Tadej Pogacar reveals his goals for 2027 and 2028

The Slovenian has already won many of cycling’s biggest races, but he remains driven by the major prizes still missing from his palmarès.

Paris-Roubaix is the clearest example. The French cobbled Classic is the only Monument Pogačar has yet to win.

“The big goal remains Paris-Roubaix,” Pogačar said during an appearance on the Tour 202 podcast.

Pogačar made his Paris-Roubaix debut in 2025, finishing second behind Mathieu van der Poel after crashing with 40km remaining. He came even closer this year, entering the Roubaix Vélodrome alongside Wout van Aert before being beaten by the Belgian in the sprint.

Victory at Paris-Roubaix would place Pogačar alongside Rik Van Looy, Eddy Merckx and Roger De Vlaeminck as one of the only riders to have won all five Monuments.

Winning Milan-Sanremo last March removed another major target from Pogačar’s list after years of trying.

“I still have not fully realised that I managed to win Milan-Sanremo,” he said. “I will probably only understand it next January or February, when I no longer need to go there every other day to train over the Cipressa and Poggio.”

Pogačar had spent considerable time studying the decisive finale of the Italian Monument. Those visits became a regular part of his winter preparation as he searched for a way to make the difference on a course that is notoriously difficult to control.

“There are also a lot of cars, motorbikes and cyclists there,” he said. “I prefer training on the climbs in France.”

With Milan-Sanremo secured, another Paris-Roubaix campaign will be one of the central stories of Pogačar’s 2027 season.

Two other objectives have also emerged. Pogačar wants to win another world title, which could mean chasing a fourth consecutive rainbow jersey in Haute Savoie, depending on the outcome of this autumn’s World Championships in Montréal. The 2027 road race will be held on a demanding circuit around Sallanches and Domancy, featuring the Côte de Domancy, a 2.5 kilometre climb averaging 9.4 per cent.

“I would also like to win another world title and another stage race,” Pogačar said.

He did not specify which stage race he had in mind, but there is one obvious candidate. Itzulia Basque Country is now the only one of cycling’s seven biggest one-week races missing from his palmarès. 

Pogačar has previously spoken openly about his ambition to win all seven, and victory in the Basque Country would make him the first rider in history to complete the collection, having added the Tour de Romandie and Tour de Suisse to his palmarès earlier this year.

Long-time rival Jonas Vingegaard has also shown interest in completing the same set. The Dane recently suggested that he could target races he has not previously won in 2027, although he still needs victories at both the Tour de Romandie and Tour de Suisse to complete the seven-race collection.

Pogačar already has a clear objective for the following year, with the 2028 Olympic Games in Los Angeles firmly in his plans.

“The Olympic Games are obviously another race I would like to win,” he said. “They only come around once every four years, so I would have to get my programme exactly right to be in good shape at that moment.”

The road race at the 2028 Games is already on his radar, although Pogačar is aware that the event does not necessarily align with the commercial priorities of UAE Team Emirates.

“The race is not really in the interests of my team,” Pogačar admitted. “But these are my wishes and I think the team will take them into account.”

The calendar will still present a major challenge. The 2028 Tour de France is due to finish just seven days before the Olympic road race, leaving Pogačar little time to recover, travel to California and adjust to the time difference.

The course itself appears almost tailor made for him. Early plans suggest a race of around 250km with roughly 5,000 metres of climbing and an uphill finish at Griffith Observatory. That combination of distance, elevation and repeated accelerations should strongly favour Pogačar’s qualities.

He already has one Olympic medal, having taken bronze in the road race at the Tokyo Games in 2021. Pogačar withdrew from the Paris 2024 Olympics after completing the Giro d’Italia and Tour de France double, with fatigue cited as the official reason.

The Slovenian later acknowledged that the federation’s controversial decision not to select his fiancée, two time national champion Urška Žigart, had also influenced his decision, although he insisted it was not the main factor.