Racing in a time of war: Ukrainian prodigy Andrii Ponomar makes his WorldTour debut
Life should be worry-free for a cycling prodigy who has just turned 20, shored up by steady foundations, lightened by minimal responsibilities, spurred on by realistic dreams of racing on the sport’s highest level. Ukrainian Andrii Ponomar is different to his peers. He already has a WorldTour contract, two editions of the Giro d’Italia on his palmarès and a lot more on his mind.
It’s almost a year to the day since the Russian invasion of Ukraine started. Since then, approximately 14 million people — a third of the population — have been displaced, with estimates of over 200,000 casualties.
“It’s always sad,” he says, talking at his Arkéa-Samsic training camp in mid-January. “Life has changed completely: it’s turned 180 degrees. There’s a before the war and an after the war.”
Ponomar grew up in Chernihiv, a city 60 kilometres away from the Russian border. (As chance would have it, I visited in summer 2012 as a tourist, taking in its splendid Baroque churches and monasteries, their turquoise and gold domes glittering in the summer sunshine.)
Sadly, it’s a very different place now. Situated on the northeast route to the capital of Kiev, the city was a key military target. The siege began on February 24, with Russians using Grad rockets, missiles, artillery and tanks. Under constant bombardment, it felt like a bid to wipe their city off the face of the earth. “For my family, there was a lot of panic. Chaos in our heads. We didn’t understand what was going on,” Ponomar says.
The same day his home city of 300,000 came under attack, he was racing the first stage of Spanish race Gran Camiño. He quit the race 48 hours later; it was too much to handle, mentally.
For the first several days, he didn’t hear from his family, who were without phone signal or WiFi. “That was too hard,” he says. “The first month was super tough. I couldn’t sleep at night, I was always worried and stressed. I was over here in Italy, they were over there and I couldn’t do a thing. When you see what’s going on and can’t help, your head goes.”
With the dangers, he told them to join him. His mother Olena and sister Oleksandra took refuge in a bunker for three weeks before fleeing to Poland in a van with several families. They had to turn back several times when they saw Russian check points. After a circuitous route through eastern Europe, they joined Ponomar at his home in northeast Italy, close to Bassano del Grappa.
It was difficult for his 8-year-old sister. “When a little kid sees what’s happening, this almighty mess, it’s really psychologically tough,” he says. Ambulance sirens in Italy would remind her of the screeching air raid warning signals back home.
Ponomar sighs and looks away. “For my mum too: she moved to Italy, changed jobs, left everything behind, all her friends and family.” She has since learned Italian and become a dentist’s assistant, having previously worked in recruitment.
The Ukrainian forces in Chernihiv stood firm, repelling the fierce Russian attack. However, his father Vyacheslav remains in the Ukraine. A soldier, he has been fighting in the Donbas region since 2021. The pair have contact a few times a week, but it’s another source of worry.
“Even now, I can’t watch the news from Ukraine too much because it sets off too many thoughts,” Ponomar says. “I’m focused on my job because as a cyclist, I can’t help to solve this problem. I can only help by talking about it or for morale.”
As reigning Ukrainian road race champion, wearing his distinctive blue-yellow jersey is a boost. “When I see what happening in Ukraine, it gives me some strength, mentally,” he says with a smile.
Apple-faced and clean-shaven, Ponomar hardly looks his age, but the 20-year-old had to grow up an awful lot even before the war. “Already when I was 16, I’d be doing European races away from home. My life changed a bit then, not seeing my family for a month or two. You make friends and meet new people who help you.”
There were no cyclists let alone athletes in the family; he got into it at the age of 11 when a talent scout came to his school. He started doing mountain bike races, winning his first ones in shorts with his helmet on the wrong way round. What does he like about cycling? “You put in a lot of work for a long time and when you win a race, you feel really excited,” he says.
Winning the bulk of races he entered in Ukraine, Ponomar shot up the echelons. Racing on the Franco Ballerini junior team based in Tuscany, he captured attention as a first-year junior in 2019. He won several top international races; the pick of the lot was the European championships road race in a characteristic solo breakaway.
Italy has since become a second home, its native tongue his second language. While still 18 years old, he was signed by Gianni Savio’s second-tier team Androni Gioccatoli and lined up in top races Milan-Sanremo and the Giro d’Italia.
Ponomar became the youngest competitor in the grand tour since 1929. He wasn’t pack fodder either, being involved in several breakaways, with a top-20 finish on one stage. “They were pretty good experiences,” he says. “I can’t say I did two editions of the Giro d’Italia for nothing. It will help me in the next years, for sure.”
“It gave me a jump up, another level,” he said of his time on Savio’s team. “It changed my mindset a bit. I was starting out new because the junior ranks are a different world, it’s not possible to make the transition easily.”
“Many thanks to Gianni Savio, Androni and our directeur sportifs who taught me how cycling works. For the conversations we had, the togetherness with riders, learning to race as a team rather than alone, like it was in juniors. It was an education.”
There was a human connection too; shortly after the war started, Ponomar’s teammates wore replica Ukrainian champion’s jerseys at the 2022 Trofeo Laigueglia in solidarity with the country’s plight. The UCI later banned Russian and Belarussian teams from competition and withdrew their races from its calendar.
Cycling became a valuable form of distraction and freedom for Ponomar. In another learning season in the midst of warfare in his homeland, his best result was tenth in the hilly Giro della Toscana one-day race last fall. He got on the radar of French WorldTour squad Arkéa-Samsic, who signed him on a one-year deal.
In terms of ambition, Ponomar talks about being a GC rider, good on steady climbs between 10 and 15 kilometers. “For now, I’m learning because I’ve not reached my maximum potential,” he says.
2023 is about challenging himself everywhere, starting out with cobbles, crosswinds and fights for position in smaller Belgian and Dutch races. “It’s a good opportunity to test your heart, your legs, your grinta,” he says, smiling. “I like doing Classic races and we’ll see how I develop. Being well-rounded is really important.”
If Ponomar had to choose any race to win, it’d be the Olympic Games; after all, his cycling idol was doublechampion Fabian Cancellara. Now, there’s a certain Belgian superstar he admires. “I see how Van Aert goes and it scares me,” he says, laughing. “And I really like the style he has in races.”
Near the end of our conversation, he leans forward and I see the crucifix on his necklace. “It’s normal, a lot of people have it,” he explains.
Faith is important for Ponomar: faith in God, faith that the war will end soon, faith in his own ability to be a special talent in the sport. Hopefully, the anxiety and suffering of the last year will end up being brief footnotes in his life and those of many Ukrainians.
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