Tadej Pogacar will not take legal action against the elderly fan who pushed him during the twentieth stage of the Giro d’Italia 2024. The episode, which occurred during the second climb of Monte Grappahad been filmed by the cameras and had seen a gentleman present on the roadside push the runnerUAE Team Emirates in the lower back as he was passing, provoking the reaction of the Slovenian himself, who turned towards the unwary fan and scolded him. Although the episode had made him angry on the occasion, the 25-year-old however decided not to press charges against the man, as declared by the president of CPA (the runners’ union, ed.) Adam Hansen to Veil.
“The CPA examined the possibility of filing charges against the Italian, but Pogačar said ‘please don’t do it, because he is an old man’“, the words of Hansen, who would still be evaluating the situation but would be inclined to accept the Slovenian’s request: “Since Pogačar said no, my personal opinion is that we should follow this line. We shouldn’t press charges against a person when runners don’t want to do so“.
The former Australian runner then wanted to relaunch the message of respecting the runners during the race: “The beauty of this sport is that [i tifosi] they can be so close, but on the other hand they have to have respect. We just have to show the other spectators, the fans, that they have to leave the cyclists alone, because this is what the cyclists want“.
