Pogacar eyes new challenge beyond road racing: 'For sure I want to try it out'

Speaking during a community ride on MyWhoosh, the five-time Tour de France winner was asked whether he could see himself taking part in gravel races, a discipline that has attracted an increasing number of professional road cyclists in recent years.

"Gravel is becoming really popular. I have been to the first Gravel World Championship as a spectator, and I really enjoyed the event just as a fan," Pogačar explained.

With an already demanding road programme, however, the Slovenian admitted that finding space for another discipline remains difficult.

"I don't really have a lot of time through the year to also do some gravel races and qualify for World Championships," he said.

"But I think in the future I will participate also in gravel races. I can't say when or where, but for sure in the future I want to try it out."

It would not be Pogačar's first experience of racing away from the road. The Slovenian has a background in cyclocross, having won his national title in 2018 before returning to the discipline on several occasions.

In December 2021, he won the Ciklokros Ljubljana ahead of fellow road professional Luka Mezgec. He returned to the same event a year later, finishing second behind Mihael Štajnar.

Pogačar has also enjoyed considerable success on gravel roads during his road racing career. He has won Strade Bianche a record four times, taking victory in 2022, 2024, 2025 and 2026, with his latest triumph coming after a remarkable 78km solo attack. In 2023, he also won the gravel-heavy Clásica Jaén Paraíso Interior in Spain, riding clear of his rivals before finishing alone in Baeza.

He also made his mark on the gravel stage of the 2024 Tour de France around Troyes. Racing in the yellow jersey, Pogačar repeatedly attacked his general classification rivals across the 14 gravel sectors, putting Jonas Vingegaard and Remco Evenepoel under pressure.

While Pogačar has already shown his ability on gravel roads, competing in dedicated gravel races would be a new challenge. At UAE Team Emirates-XRG, he has a teammate who knows the discipline particularly well.

Florian Vermeersch won the 2025 UCI Gravel World Championships in Maastricht after finishing runner-up in both 2023 and 2024.

The Belgian returned to defend his rainbow jersey at the 2026 championships in Nannup, Western Australia, earlier this month, narrowly missing out on another title as Denmark's Magnus Bak Klaris beat him in a four-man sprint. It marked Vermeersch's fourth consecutive podium finish at the event.

While gravel racing is something Pogačar hopes to explore, competing in cycling esports is another matter.

Asked whether he could see himself entering an esports event, the Slovenian was quick to play down the idea.

"For now, not really. It's just so hard. I have massive respect for people that do a lot of home trainer, a lot of riding on MyWhoosh. It's just super hard mentally," he said.

Even the relatively gentle pace of the community ride had left him sweating heavily.

"For me it's just suffering too much, and my body sweats a lot on the indoors. I already have a big pool under me and we're just going easy."

"I think I'm not really suitable for esports on the bike, but definitely I will support it always and I watch the races."

That does not mean Pogačar doubts the benefits of indoor training. He recalled spending so much time on the home trainer during the COVID pandemic that his coach eventually advised him to ease off.

"My coach said that I need to take some breaks, some vacation because I was in too good shape," he recalled.

"That was the first time that I saw that the home trainer can actually really benefit your training."