Urška Žigart will not race for the remainder of the season, after being hit with a second dose of bad luck this season, this time at the Faun Tour Femmes last weekend. The 29-year-old crashed on stage three to Tournon-sur-Rhône, southern France, and fractured her jaw.
The AG Insurance-Soudal rider had planned to race the upcoming World Championships in Montréal, where she would have been a key player on the Slovenian squad.
It was a repeat break of the injury she sustained back in June during the Tour de Suisse. On that occasion Žigart crashed at high speed in the final kilometres of the second stage. She escaped surgery but did not race again for six weeks, and the Tour de France Femmes the next time she pinned on a number.
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“Given the nature of the injury and the fact that it concerns a repeated fracture, Urška’s 2026 season is likely to come to an early end,” said the team in a statement. “This would also mean she will miss the upcoming World Championships. Her focus will now fully shift towards her recovery. The team will closely monitor the healing process before making a definitive decision on the remainder of her season.
“We wish Urška a smooth recovery and look forward to seeing her back with the team,” the statement concluded.
The Faun Tour Femmes, held in the south of France, was her first race since the Tour de France Femmes, and she was sitting third overall after two of the four stages. Žigart excels as a climber and a GC contender, and this year finished sixth in the Vuelta Femenina in May, and eighth in the Giro d’Italia Women the following month.
The chances are it may be a rather sombre atmosphere in the Žigart household next week. Her partner, five-time Tour de France winner Tadej Pogačar, crashed heavily in the Vuelta a España and was forced to retire – the first time he has done so from a Grand Tour.
The UCI Road World Championships, an event where both could have done well, begins on 20 September, but the pair will be forced to spectate, or watch it on television.
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