Pogacar, Vingegaard, Evenepoel - What do we know about their 2026 race programs so far?

Tadej Pogačar has yet to finalise his 2026 race schedule, but the picture is becoming clearer with each new piece of information. Recent comments from the Slovenian to Feltet.tk and fresh reports from La Gazetta dello Sport point toward a season that once again stretches across all the biggest targets in the sport.

According to both sources, Pogačar is considering starting his 2026 season in March. That would mark a shift from his usual February opener and would likely mean skipping the UAE Tour, the event where he began and won his first race of 2025. Instead, Strade Bianche is tipped as his first appearance, a race he has already won three times (2022, 2024 and 2025), including a comeback last year after a heavy crash with 50 kilometres to go.

Beginning in March would be rare. Only in 2024 did Pogačar wait that long to pin on a number. Every other year, he opened his season earlier.

The later start makes sense given the weight of the programme he appears to be planning. In his recent conversation with Jakob Fuglsang for the podcast Fuglsang i feltet, Pogačar said, "he aims to ride all five Monuments again", with the desire to add both Milan-San Remo and Paris-Roubaix to his palmarès in order to complete the full set of Monuments

Beyond the spring, his focus shifts to the major goals of the summer. The Tour de France remains the centrepiece, with Pogačar chasing a fifth overall victory, even though he admitted at times that he was not fully enjoying the 2025 edition.

After July, the World Championships in Montréal stand out as a central target. The course mirrors the GP Montréal circuit and suits him perfectly as he aims for a third consecutive world title, something only Peter Sagan has done previously. He also expects to ride the European Championships in Slovenia, giving him a home event on terrain that should be equally well-suited to his abilities, where once more, he'll be in the position of defending his title.

That leaves one major question. Will the Vuelta a España also feature on his schedule? Pogačar has already expressed enthusiasm for riding it because it starts in his hometown of Monaco, something organisers hope will help draw him to the race. There is also the added incentive that a Vuelta victory would allow him, like Jonas Vingegaard, to complete the full set of Grand Tours and add another chapter to an already historic career.

In short, it could be another season where he continues ticking off the unique achievements on his personal wish list.

Jonas Vingegaard has given his clearest signal yet that a Giro d’Italia debut in 2026 is a real possibility. Speaking to La Dernière Heure during his visit to Japan for the Saitama Criterium, the Dane indicated that completing the full Grand Tour trilogy now ranks at least as high on his priority list as adding another Tour de France victory.

The most realistic scenario for 2026 is becoming easier to read. A Giro start is firmly on the table, but skipping the Tour altogether is unlikely. Both Vingegaard and Visma | Lease a Bike continue to underline that the Tour remains the centrepiece of his season, even if he turns up in Italy first. That points toward a Giro-Tour double, much like Pogačar managed in 2024, though Vingegaard’s motivation is rooted more in legacy than rivalry.

Visma | Lease a Bike will wait for the Giro route before committing. Without clarity on time trial kilometres and overall difficulty, the team will avoid making a definitive call. Still, the direction of travel is obvious. Giro plus Tour, with the Giro as the historic target and the Tour as the immovable anchor of his season.

And of course, there’s the million-dollar question we all want answered: can Vingegaard really take on Pogačar and Evenepoel in one-day races? If the 2025 European Championships are any indication, we shouldn’t get too carried away. 

His performance there was a reminder of how fragile his condition can be after a long Grand Tour season. As he explained this week in Denmark to Feltet.dk, he hadn’t been able to train for two weeks after winning the Vuelta, and he admitted that riding the World Championships would have been “an even bigger catastrophe.”

It also gave context to why he has often declined national team selections in the past. He simply arrives empty after the Tour and Vuelta. Yet the collapse in France hasn’t closed the door on one-day racing altogether. Vingegaard insists he is still open to the national colours in the future, but only with proper preparation and not straight off the back of a double Grand Tour campaign.

A Giro-Tour scenario would leave room for a proper reset after the Tour and could open the door to an autumn programme built around the Canadian races, the Worlds in Montréal and perhaps the European Championships in Slovenia and the Italian one-day races. Absolutely something to look forward to.

Last, but not least. Remco Evenepoel. Probably the biggest question mark in terms of the 2026 program. One thing is almost certain: the Tour will be on there. The reveal of the Giro d’Italia route on December 1 will be the trigger to complete the program. In an interview with Het Laatste Nieuws, the Belgian explained that two programme options are currently being weighed up: a spring built around the Classics, or a Giro campaign if the parcours aligns with his strengths.

Red Bull - Bora - Hansgrohe moved mountains to bring him in as Tour leader, and despite a route with only one individual time trial, Evenepoel insists the course is no barrier. Third in his debut Tour in 2024, his 2025 abandonment on the Col du Tourmalet has not shifted his long-term ambition. The Tour remains the cornerstone of his season.

But other targets complicate the picture. Evenepoel confirmed he will aim for both rainbow jerseys at the World Championships in Montreal, which essentially rules out a return to the Vuelta. That focus also means his post-Tour calendar is already set: recover, then rebuild through Québec and Montréal toward the Worlds. That only leaves the early season to be decided.

If the Giro route suits him, it feels like it would pull him toward Italy in May. The reported 40km time trial is exactly the kind of effort that strengthens that pull, as he told Het Laatste Nieuws that it would be “an effort of at least 45 minutes, tailor-made for me.” Rumours of a second flat time trial at the 2026 Giro look to be dwindling away.

How should we read that? Probably with a sense of anticipation. If both Vingegaard and Evenepoel commit to the Giro, the balance of power could look very different from what we see at the Tour de France. Based on last season’s dynamics, their battle against each other might be far closer than their collective fight against Pogačar in July.

The alternative? A Classic season with a debut at the Tour of Flanders with HLN reporting that Evenepoel the Tour of Flanders is taking on ever greater proportions in Evenepoel 's mind. Speaking Classics: a choice for the Giro doesn't rule out any one-day races as indicated by Evenepoel: "Even with a Giro-Tour combo, something is possible in terms of one-day racing, but then the margin for error is smaller. But just as long as it doesn't come at the expense of the ideal route to the Tour".

Liège-Bastogne-Liège remains a fixed point either way, and with La Gazzetta dello Sport reporting that a debut in Milan-San Remo is likely for the Belgian according to their sources, one thing is clear. It is a season to look forward to with genuine excitement, as Evenepoel aims to take the next step in both one-day racing and the Grand Tours.