'Tough to decide' - Pogacar mulls Vuelta a España participation

Tadej Pogačar will win his fourth Tour de France in Paris on Sunday evening, but the Slovenian is non-committal about his prospects of riding the Vuelta a España, which gets under way in Turin in four weeks’ time.

After Pogačar won his debut Giro d’Italia last year, the expectation was that Pogačar would look to complete his set of Grand Tour victories by lining up for the Vuelta in 2025. Pogačar and his UAE Team Emirates-XRG were careful not to commit fully to the idea at the start of the season, however, and in Pontarlier on Saturday, he said that a decision would only be taken after the Tour.

“I said on, I don’t know which day, that we will decide a couple of days after the Tour when everything is calm and heads are clear, then we make decisions for the next races,” Pogačar said. “It’s going to be tough to decide. Of course, I would like to go to the Vuelta. Every year I do the Tour, and I would like to do the Vuelta one day also, so we will see.”

UAE Team Emirates-XRG have already indicated that João Almeida will ride the Vuelta after abandoning the Tour through injury, though neither Isaac del Toro nor Juan Ayuso look set to race, which is in keeping with the team’s policy of limiting younger riders to one Grand Tour per season.

Pogačar’s only previous Vuelta appearance came as a neo-professional in 2019, when he won a hat-trick of stage wins en route to third place overall behind his compatriot Primoz Roglic. He won his debut Tour the following season, and in the years since, Pogačar has preferred to focus on one-day races after the Tour. 

He has won Il Lombardia for the last four years running, and he also claimed the World Championships in Zurich last September. The Slovenian would line up as the obvious favourite for this year’s demanding World Championships in Kigali.

On Saturday, however, Pogačar was looking only as far as his first leisurely bike ride after the Tour.

“On Monday I travel and Tuesday maybe I’m on the bike, you never know,” Pogačar said. “If I feel good, I go a bit riding, stop for coffee, and enjoy summer at home.”

During Saturday evening’s press conference, Pogačar was also asked for his opinion on the case of Ineos carer and fellow Slovenian David Rozman, who was sent home from the Tour after the International Testing Authority (ITA) opened an inquiry into his alleged links to Mark Schmidt, the doctor convicted by the evidence amassed in the Aderlass doping inquiry.

Rozman’s alleged links to Schmidt, which date to 2012, were outlined in an ARD documentary last month, and he was first named in a report in the Sunday Independent earlier in July.

“I don’t know anything about this case,” Pogačar said. “I heard what was going in the last few days with the situation. It’s not nice to hear what is going on. I don't know him so well, he was in Sky and Ineos for quite a long time, but I don’t know much about the situation so I can’t say much.”