Tadej Pogačar has a resting heart rate of 38 beats per minute, a heart rate variability of 100, and a ‘miraculous’ prowess for sleep, according to new up-to-date figures revealed by his physiological data tracking sponsor, Whoop.

The numbers were disclosed in the first of a new documentary series on Eurosport, TNT Sports and HBO Max, titled ‘Anatomy of a G.O.A.T’, which aims to “decode the science behind the greatest athletes of all-time”.

The first documentary, which airs on Saturday, looks to piece together the puzzle of Pogačar’s startling superiority over the rest of the peloton.

“Tadej’s resting heart rate, right, which is a very nice kind of global picture of your cardiorespiratory fitness, is 38,” says Whoop’s Global Head of Human Performance, Kristen Holmes.

Holmes states that the average resting heart rate for a male of Pogačar’s, 27, age is 59, while also revealing that the other 27-year-old riders on UAE Team Emirates-XRG are a good bit higher.

“The average of the six other teammates is 42. He’s about four beats per minute slower than his teammates. And what this points to is a more efficient cardiorespiratory system, because he’s got this very efficient engine.”

Pogačar’s resting heart rate of 38, while putting him a cut above his teammates, is not other-worldly like the 28bpm reportedly associated with another five-time Tour de France winner, Miguel Indurain.

Earlier this year, Pogačar’s top Classics rival, Mathieu van der Poel revealed his resting heart rate was the same, on average, at 38, though he noted the lowest he’d recorded was 34.

Heart rate variability – or a ‘readiness indicator’

Whoop, as with Van der Poel earlier in the year, also revealed Pogačar’s heart rate variability, which is a measure of the variation in time taken between heart beats, measured in milliseconds over a long period of time, such as overnight.

It tracks the balance of the body’s autonomic nervous system but is described by Whoop in layman’s terms as a “readiness indicator”, with a higher HRV indicating superior physical fitness and recovery.

“The more variable that time interval, the more kind of ready you are to take on load,” says Holmes. “So Tadej, his heart rate variability is 100. The other six riders on his team, their average is in the 80s. So he has to work less hard for the same output.”

While the average HRV for active individuals is said to be between 40 and 65, Pogačar’s score of 100 pales in comparison with Van der Poel’s claimed HRV of 200.

“I’m really high in HRV,” Van der Poel said earlier this year. “I think it’s a bit genetical, but fitness is important also. For sure, it’s something that makes me stronger and better recovered.”

Sleep skills

The HRV scores tie into the most important factor when it comes to recovery: sleep, and here is another area where Pogačar is said to be “remarkable”. Whoop’s wearable technology monitors riders overnight, and gives them a ‘sleep score’ in the morning.

“Sleep consistency is when you go to bed and when you wake up, and the stability of that. And it’s expressed as a percentage. So on a scale of 0 to 100, again, you know, Tadej is 84%,” says Holmes in the ‘Anatomy of a G.O.A.T’ documentary.

“Over the course of the 2026 Tour de France, none of the cyclists on the UAE team had sleep consistency that compared to Tadej’s 84%. They were mostly in the 70 to 80% range,” adds Research Scientist Gregory Grosicki.

“One of the things we see very clearly in our data is that, when our members and even our elite athletes on Whoop do very high intensity efforts, the quality of their sleep tends to suffer. But with Tadej, he takes that even a step further. Going into the [Tour de France], he was sleeping about 7 hours. During the entire 2026 Tour de France, he was sleeping 8 hours. Miraculous. He’s sleeping more. He’s sleeping more regularly.”

Asked about his sleep skills, Pogačar said: “I’m not a big hour sleeper, but if you eat clean and good for the dinner, I think it’s the biggest impact on the sleep then. And yeah, you just need to be relaxed and be organised for the next morning.”

Pogačar’s powers of recovery were further underlined by his former coach Iñigo San Millán.

“He has an astonishing ability to recover,” said the Spaniard. “We did some metabolic testing. We can see between 1000 and 2000 metabolic parameters, and one of them is ability to recover. Some of the antioxidant parameters are very important for recovery. When we saw his results, Tadej was far ahead of everyone else.”

‘Anatomy of a G.O.A.T’ premieres on Saturday November 7 and will be available to stream in the UK, US, and Europe on HBO Max.

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