex-professionals look like normal people, and Ellen van Dijk jokes about her age.
1. It is considered rude to ask a lady her age, but that lady in question can joke about her age all she likes, right? Ellen van Dijk is only 36, for the record
Although I'm not racing on Sunday, they made me an aging-effect photo too 👀👵🏻#Grandma #Oldestintheteam #ForeverYoung #LaDoyenne #LBLwomen https://t.co/F7zazWDZnG pic.twitter.com/obTFxAmtX2April 21, 2023
2. Demi Vollering is known for her emotional reactions to winning - victories are usually greeted with tears. However, it wasn't her triple crown of the Amstel Gold Race, La Flèche Wallonne and Liège-Bastogne-Liège which made her cry the most, it was her wake up time for the latter
3. Spare a thought for Ineos Grenadiers press officer Hannah Troop, who had to tear Tom Pidcock way from his dog so he could get to the podium after Liège-Bastogne-Liège
A 𝙝𝙚𝙧𝙤'𝙨 𝙬𝙚𝙡𝙘𝙤𝙢𝙚 for Tom Pidcock 😍 The British rider secured second place at Liege-Bastogne-Liege, but this little one was just happy to see him 🐶@tompid | #LBL pic.twitter.com/0hf5bLkWRjApril 23, 2023
4. With one superstar out of the race, there's only one thing for it - support the other star left
pic.twitter.com/dfLkHEolD3April 23, 2023
5. I simply don't believe that this is what Remco Evenepoel eats. We all know he has breakfast, lunch and dinner at Pizza Hut
The moment @EvenepoelRemco received his real reward 🍟 for winning “La Doyenne” 😁Photo: @BeelWout pic.twitter.com/bYUVfXAUKFApril 24, 2023
6. Second at Brabantse Pijl and the Amstel Gold Race, then fourth at Liège-Bastogne-Liège. That deserves a star, in the words of fellow Irishman Bernard Black
Congrats to Ben on your latest achievement! pic.twitter.com/q3vnuNH64iApril 24, 2023
7. If you hadn't noted, Primož Roglič had his Twitter account hacked. Don't worry, though, he's back
Guess who's back. 😎April 25, 2023
8. Is it a bird? Is it a plane? No, it's Charlotte Kool announcing that she's going to race La Vuelta Femenina
9. Lorenzo Germani is only 21, so it probably wasn't that long ago that he genuinely was queueing for Thibaut Pinot's autograph
@LorenzoGermani3 fan numéro 1 de Thibaut Pinot 🫶 pic.twitter.com/x7buQo39NRApril 27, 2023
10. Stopping the usual snark-dripping tone of tweets of the week for one second, this is great and is why cycling matters so much. Well done the Hayters
Why are we involved in the Tour of Lunsar?This photo explains why... This chap cycling yesterday covered 90K wearing NO SHOES and a @BritishCycling strip donated by the Hayters.When the cycling community comes together it's a brilliant thing.#FuelledbyScience pic.twitter.com/tb4iNAWVVMApril 27, 2023
11. Just two guys hanging out at The Cycle Show, what would they know about cycling? Oh wait, it's Alex Dowsett and Dan Martin. Adorable
12. Finally, Pogačar knows exactly what he's doing here
The Notorious P.O.G. pic.twitter.com/oe7sk4BIReApril 28, 2023
