Tadej Pogacar smashes famous Coll de Rates record

On Friday, he returned to the Coll de Rates in Spain, a climb that has become a de facto benchmark for riders building toward a new season. It is 6.4 kilometres at 5.5 percent, steady enough to expose pure engine, and popular enough that comparisons actually mean something. 

Last December, Pogačar made headlines by taking the KOM from Peter Øxenberg, slicing more than 17 seconds off his 12:38 mark. Now he has lowered his own best again, from 12:21 to 11:57, averaging 32.3km/h and taking 24 seconds off a climb everyone in that area uses as a reference. It is the sort of number that does not need much interpretation. It just lands, and it lingers.

That data point fits neatly with the way his 2026 season is being built. At UAE Team Emirates XRG’s media day in Benidorm, he confirmed a programme that leans heavily into the Monuments before turning toward the Tour. 

He will open at Strade Bianche in early March and then line up for Milan Sanremo, the Tour of Flanders, Paris-Roubaix and Liège-Bastogne-Liège. Crucially, he will not ride a stage race until the Tour de Romandie in late April, a choice that prioritises one-day intensity over a gradual stage race build.

The goals are clear. Milan-Sanremo and Paris-Roubaix remain the two Monument boxes he has not ticked. Roubaix, especially, is now more than curiosity. He finished second there on debut in 2025 after crashing in the decisive move with Mathieu van der Poel, and he has already framed the race as a priority. Asked to choose between Roubaix and a fifth Tour de France, he leaned toward the cobbles, arguing that the first win matters more than adding another to a collection.

After that spring block, the calendar shifts toward July. A Tour de Suisse debut in June is set to lead into a run at a record-equalling fifth Tour. 

But for now, the clearest message is simple: the engine is not just running, it looks like it's still gaining.