Tadej Pogačar will race the 2026 Vuelta a España, UAE Team Emirates-XRG confirmed on Monday morning, as he seeks to complete the Grand Tour triple.

The 27-year-old, who won his fifth Tour de France title last month, will be on the start line of the Spanish Grand Tour for the first time since 2019, when he finished third. Just three riders have won the Tour and Vuelta in the same year previously: Jacques Anquetil, Bernard Hinault and Chris Froome.

In a post on social media UAE wrote: "It’s true - he’s coming back. Tadej Pogačar to La Vuelta, confirmed.

"The former podium finisher returns to the Vuelta for the first time in seven years, leading a stellar lineup for our final Grand Tour of the season."

The Slovenian will be joined by João Almeida, Domen Novak, Ivo Oliveira, Pavel Sivakov, Pablo Torres, Kevin Vermaerke and Jay Vine in Spain.

The race begins on Saturday 22 August in Monaco, before a three weeks which is mostly spent in the south of Spain in Andalusia, with a finale in Granada.

"I’m excited to say I’m going back to La Vuelta. It was my first ever Grand Tour back in 2019 and an amazing experience. Spain is a country I love to visit and race in and I think the time is right to go back," Pogačar said on the team's website.

"The motivation is high to finish off the year in a good way and the Vuelta will be a big target. The team is strong and we hope to do good things."

Pogačar will be the overwhelming favourite for the race. It will be just the second time in his career that he has raced two Grand Tours in one year, after he won both the Giro d'Italia and the Tour de France in 2024. He is then expected to target a third World Championships title in Canada after the Vuelta.

Last week, the Vuelta's race director, Javier Guillén, said: "The stages are very suitable for him to put on the show he's known for. And besides, coming to the Vuelta to win it is also a great springboard for him to repeat his victory as world champion in Canada. Therefore, this is the best year for Tadej to come."

Tadej Pogačar’s UAE Team Emirates-XRG team took home €832,750 (£712,500 / $945,900) in prize money from this year’s Tour de France, more than a third of the entire pot.

A total of €2,300,600 (£1.97m / $2.61m) was distributed among the 23 teams at the race, and awarded based on performance. UAE Team Emirates-XRG earned the most, while Picnic PostNL received the least – €12,770.

A large part of UAE’s winnings came from Pogačar’s overall victory in the general classification, which earned the team €500,000 (£427,800 / $567,900).

The team also received €100,000 for Isaac del Toro’s third place, €20,000 for his victory in the young rider’s classification, and €11,000 for each of their six stage wins – five for Pogačar and one for Del Toro.

As such, UAE ended up hauling 36% of the total prize pot at the race. The next best team in the prize money ranking was Red Bull-Bora-hansgrohe, who took home €288,160, thanks mostly to the €200,000 Remco Evenepoel claimed for finishing second overall.

The full prize money allocation, officially released by race organiser ASO, is below.

How is the prize money allocated?

Prize money at the Tour de France is weighted heavily on each rider’s placing in the overall standings. The yellow jersey winner receives €500,000 – almost a quarter of the entire prize pot – while second place earns €200,000, third earns €100,000, and the winnings diminish down to €3,800 for 10th place.

There are also large sums on offer for the winners of each of the other three jerseys – green, polka dot and white. Mads Pedersen (Lidl-Trek) took home the green jersey as the winner of the points classification, and netted €25,000. The same sum went to Richard Carapaz (EF Education-EasyPost) as the King of the Mountains.

Carapaz also received €20,000 for winning the overall combativity award. Del Toro’s white jersey victory, as the best young rider, yielded the same amount.

Likewise, the team classification, awarded to the team with the best cumulative time of its top three-riders in the GC, carries a significant pay-out. Lidl-Trek earned €50,000 for winning the competition, while UAE Team Emirates-XRG received €30,000 for second, and Red Bull-Bora-hansgrohe €20,000 for third.

Prize money is also awarded after every stage based on each rider’s placing: €11,000 for the stage winner, €5,500 for second place, €2,800 for third, all the way down to €300 for 20th.

Riders also have the chance to win between €200 and €5,000 for being first over certain climbs. Carapaz, for example, was awarded €5,000 for winning the Souvenir Henri Desgrange, the award given to the rider who summits the highest peak of the race, in this case the Col du Galibier on stage 20, which topped out at 2,642m.

