Social Digest: Olympic Champs Train Together, Vollering Shares Wake up Call, New ‘Pogi Project’

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Hello Velo,

How many more wins does Tadej Pogačar need to be considered the GOAT? Apparently one more. Regardless of who wins next weekend at Paris-Roubaix, the ultimate cobbled monument will be probably the most exciting and highly anticipated one-day race of the season.

This week we saw inside the sunny Ronde van Vlaanderen (aka the Tour of Flanders ), the reaction of Neilson Powless’ greatest win so far, the uptick in Olympic champion Kristen Faulkner’s spring training which included a run-in with another big name from the Paris 2024 Games and Demi Vollering reminded people to practice some humility.

Let’s get into it.

POV: You’re right in the middle of the Flanders chaos

Legendary photographer Jered Gruber teamed up with EF Pro Cycling to give us an inside look at the chaos and thrill of this year’s Tour of Flanders.

The hardest of them all

A quick reminder of just how brutal the big three sectors of Flanders are.

‘There ain’t no party like a Kwaremont party’

Altitude training on full blast for the Olympic champion

Although Kristen Faulkner has had a slower start to her 2025 season, her latest training vlogs prove things are ramping up for the 2024 Olympic road and team pursuit champion.

She’s been out in Sierra Nevada, Spain training with her team. Her next race is scheduled for April 18 at De Brabantse Pijl – La Flèche Brabançonne in Belgium. 

Speaking of Olympic champions, Faulkner ran into none other than the men’s road and ITT Olympic champion on her ride: Remco Evenepoel

“I guess this is where Olympic champions come to train,” Faulkner said on her post.

We concur.

T-Shirts from Tadej

Pogačar continues to use his platform for good.

In a recent post on Instagram, Pogačar shared with fans that he’s collaborating with artist Fette to make T-shirts for his highly anticipated Paris-Roubaix debut.

“This project is to help me get through hell of the north, but more importantly goes for good cause to @tadejpogacar_foundation, “  Pogačar said.

Pogi wasn’t kidding on that “good cause” he mentioned above.

The latest Tadej Pogačar Foundation fundraising efforts was towards one lucky little boy.

“Thanks to the incredible generosity of our community, we’ve reached an amazing milestone: €50,000 raised in just 14 days to help Matic get one step closer to receiving the life-changing treatment he needs,” the foundation said on Instagram.

Pogačar’s foundation page “invites you to join him in creating positive change in society. Together we can make a difference.”

Check out more of his foundation efforts here including fundraising, supporting sick children, providing assistance to victims of natural disasters and more.

A brother’s tough love

The latest disappointment from team Visma at Dwars door Vlaanderen last week caused a storm of backlash on social media. Including some from Matteo Jorgenson’s own brother, Kristo Jorgenson, who was brutally honest towards him on Bluesky.

It was hard to deny the major missed opportunity from his little brother and the two other Visma teammates.

That ought to have resulted in a comical yet awkward conversation amongst the Jorgo bros.

Demi Vollering voices her opinion

Despite the hard to deny embarrassment in which Demi Vollering “was also laughing a bit when [she] first heard and then saw that Visma lost while being in the break with three,” she wanted to remind people to practice some humility.

“We should not forget that we are all human. We love a bit of drama. We love underdog stories.
Wout is human as well. This guy has been through a lot! And everyone has had their opinion about him,” Vollering said in her post. “We all judge too early, especially too easily. We are tempted to forget everything he has been through, and we probably don’t even know half of it because we cannot look inside his head or understand what it does to him mentally.”

“For me, it is completely understandable that he lost himself a bit. When people have so much to say about you, it is easy to start feeling lost. And it is probably something you do not even notice. It creeps in very quietly,” Vollering continued.

Vollering concludes by reminding us that everyone (even Wout van Aert) are all human and we all make mistakes under immense pressure.

“It is a lesson. A wake up call for Visma and Wout, but not just for them. It is a lesson and a wake up call for all of us. He is human. We are all human. I think I have been in his situation. You think you are making the right decisions, but under too much pressure, under too much focus, you cannot see it anymore,” she finished.

Also read: Wout van Aert Takes Blame for Visma Tactical Disaster: ‘I Was Selfish’

Elation for EF despite Visma blunder

On the flip side of the embarrassment for team Visma, it was elation for EF. One of their head sport directors, Matti Breschel, couldn’t stay in his seat after their American won one of the biggest races of his career.

Chapeau, Neilson.

Fabio’s road to recovery

Starting now, Dutch rider Fabio Jakobsen starts his road to recovery.

It was announced last week that Jakobsen had to hit pause from racing after being diagnosed with flow limitation in both iliac arteries, severely restricting blood flow to his legs during intense efforts.

He posted this picture of himself after surgery and says he looks forward to the next few weeks “to let everything on the inside and outside heal and recover again.”

That’s all for now. As always, thanks for reading the Social Digest.