Pogacar joins another exclusive club after completing Grand Tour leader’s jersey set

Tadej Pogačar had worn yellow at the Tour and pink at the Giro, but never red at the Vuelta. That changed on Saturday.

The Slovenian won the opening 9.4 kilometre time trial in Monaco, beating Ethan Hayter by less than a tenth of a second. With the victory came the first red jersey of his career and a place in a select group of riders to have led all three Grand Tours.

The milestone completes a set that started at the 2020 Tour de France. Pogačar first moved into yellow after his remarkable time trial to La Planche des Belles Filles, where he overturned Primož Roglič’s lead on the penultimate day and all but secured his first Tour victory. S

Since then, the yellow jersey has become a regular feature of his summers in France. By the end of the 2026 Tour, he had spent 71 stages at the top of the general classification.

His first spell in pink came four years later. Making his Giro d’Italia debut in 2024, Pogačar took the race lead on the opening weekend and kept it for the rest of the race, eventually winning the Giro by a commanding margin.

The Vuelta was the only Grand Tour in which he had never led.

Pogačar had raced in Spain just once before, back in 2019. Then only 20, he won three stages, finished third overall and took the young rider classification in what became his breakthrough Grand Tour. But despite that success, the red jersey remained out of reach.

Leading the Giro, Tour and Vuelta is a rare achievement.

It is also a statistic that tells a different story from simply counting Grand Tour victories. The list contains some of the greatest stage racers the sport has known, including Jacques Anquetil, Eddy Merckx, Bernard Hinault, Miguel Induráin and Alberto Contador. 

But it also features riders whose careers were built around very different qualities.

Sprinters such as Mark Cavendish and Freddy Maertens are there. So are outstanding time trial specialists including Rohan Dennis, Bradley McGee, David Millar and Thierry Marie.

Before Pogačar, 26 men had done it, with the Slovenian's life time rival Jonas Vingegaard as the most recent addition before him. The Dane completed his set when he took pink at the 2026 Giro d’Italia, having previously led both the Tour and Vuelta.

Richard Carapaz joined the group in 2024 after taking yellow at the Tour. Primož Roglič completed his collection in 2020, while Chris Froome and Rohan Dennis both joined in 2018.

Among active riders, Pogačar, Vingegaard, Roglič and Carapaz are the only four members of this group.