Meanwhile, Pogačar earned the same sum for winning the Souvenir Jacques Goddet, having been the first rider over the top of the Col du Tourmalet on stage six.

All prize money is traditionally shared around a team, rather than going to the individual winners.

Joxean Fernández, team manager of UAE Team Emirates-XRG, has explained his part in the incident which saw Movistar rider Einar Rubio injured during Friday's Alpe d'Huez stage of the Tour de France.

Rubio was forced out of the Tour with just two stages remaining, after hitting the back of one of the UAE team cars, close to the top of the final climb during stage 19. The Colombian had been part of the day's breakaway and was among the leading riders on the road as the race entered its final kilometres.

He had just been passed by eventual winner, Tadej Pogačar when the incident happened, the UAE team car braking hard to a halt, Rubio hitting it so hard he broke the rear window with his head. The team car then immediately drove off, leaving the stricken rider alone with only members of the crowd for help.

Rubio suffered multiple injuries to his face, requiring 20 stitches, but was discharged from hospital late on Friday evening. Some of the videos of the incident which have emerged on social media, clearly show a fan falling in front of the car, and had Fernández not braked as he did, it appears likely they could have driven over the fan. However, some have criticised the driver for not stopping to help Rubio.

"Today, I feel the need to explain what happened from my position inside the car during yesterday’s stage," Fernández wrote in a post in his instagram account posted on Saturday morning.

"In the final kilometres of the Alpe d’Huez climb, with thousands of fans right next to the road and the immense pressure typical of a decisive Tour stage, a spectator suddenly ran out and fell right beneath our vehicle. My only reaction was to brake immediately to avoid running him over. It all happened in a split second, and my only thought was preventing a far worse tragedy.

"After braking, we heard a loud impact behind us, but amidst the noise, the tension, the crowd, and the responsibility of continuing to protect the race leader, I didn't learn the full extent of the accident, or that Einer had to withdraw from the Tour, until we reached the finish line. I immediately contacted the Movistar Team, its directors, riders, and staff to check on the situation and ask what had happened.

"Those of us involved in cycling know that in such extreme situations, decisions are made in fractions of a second and always with the aim of protecting human life.

"I deeply regret the consequences of this accident. If the decisions I made in that moment ended up affecting a rider in the peloton, I can only say that it pains me deeply. At the same time, I believe it is important to remember that the safety of riders, teams, and fans also depends on the responsible behavior of those who enjoy this sport from the roadside.

"I offer all my support and affection to Einer; I am deeply sorry for what happened and sincerely hope to see you back competing where you belong very soon. This has not been, and is not, an easy day for me, and I needed to share this with you."

Despite the consequences of the incident, Fernández was not sanctioned by the race commissaires in the post race bulletin and he continued in the team car on Saturday's 20th stage, which also finishes at Alpe d'Huez, though by a different route.

Adam Yates made a Lazarus-like recovery to get into a breakaway on stage 19 of the Tour de France, and launch Tadej Pogačar to victory on Alpe d'Huez.

At the end of stage 18, it seemed very much as though Yates’ entire race was done. Clearly unwell, UAE Emirates-XRG’s British rider had survived the stage but he looked, frankly, awful.

Less than 24 hours later, at the end of a brutal 127km mountain stage, he popped up to play a stage-changing lead-out role for Pogačar, who became only the second rider ever to win on Alpe d’Huez in the yellow jersey, and he set a new record on the climb while he was at it.

Clearly exhausted, but looking like a different man compared to the way he presented the previous day in Orcières-Merlette, Yates even managed a brief laugh when asked immediately after the finish if he felt reborn.

"Reborn is a strong word," he said. "I'm still suffering a lot. It's quite obvious we have had some illness in the team, and the last few days have been really difficult. Even just to finish the stage has been really hard. We knew we would get through it, but it takes time."

From the bottom of the infamous hors catégorie climb, making its first appearance at the Tour since 2022, the UAE Emirates-XRG team knew Pogačar had several minutes to make up on the leaders, and that success would depend on who they had in the break.

Despite the fact that he was still feeling the effects of his illness, Yates stood up, although he admits there was some serendipity in how things panned out.

