'Being Tadej Pogacar is nice, but it's not easy' - Why the champion needed a break

Heavy lies the crown. Tadej Pogačar won the Tour de France, but the almost boundless exuberance that marked his early years in the peloton seemed to be waning by the time the race entered its third week.

With the yellow jersey already more or less assured, the analysis quickly switched from the race to Pogačar’s moods. A couple of times, Pogačar let slip that he was essentially counting down the days to Paris. At times, the world champion seemed to be profoundly bored with the sport’s biggest race. It was hard to recall a yellow jersey speaking so jadedly of the Tour while it was still ongoing. It felt as taboo as a golfer slating August National in the middle of the Masters. 

In the dying days of the Tour, Pogačar hinted that his retirement might come before his contract expires in 2030, and he batted away questions about his possible participation in the Vuelta a España. There was little surprise when UAE Team Emirates-XRG announced he would forgo the Vuelta soon afterwards. 

Speaking to Domestique and Cyclingnews on the Tour de Pologne, UAE Team Emirates-XRG manager Mauro Gianetti acknowledged that the decision not to ride the Vuelta had been a straightforward one. 

Like Peter Sagan before him, Pogačar is seemingly condemned by his extravagant talent to put on a show every single time he pins on a number. And, as Sagan discovered when he hit his late 20s, repeatedly putting on a show grows more wearying as the years roll by.

“Being Tadej Pogačar today is nice, but it’s not easy,” Gianetti said. “He has a lot of pressure. When he races, everybody expects him to go well, to win, to put on a show. So it’s important for us to manage this aspect. He’s not just a rider – it’s an important dimension, being Tadej Pogačar, so he needs to have enough physical and mental rest to be happy in the races, to enjoy himself and to provide entertainment like he has always done.”

A year ago, Pogačar rode two Grand Tours in one season for the first time, completing the Giro-Tour double before adding the World Championships. His rival Jonas Vingegaard will this year combine the Tour and Vuelta a España, but Gianetti maintained that Pogačar’s high-octane Classics campaign had already been as physically and mentally exacting as an entire Grand Tour.

“Doing the Classics like he did this year, all the Classics, from Strade Bianche to Flanders to Roubaix to Amstel and Liège, it’s a very, very high level of demand and maybe from the outside people don’t realise that,” Gianetti said. “People think they’re just one-day races, but a Paris-Roubaix is more shattering than a week-long stage race. 

“Doing all the Classics is more shattering than doing a Grand Tour, especially when you do all the Classics like he did, because there’s the transition from the pavé to the climbs, there are changes in temperature, you have different parcours and you have to go up against different champions to the ones you race against in the Grand Tours. The physical and mental demands are very, very significant, so it absolutely wasn’t a good idea to participate in the Vuelta.”

Pogačar won six stages at the 2024 Tour, including the final three, as he ran up the score on Vingegaard and Visma | Lease a Bike in the final days of the race. This year, by contrast, Pogačar contented himself with four stage wins in the first two weeks before managing his lead thereafter.

Many had expected UAE and Pogačar to hunt stage wins at Mont Ventoux, the Col de la Loze and La Plagne, but the Slovenian and his team were not as remorseless this time out. Some wondered if Pogačar was bored or perhaps sending a message to his team about not riding the Vuelta. In an appearance on Domestique’s Hotseat podcast, meanwhile, Michael Storer floated the theory that Pogačar hadn’t chased victory on Mont Ventoux in order to stave off any antipathy from French fans.

“He lived a very stressful Tour,” Gianetti said of Pogačar’s more subdued third week. “It was a very demanding Tour, especially from a physical point of view. There were a lot of transfers. And for him, being Tadej, it became very difficult. He’s a very uncomplicated lad, and being there every day as the centre of attention becomes tiring. He was tired, like everybody, I think.

“But he won the Tour, and he won it with a smile. On the last day in Paris, he put on an incredible show together with [Wout] van Aert, and I think this was the best possible answer. He could have sat calmly in the middle of the bunch, but he wanted to make the race and honour himself, honour Tadej Pogačar, honour the Tour de France and honour his rivals. I think what he did on the last day in Paris, with a smile, was the answer to everything that had been said.”

Pogačar will not race again until the Grands Prix de Québec et Montréal on September 12 and 14, before he defends his rainbow jersey at the World Championships road race in Rwanda. Gianetti acknowledged that the Slovenian was also still weighing up the prospect of tackling the time trial in Rwanda, which features 680m of climbing in 40km.

“Let’s see. Right now, it’s important that he’s ready mentally, so we’ll see,” Gianetti said. “It also depends on the route, which will have to be evaluated. It’s possible.”