Eurosport commentator Jens Voigt says one reason Tour de France champion Tadej Pogacar is withdrawing from the Olympics is because his partner Urska Zigart is left out of the squad.

Pogacar, who won the Yellow Jersey for the third time last week, was not selected for the Slovenian road cycling team despite being shown as the favourite.

The Slovenian federation blamed the 25-year-old’s absence on “extreme fatigue”, but it comes just weeks after her fiance Zigart was not selected for the women’s team despite being a national champion in both the time trial and road races.

“His girlfriend Urska won the national time trial by four minutes, won the road race by 10 minutes and didn’t get selected,” says Voigt, a two-time Tour stage winner who is also on the commentary team for Discovery+, the only place to watch every moment of Olympic cycling.

“And what’s even funnier is that the national team coach is also the team boss of two young women who were selected for the Olympics.

“So even I, as an outside observer, am saying, ‘I wonder what this is,’ that’s my speculation that it might have something to do with Tadej’s decision.”

The women’s team consists of Eugenia Bujak and Ursa Pintar. Ursa Pintar finished second to Zigart in the national road race championship, while Bujak did not compete.

Domen Novak replaced Pogacar and was joined by Luka Mezgec, Matej Mohoric and Jan Tratnik.

For Voigt, the withdrawal of Pogacar, who became the first rider in 26 years to complete the Giro d’Italia and Tour simultaneously, opens the way for a new favourite.

“I would put him in the undefeated bracket in the road race,” he added.

“Also, even though Slovenia has only two million people, there are five/six riders in the top 100, so you have the right to have a maximum of four starters to have a team around Tadej.

“He could have been the favourite but at the end of the season he decided to focus on the World Championship and other races.

World champion Mathieu van der Poel had a quiet Tour as he prioritised winning an Olympic medal.

Voigt believes that the Olympic race should be run by amateurs or Under-23 riders as before due to the distinction of precedence between different riders.

“I don’t think we should go to the Olympics, I think we should go back to under-23 or completely amateur racing,” he said.

“In professional cycling we have the Tour de France, we have all the classics, we have the World Championships.

“We have so many important and traditional competitions that the Olympics are not as important an event as wrestling, so we have to give it back to the amateurs.”

Watch every moment of the Paris 2024 Olympic Games live on discovery+, the broadcast home of the Olympics.