“I didn't mean to be in the break actually, I was up near the front marking some moves, and suddenly there was a space,” he admitted to reporters. “Yeah, it was good - I got a bit of a head-start on the climb, and then the guys came from behind and you know what happened.

“I would have liked [the pull for Pogačar] to have been a little bit longer, but like I say, I've been struggling for the last few days with illness, and just to be back in this kind of shape, and to be back at the pointy end of a race is nice.

“When you're sick the only thing you pray for is health, I read the other day, and that's true. It's good to be back, and hopefully I'll be even better tomorrow.”

One thing is clear, regardless of whether there has been sickness in the squad, a mere malady isn't likely to stop Pogačar's relentless pursuit of his fifth Tour de France title.

Tadej Pogačar was more than three years away from being born the last time someone rode up Alpe d'Huez faster than him.

On stage 10 of the 1995 Tour de France, the controversial Marco Pantani flew up the Alpe d'Huez in 36:40. 31 years later, on stage 19 of the 2026 Tour, UAE Team Emirates-XRG's Pogačar rode the famous climb in a reported 35:26, 1:14 faster than Pantani's time.

Not that it means much to the Slovenian: "I actually don't know what the time of Pantani was to be honest. I'm staying off the internet a lot in the last weeks, and I don't take too much into that," the world champion said after his latest win.

"I heard that I broke the record, so I'm happy. I just wanted to do a good race and win today. For the guys. Also, I don't know how old, 30 years old record, finally broken, is good for us."

The victory was Pogačar's fifth of the race, his 26th stage win overall, and means he now has a lead of more than seven minutes over second-placed Remco Evenepoel (Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe).

It was dominant performance, as he attacked on the final climb of the day from the GC group, 12km from the top, and picked off riders from the break one by one. From a deficit of 3:25 at the bottom, he overhauled them all. The last survivors were Richard Carapaz (EF Education-EasyPost), Sepp Kuss (Visma-Lease a Bike), and Lenny Martinez (Bahrain Victorious), with Carapaz and Martinez finally dispatched with 800m to go.

The Alpe, the record, this is supposed to be special. Asked how much this result meant to him, Pogačar answered: "I would say as much as any other win, but now that every single journalist says how big this win is, maybe I'll start to realise how big this win is. Maybe I'll appreciate it once it settles down."

It meant a lot to his team, however, with his sports directors Joxean Fernández Matxín and Andrej Hauptman overjoyed that their charge had done it again, with the former in tears at the finish.

"I didn't know..." Pogačar started. "I don't know why they got so emotional as men. I don't cry often, I guess it meant a lot to the team. Also, the way we are riding as a team, not just the victory, the team spirit and all, it cannot be better, even with the rough days of the last days, the team spirit cannot be better than when we win. It's a reward for all, and then emotions come to the surface."

Those "rough days" for UAE saw Brandon McNulty abandon, and both Adam Yates and Tim Wellens fall ill to a stomach bug.

"Adam was really bad on the TT day, he was white like a wall," the yellow jersey explained. "Today I was so happy when I caught him on the last climb to ride behind him. Felix [Großschartner] had to do all the work in the last few days because Tim was also feeling sick, Brandon also went home. Guys don't feel like themselves, but today we stepped up again.

"They believed we could win and it was just nice to seal the deal today after a couple of rough days for the guys. This one is for the teammates."

Pogačar now leads the 2026 Tour by 7:11, which would be the biggest winning margin of any of his five Tours if the race ends with him on top, as it is likely to. That gap is helped by the absence of Jonas Vingegaard (Visma-Lease a Bike), but it proves his utter supremacy.

On French TV, they compared Pogačar to Pac-Man, a yellow character gobbling up all before him. In this Tour, however, there are no ghosts to threaten the main character; he looks unbeatable. Even illness within his team hasn't held him back.

He is a man used to gobbling up riders ahead of him. Asked what it's like to overtake rivals, he said: "Some riders, you can see that they're already taking it a bit easier to go to the top, and maybe with some riders we have good energy. With [Harold] Tejada we smiled at each other, then some riders... it's a good feeling when you pass somebody. Some riders stick on the wheel to see how fast I am going, and it's a compliment a little bit.

