Pogacar weighs the cost of chasing three Grand Tours in one year - 'So many days away from home'
Tadej Pogacar is used to living inside the impossible. But in Sky Sport’s latest documentary, the reigning world champion sounds less like a rider chasing the next conquest and more like someone measuring what the sport takes from him to keep winning.
His starting point is not a result, but the feeling that still anchors everything. “I’ve loved cycling since I started racing in 2008. Even when I was riding at the back of the race, I thought about how beautiful this sport is and I never wanted to stop.”
The line lands as a reminder that his dominance has always been powered by passion as much as ambition. Even after a season he calls almost perfect, he refuses to turn the next one into a burden. “Every year feels better for me. The season just gone was almost perfect and it will be hard to do better next year. But I don’t really think about that. I enjoy the moment and take it race by race. I do my best, we see the final result and the rest doesn’t matter.”
Then comes the most disarming part, a thought that would sound like defiance from most champions but feels like clarity here. “If for some reason I had to stop racing today, I would be very happy with what I’ve achieved in my career. I’ve reached a point where I have nothing to win or lose.”
It is not a retirement hint so much as a statement of posture, a way of staying light in a sport that wants to make every season heavier than the last.
That perspective shapes how he talks about the fantasy question that always follows him, the idea of racing and winning all three Grand Tours in one year. He does not dismiss it, but he explains why modern cycling makes it brutal.
“It’s not easy. Beyond the 21 stages of each race, there are all the transfers and so many days away from home. Racing all five Monuments in the same season is much more feasible. But never say never. Maybe one day I’ll try to do all three Grand Tours in a single year. Let’s see what the future has in store.”
He frames that challenge within a wider shift in the peloton. “Between mentality, technology and preparation, our generation is taking cycling to a higher level. Everything has improved and above all we riders are obsessed with details.” In other words, the margins are tighter, the demands are higher, and the calendar punishes mistakes.
No race illustrates that better than the Tour de France. “In those three weeks you really give everything. You enjoy every single day, but at the same time you get extremely tired. When I made certain comments during last year’s Tour, I think they caught me at a bad moment.”
Here, he refers to moments like his candid admission in the third week that he was counting down to Paris and “couldn’t wait until it’s all over”.
And when he looks back on 2025, the moment that stays with him is not a victory at all.
“Of course I carry great memories from many races, but I’ll mention one that I didn’t win and that I rode for the first time in my life: Paris Roubaix, an indescribable classic and truly unique.”
For a rider who has made the extraordinary feel routine, it is telling that the race he remembers most is the one that still felt bigger than him.
