Formula 1 driver shares hilarious anecdote about coffee ride with Pogacar: "Otherwise, he has no one to talk to"

Many top athletes live in Monaco, partly due to its favorable (tax) climate. If you're an athlete living in the tiny state, there's a good chance your neighbors are also top athletes. Sainz regularly encounters Pogacar and is an active cyclist himself. After witnessing Pogacar's incredible solo performance at the World Championships on September 29, Sainz thought it would be a good idea to go for a ride with the Slovenian the following day.

Sainz probably hadn't considered Pogacar's incredible recovery ability, which made the ride tough for him. "I had the brilliant idea to join him for a recovery ride just after he became world champion and was in absolute top form," the Spaniard told Het Nieuwsblad. "It sounded simple: we'll do a 30 or 40-kilometer ride, stop somewhere for a coffee, and then head back to Monaco."

It was a nice plan, but the reality proved to be more challenging. "For Tadej, these are recovery rides, purely for fun, where he doesn't push himself. So that cycling losers like myself could briefly think that maybe we can ride as fast as him. The reality, of course, is that even during those coffee rides, we are completely exhausted while trying to keep up with him. He does us the favor of not dropping us because otherwise, he'd have no one to talk to."

In the end, it's a matter of – you have to experience it to really understand it. "Talking is, of course, relative. I have a heart rate of 170, 180, while he's barely at 110. The conversations aren't really that interesting, I can tell you that. It was literally the toughest ride of my life. Anyone who's never been on a bike can't imagine how fast this guy can ride," Sainz concluded.