"It gives a lot of motivation when you catch riders, and today there was a lot of riders in front so it was good to go and catch them one by one. Chapeau to everyone in the front."

It feels like a given now that Pogačar was going to gobble them all up, including Kuss, Carapaz and Martinez, but it wasn't always so, and Pogačar himself wasn't certain.

"The moment I started to believe was when I heard on the radio that they started to attack each other," he explained. "Then I knew that it was on and off. Then 5km to go... I don't know how much the gap was, if I kept this pace maybe I catch them just before this right turn. When it was the barriers, I could see them finally, and I saw they were looking at each other.

"I knew I could catch them, but also somebody was saving a bit, so I was quite in doubt. Then Sepp attacked, and I was like, 'Fuck they're gone again, I will not be able to catch'. That was the last resource of Sepp. Then Lenny was incredible, he was on my wheel, I didn't think I was able to catch him. I was barely able to catch Richard. We were all at the limit. I tried not to come to a three man sprint.

"I accelerated with 1km to go, 800m to go, I gave it all. It was one of the hardest wins for me, and chapeau to all the breakaway riders, they were smart today with a lot of teammates in front. Today was a battle of teams, and in the end we could pull it off."

Despite a team under the weather, held back by illness, Pogačar the Pac-Man couldn't be stopped. Pantani's record gone, the Tour de France overall victory record of five in touching distance, what's next? If Merckx was the cannibal, Pogačar is just as voracious.

First, Brandon McNulty abandoned, 24km from the finish of stage 18. He couldn’t continue anymore.

An hour later, Tadej Pogačar, dressed in his yellow jersey but curiously in black shorts (you can join the dots), crossed the line in the GC group, flanked by Isaac Del Toro. UAE Team Emirates-XRG’s main men were fine. But for the first time all Tour de France, they had no support around them.

Felix Großschartner was next from the UAE team to be welcomed by his team's soingeurs at Orcières-Merlette, but he stopped at the top and turned straight around. He wasn’t going to answer questions about the stomach virus in the camp.

Ten minutes later, Nils Politt arrived. He looked fine but neither was he in the game for fluffy comments: he was going to be honest and realistic – UAE have a problem.

“We have to survive the next two days now,” Politt said. “It is a major setback for us as a team,” he said of McNulty’s exit. Pogačar echoed those sentiments: “We will miss him the next two days, obviously.”

Eleven minutes afterwards, Adam Yates – struck down by the bug and vomiting since Tuesday – finished the stage, but hunched over his handlebars, he was pale-skinned and exhausted. He was not in a good way. Pogačar expressed confidence yesterday and today that Yates would recover in time for the high Alps – but on this evidence, Yates is regressing, not progressing.

"We hope Adam felt much better today as well. He fell behind simply to save energy for the next two days," Politt added. That might be true, but if this was Yates recovering, he’s going to need a miracle to be a useful aid to Pogačar on the back-to-back ascents of Alpe d’Huez.

Like Großschartner, Yates refused to speak. A warm coat was put on him for the 15km ride back down to the team’s bus. He would have freewheeled down from Orcières-Merlette, but it was more time spent on the bike when his body needs complete rest.

Florian Vermeersch arrived four minutes after Yates, and though he looked better than his teammate and also spoke briefly to the assembled media curious as to the state of the team’s health, his skinsuit was also stained by salt marks.

He too headed down the mountain, and he would have passed Tim Wellens who only just made the time cut by two minutes. The Belgian, like Yates, is similarly run down with the same stomach virus.

Usually, UAE team boss Mauro Gianetti is at the finish line of every stage, ready to greet his riders. This time he wasn’t. In his press conference with the written media, Pogačar only had time for three questions – there are normally five – and one of them he answered in one-word; these days Pogačar tends to give lengthy answers.

Those two observations – Gianetti’s absence and Pogačar’s few words – may mean nothing, but the struggles, body language and admissions of illness from his teammates suggest that multiple UAE riders are being afflicted by the stomach virus. At the worst possible time.

With just three days to go, Pogačar has an advantage of 4:32 in the GC to Remco Evenepoel, a lead that was presumed unassailable. But all of a sudden, victory looks a tiny bit less sure. Illness is the one great uncontrollables that not even UAE’s money can control.

