Some People Just Want You to Win
In every story there are people no founder, and no runner, survives without.
Last Sunday in Barcelona, the best cyclist on the planet slowed down on purpose.
The plan was simple. Isaac del Toro, a 22-year-old from Mexico riding his first Tour de France, would empty himself on the final climb of Montjuïc to launch his team leader, Tadej Pogačar, toward the stage win. That is the job. Cycling calls it a lead-out, and it means burning everything you have so the star can burn less.
Del Toro pulled so hard he dropped the entire field of riders behind. The yellow jersey, the contenders, all of them, gone from his wheel. Only Pogačar was left. Four Tour titles, twenty-one stage wins, the most dominant rider of his generation, sitting in the perfect position for number twenty-two.
He never came around. In the final meters Pogačar eased up and let the kid cross the line first.
Del Toro looked stunned. He had just become the first Mexican to win a Tour de France stage in 36 years. Pogačar had given up the win and the time bonuses that came with it. Then he grabbed a Mexican flag, wrapped it around his shoulders, and warmed down while the crowd chanted “Pogi, hermano, ya eres mexicano.”
All del Toro could manage afterward:
“I’m a very privileged guy. This is the work of everybody.” Isaac del Toro
While getting payback was never Pogačar’s intention, twenty-four hours later, in the mountains at Les Angles, del Toro buried himself again, and this time he towed Pogačar all the way to the win. The gift came back in one day.
When it gets real
I have a name for people like this: pillars. People who want you to win with no strings attached. No invoice coming later.
Business runs on them too. When a teenage Richard Branson was drowning in bills at his first magazine, his mother found a necklace on a country road, sold it, and handed him the money. He has said Virgin would not exist without that £100. No term sheet. She just wanted him to win.
Here is what Barcelona actually showed. Pogačar did not lose a stage. He did what every pillar would do. Del Toro repaid it in a day, but that is not the deal with your pillars. Most deeds take years to come back, and some never do. People who care for you make them because they want you to win more than they want to win themselves.
Worth your time
Read Trillion Dollar Coach by Eric Schmidt, Jonathan Rosenberg, and Alan Eagle. It is the story of Bill Campbell, the football coach who guided Steve Jobs, Larry Page, and the builders of a trillion dollars in market value, and famously refused to be paid for it. He is the purest pillar ever documented: a man whose entire operating system was wanting other people to win.
Final thoughts
Somewhere in your story, there is a Pogačar, someone who eased up so you could cross first. It’s never too late to thank them.
Thanks for reading.
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