S10 Ep48: Kilometre 0 – Popo's mission

The Cycling Podcast

News, Sports, Sports News

4.7 • 3K Ratings

🗓️ 20 May 2022

⏱️ 40 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

For most directeurs sportifs, especially one who spent his most important years as a cyclist in Italy, taking and defending the maglia rosa might be a euphoric experience. It is indeed for Trek-Segafredo’s Yaroslav Popovych, but, to him, Juan Pedro López’s pink jersey may also feel more like a welcome distraction. In February, Russia declared war on Popovych’s Ukraine, and three months on their bombs are still falling. Watching on from Italy, Popovych felt helpless – and yet soon swung into action. In this Kilometre 0, he tells Daniel about his extraordinary efforts to offer aid and in some cases salvation to his compatriots back home.

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The Cycling Podcast was founded in 2013 by Richard Moore, Daniel Friebe and Lionel Birnie.

Transcript

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0:00.0	You're listening to Kilometer Zero by the Cycling Podcast, powered by Super Sapiens,
0:09.2	energy management for committed athletes and coaches.
0:12.0	Well, I know what I say, Yaroslav Popovic, what do you say?
0:21.5	Well, I think a Ukrainian rider who had the signs of being a world-beta when he was
0:29.4	under 23, I mean, literally did beat the rest of the world, didn't he?
0:32.7	World under 23, road race champion in Lisbon in 2001.
0:37.3	Third overall in the Giro in 2003, second year as a pro, and then two years after that,
0:43.5	really a symbolic Tour de France result because he was the best young rider
0:48.7	wearing the white jersey. He was Lance Armstrong's team mate and it was Lance Armstrong's
0:53.7	seventh and final Tour de France win, asterisk, not really.
0:58.8	And it felt like Popovic was going to be one of the stars who would
1:03.4	vie for the vacant crown when Lance Armstrong retired, but it didn't really turn out that way.
1:08.6	He did win a stage quite impressively in 2006, but never really matched that early hype and potential.
1:17.3	As you say, Lionel, he was a prodigious talent.
1:19.8	That 2001 season when he won the world, he also won the Prairie Bay under 23.
1:24.1	He won a couple of really big races, Italian amateur races, Trofeo Piva, Palio,
1:28.9	they're in the retro, and people in Italy were talking about him as the next Merck.
1:32.8	But as you say, there were flashes, there were flickers, there was that winning
1:36.4	carcasson in 2006 Tour de France.
1:38.5	There were only four other victories and he eventually became a very good domestic, didn't he?
1:44.0	He was one of a couple of strong Ukrainian riders in that generation.
1:48.6	So high-gon chart was another one.
	...

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