Will a third week virus – either directly by Pogačar falling ill or indirectly due to his sick teammates being unable to support him – so cruelly deny the Slovenian? Evenepoel and Red Bull-Bora-hansgrohe can sense an opportunity.

“Thank goodness Isaac and Tadej are feeling good, and so are Felix and I,” Politt added.

“We are trying to separate ourselves from the team as much as possible in order to simply minimise the risk. Many riders are ill in the bunch – you hear from every team that there’s something going around. That is simply part of three weeks. I’ve never got to the end of a Tour without sick hands.”

Vermeersch said he’s struggling with an injury rather than illness – “It’s not a problem for me,” he stated – but the same cannot be said for his Belgian compatriot Wellens. “Tim is really out of sorts,” Vermeersch admitted.

Ever the optimist, however, Pogačar turned spin doctor: yes, UAE are affected, but so too is everyone else. “I think we can manage it,” he said. “It’s the third week. All teams are suffering a bit.

“Bodies are everywhere on a stage like today. We will survive the stage tomorrow, try to come to Alpe d’Huez and see what we can do. We will keep fighting and I believe we can do it.”

The road will tell.

UAE Team Emirates-XRG’s Adam Yates is suffering from a stomach illness at the 2026 Tour de France and his participation in the race’s final few stages is not guaranteed.

The Briton dropped out the back of the peloton with 66km remaining on stage 17, and finished the day’s racing more than 26 minutes behind winner Jasper Philipsen.

His shorts were stained with salt marks as he rode back to his team's bus, which he boarded as soon as he dismounted his bike.

Yates is one of the key mountain domestiques for race leader Tadej Pogačar, and ordinarily would be providing crucial support on stage 19 and 20 which head into the high mountains and finish atop Alpe d’Huez.

But the 33-year-old’s condition will have to improve significantly if he is to be of assistance to Pogačar.

“Yesterday he was really bad – if it was a normal stage he wouldn’t have finished,” Pogačar said after stage 17. “Luckily it was just a time trial and he managed it. He looked terrible.”

UAE’s general manager Mauro Gianetti revealed that Yates’s sickness began after Monday’s rest day.

“Yesterday he was not feeling well and after the time trial he was really bad, vomiting, [and with a] stomach problem,” Gianetti said.

“We said, ‘OK, let’s see what happens tomorrow morning’, and he was feeling OK [this morning], not so bad like yesterday. He said, ‘OK, I’ll start’. He was in the group and then one moment he spoke with Nils [Politt] and said, ‘I will take the train [gruppetto] behind us to try to save some energy.

“This morning he was better but he was empty. With the full [gas] start, he suffered because he was empty from yesterday and only ate a bit this morning. He was really struggling. We knew it would be a hard day for him.”

Gianetti said that Yates has been isolated from the group, but expressed confidence that it’s nothing more than an “episode”. Neither was he concerned that the infection could be contagious to other members of the team.

“It’s just him vomiting himself – it’s just him,” Gianetti said. “Let’s see if he can recover a little bit, [and] have some good food.”

Asked if Yates will start stage 18, Gianetti responded: “I don’t know. The doctors will decide.”

Pogačar seemed more confident than Gianetti that Yates would remain in the race. “Today in the morning he looked a lot better, [he was] in a good mood and eating well. This was a good sign, but today was a hard stage even for me, and I think he paid a bit [the price] after yesterday’s bad day.

“I think he will recover. Maybe not for tomorrow, but for Alpe d’Huez. At least for the queen stage [on Saturday] he will be good.”

Beaten by Remco Evenepoel twice in two successive Tour de France stages – is this a crisis for Tadej Pogačar?

Of course not, we’re being flippant, but Evenepoel’s win on Plateau de Solaison and then his dominant victory in stage 16’s time trial in Thonon-les-Bains was a reminder that Pogačar doesn’t quite have everything his own way as he marches towards a record-equalling fifth title.

And, as you’d expect, the Slovenian superstar said as much himself. That despite the world champion still boasting an advantage of 4:32 over Evenepoel in the GC after the TT; his UAE Team Emirates-XRG teammate Isaac Del Toro sits 6:51 adrift.

