‘Blessed by the gods’: Jens Voigt links Sagan, Pogacar, Einstein, Beethoven, Mozart and Nelson Mandela

Jens Voigt has described sport’s rare outliers as “blessed by the gods” and argued that road cycling is enjoying a “golden age” underpinned by robust anti‑doping controls.

Speaking on The Domestique Hotseat podcast, the German evoked a metaphor to explain the emergence of outliers in the sport. “Just every now and then… you have Pogačar being born or you have Albert Einstein, you have Beethoven born,” Voigt said. “Normal people like you and me, we go, how is that possible? How can you be so smart or so strong or so fast?”

“I’m not religious, but that’s how I explain it,” he added. “Every now and then, God is sitting there and there’s these little human figures on his little production line… And every one million of these little clay figures, which become later humans, he takes from the production line and gives it a kiss. Blessed by the gods. And that’s how Peter Sagan, Pogačar, Einstein or Beethoven, Mozart… or people like Nelson Mandela are born. Outstanding people.”

Voigt, a two‑time Tour de France stage winner famed for his “Shut up, legs” mantra, linked that idea of innate brilliance to the spectacle on today’s calendar. “We do live in a golden age of cycling,” he said, pointing to regular duels between Wout van Aert and Mathieu van der Poel across road and cyclocross, alongside Grand Tour protagonists Pogačar, Jonas Vingegaard and Remco Evenepoel. “We’ve got a really good period of cycling, spectacular cycling.”

The 54‑year‑old also addressed the sport’s credibility debate. “The hunters, the chasers, the doping control system is level or ahead of potential cheating,” he said. “I think they discovered all methods, all ways to cheat now and they have tests for it. So I really believe cycling is as good as it ever will be or can be.”

His comments arrive as the men’s peloton continues to be defined by prodigious all‑rounders and youthful Grand Tour winners, prompting inevitable comparisons with past eras. While the UCI’s biological passport and target‑testing have toughened the anti‑doping regime over the past decade and a half, Voigt stressed that healthy scepticism remains valuable. 

“I don’t think the talk will ever stop completely, which also is a good thing. It leaves the pressure on to keep being clean and performing.”

Listen to the full Hotseat podcast with Jens Voigt👇