Become a Member for as little as $4/mo and enjoy unlimited reading of TSLL blog.
Answer to the question: How do you do it [win five Le Tour de France]? How did you build it?
“A lot of factors. The most important is that you enjoy what you’re doing, and you have people around you that you trust and they help you, they’re there for you when you’re [at] your lowest, and then you can build yourself and chase your dreams. And you have to set your goals always.”
—Tadej Podačar at the finish line before taking the podium to celebrate his fifth Tour de France in Paris, July 26, 2026
The Italian drama series The Law According to Lidia Poët, inspired by the woman herself who became the first woman to practice law in Italy, first in 1881 upon graduating from Turin’s law school, but in three months, the monarchy’s district attorney disbarred her, simply stating their reason that women had no place in the courtroom. Then, nearly 40 years later, in 1920, Poët was finally readmitted to the bar. The third season concludes with this scene, a Lidia Poët, now 65 years of age being given what she had rightly earned so many years ago. The attribution following the closing scene dedicates the series to “those who can imagine what does not yet exist and find the courage to turn it into reality.”
What are you imagining?
Perhaps it is something that will prompt laws to improve, rights to be extended, or protections to be cemented, as Poët’s perseverance eventually did for women in Italy who sought to practice law. Or maybe it is something you’ve never done or never seen done, yet somewhere within you, there is a yearning to make it so. Whatever it is, it not only asks, but requires that you dare and then step forward, one step at a time, courageously, until it comes to pass.
Along the way, after having begun your daring, you may be completely derailed, as Poët was by obstacles beyond your control or due to your own naiveté or insufficient preparation, but that is part of the journey. Daring includes, daring to continue on. To not be thwarted.
Tadej Pogačar, the now five-time winner of Le Tour de France, many making the argument with good reason that he may be the best of all time. But, I’d like to share with you how he has dared because it wasn’t guaranteed. Nothing certain. After he won his first two Tours (2020 and 2021), he experienced injury in the off-season, and during the race in 2023, he battled the heat as well as a tire slip-out on a descent as he attempted to gain the lead in 2023 during the 18th stage from the eventual winner that year, Jonas Vingegaard. None of this deterred him. With reformed training to master the heat and an unquenchable and genuine passion for cycling, he returned in 2024 and reclaimed the maillot jaune that year and each year thereafter.
No one has ever won six, and Tadej is the youngest to win five among the only four others who have five Tour de France victories to their name. Will he become the first? It will involve a great daring, and tireless courage, as well as factors out of his control. BUT, he will only have a chance of making it a reality if he dares to try and continues to put forth the courage to persist.
So, back to you. What are you wanting, perhaps needing more than you realize, to dare to do?
At the heart of being able to persist is sincerity. Whatever it is, it must come from within you. It must be something you either enjoy doing even without being asked to do (Pogačar) or want to do and don’t know why you cannot (Poët). Perhaps thinking about bringing what you dare forth, you feel both exhilaration and also unremitting fear. This is the go-sign, not the stop sign. Dare. Begin and keep going. There is more courage within you than you know, and you will only discover how much along the journey.
It need not be something anyone else understands or agrees is worth your effort. This is part of why daring is necessary as well as courage, because it may take a while before you find allies to understand and then support you in all its many different forms. This, again, is why it all must be rooted within you, from where you find your compass and know why you are trekking into the new frontier you have chosen.
May you remember how capable you are and let the daring begin.
SIMILAR POSTS YOU MIGHT ENJOY
