Urska Zigart came agonizingly close to securing the first WorldTour win of her career at the Tour de Romandie. The AG Insurance–Soudal rider entered the final stage as the overall leader, but her hopes unraveled on the decisive climbs around Aigle. She was overtaken by local favorite Elise Chabbey (FDJ-SUEZ) and ultimately missed out on the general classification title by just seven seconds.
Zigart had been in superb form earlier in the race, finishing runner-up in both the prologue and the queen stage, which was enough to claim the leader’s jersey from Paula Blasi (UAE Team ADQ). That left her with one last test to defend her lead, but the hilly terrain proved unforgiving. Chabbey’s team drove a relentless pace, and though Zigart hung on for much of the day, she faltered on the final climb. A costly error on the descent overshooting a corner added to her troubles and widened the gap.
The finish was nail-biting, but the Slovenian champion ended up just short of glory. Visibly devastated, Zigart avoided media duties and returned straight to the team bus, where her fiancé, Tadej Pogacar, was waiting to console her. The two-time Tour de France winner had already been cheering her on the previous day, and after her near miss, he was quick to embrace and comfort her.
Watch the video of Pogacar and Zigart here:
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