'Tadej is Tadej' - Why no E3 is no problem for Pogacar with Flanders in mind

Tadej Pogačar had some late competition for the title of most notable absentee from the UAE Team Emirates-XRG line-up for the E3 Saxo Classic. Earlier in the week, the race organisation listed Isaac del Toro among the headline names in Friday’s race, a most surprising development that was quickly corrected by the team.

The crossed wires, it seems, were entirely on the side of the organiser. Speaking in Harelbeke on Thursday afternoon, UAE sports director Marco Marcato confirmed that Del Toro had never at any point been in consideration for a cobbled Classics appearance in 2026. 

“In the future, you’d never know – but certainly not this year,” Marcato told Domestique. “It didn’t come from us, we had always confirmed our team, and Del Toro was never in it. I don’t know if the organisers had confused him with some other name.” 

Del Toro still has a busy Spring ahead of him, with his next outing scheduled at Itzulia Basque Country before he takes on the Ardennes Classics later in April. His teammate Pogačar, by contrast, has opted for a deliberately scaled back programme as he balances his Monument ambitions with his Tour de France responsibilities.

As in 2025, Pogačar has opted against lining out in Harelbeke or any other cobbled race before defending his Tour of Flanders title. Last year, however, Pogačar had banked some early racing miles at February’s UAE Tour before turning his focus to the Classics. 

This time out, Pogačar has tackled the Classics from a standing start, as he outlined at the team's December training camp, and he was immediately up to speed when he began racing in early March. He has raced just twice so far in 2026, but he hit the ground running, winning Strade Bianche and then annexing Milan-Sanremo two weeks later. 

Conventional wisdom about building sharpness through racing has been challenged by several riders in the 2020s, but Pogačar’s apparent ability to reach top form by training alone is astonishing all the same.

“It’s more that Tadej is the best rider in the world and so every time he pins on a number, it all comes easily to him,” Marcato said. “He’s able to turn up ready for races in situations where other riders might need more racing in their legs or an adaptation period. But Tadej is Tadej, we all know that.”

Pogačar’s victory at Milan-Sanremo last weekend came despite crashing shortly before he launched his decisive attack on the Cipressa. In the moment, the adrenaline of the chase seemed to offset the pain of the impact, but Marcato confirmed that the world champion had reported no lingering effects from the incident.

“It was a ‘classic’ crash, so to speak, so fortunately there was nothing serious and he’s recovered. He’ll be at his best for Flanders,” said Marcato. 

In Pogačar’s absence, his chief lieutenants on the cobbles will have the opportunity to lead at Harelbeke. For Nils Politt, Florian Vermeersch and Antonio Morgado, E3 is a chance to test themselves against men like Mathieu van der Poel (Alpecin-Premier Tech) and Mads Pedersen (Lidl-Trek), but it’s also an exercise in preparing themselves for their duties on Pogačar’s behalf at the Ronde and Paris-Roubaix.

“We certainly won’t start as favourites, but we have our plan and our strategy to get the best result we can,” Marcato said. “We have Florian and Nils who are going well and Morgado too, so we’ll play our cards as best we can.”

The addition of an extra ascent of the Oude Kwaremont and the Karnemelkbeekstraat gives E3 Harelbeke a tougher parcours than in years past, though Marcato does not believe it will alter the character of the race unduly.

“It's a bit different to last year, but I don’t think it’s going to be a massive change adding half the Kwaremont with 80km to go,” he said. “It’s still a bit of a small Flanders, a concentrated one. There are lots of sectors of pavé, lots of climbs, and it gives an indication on the state of form and maybe gives us an idea on how to approach the race on Sunday week.”