“He’s a contender since day one,” Pogačar said of Evenepoel after the time trial in which he finished as the runner-up, 28 seconds short of Evenepoel’s winning time. “I had good legs today, but he’s just a legend in the race against the clock. He’s one of the greatest, no doubt, and there’s no shame coming behind Remco.

“In the end I have to be happy with the result. Obviously I wanted to go for the win today and the legs were there, but he was just faster.

“I really wanted to make the best out of it and try to win. I was really motivated, I had good legs, but at the end of the day, he’s the best ever in time trialling.”

The following two stages are likely to end in a win for the breakaway, before the peloton finish atop Alpe d’Huez on stages 19 and 20. Consecutive defeats by Evenepoel has fuelled Pogačar’s desire to add to his tally of four stage wins and counting in this year’s race.

“It gives me a bit more fire for the next days to get another win,” he said. “I’m looking forward to the next days in the Alps.”

Speaking about the iconic Alpe d’Huez, Pogačar said that was anticipating a “crazy” atmosphere, with hundreds of thousands of fans expected on the mountain.

“I am kinda happy that Urška Žigart [his partner and AG Insurance-Soudal rider] isn’t coming with my car like last time in 2022,” Pogačar laughed. “I remember how dirty the car was with all of the people touching it and shaking the car. I’m glad I don't have my personal car up there this time.

“With the two hardest stages finishing in Alpe d’Huez, I’m expecting it to be insane. At the Markstein [on stage 14] I had never seen crowds like it, but Alpe d’Huez there will be even more. It’s going to be fantastic. I hope nothing goes wrong and it’s going to be a great end to the Tour.”

Tadej Pogačar's UAE Emirates-XRG have amassed more than double the prize money of their nearest competitors at the Tour de France this year so far, according to the race organisers.

That success has been driven by five stage wins for the squad through Pogačar and white jersey wearer Isaac del Toro. Each stage win is worth €11,000 (£9,340), while each day Pogačar spends in the yellow jersey comes with just €500 (£420) in prize money.

The team has collected €124,530 (£105,000) in the first two weeks of the race.

Lild-Trek, the team in second place has got less than half that with €58,400 (£49,000) driven mostly by the consistently high placing, including a stage win, of Mads Pedersen.

The squad is also leading the lucrative but often overlooked teams classification, for which it receives €2,800 each day.

Just behind them in third are Soudal Quick-Step, who, thanks to three stages wins from Tim Merlier, have totted-up a prize fund of €43,890 so far.

There is a prize pot of €2.3m at the Tour de France, but much of this is handed out for the final placings. So far just €606,000 in prizes have been dolled-out to the riders and teams.

At the other end of the prize money table after two thirds of the race is run is Picnic PostNL, who are having a torrid Tour.

The team’s best result is a fifth place for sprinter Pavel Bittner on stage eight into Bergerac. That netted the team €840 (£710/$960) of their €5,270.

Their results in France are matched only by their poor season which has seen them slip to 30th in the UCI team rankings, below many ProTour teams. Their best result has come from Bittner who was second at sprinters' classic Scheldeprijs.

However, there are other teams that are struggling too at this year’s Tour. Groupama-FDJ United have so far banked just €5,420 while Tudor Pro Cycling have won only €5,560.

If Pogačar is able to hang onto to the yellow jersey all the way to Paris then he’ll collect a further €500,000 for the team, plus the prizes for wearing the jersey each day.

Full prize money list after 15 stages

1. UAE Emirates-XRG, €124,530
2. Lidl-Trek, €58,400
3. Soudal Quick-Step, €43,890
4. Decathlon CMA CGM, €41,560
5. Visma-Lease a Bike, €37,050
6. Alpecin-Premier Tech, €34,100
7. Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe, €32,020
8. Uno-X Mobility, €31,460
9. Lotto Intermarche, €27,560
10. XDS Astana, €25,220
11. EF Education-Easypost, €23,760
12. Jayco AlUla, €23,530
13. NSN Cycling, €18,060
14. Pinarello Q36.5, €14,780
15. Netcompany-Ineos, €12,080
16. TotalEnergies, €10,370
17. Movistar, €9,690
18. Caja Rural-Seguros RGA, €8,270
19. Bahrain Victorious, €7,400
20. Cofidis, €6,020
21. Tudor Pro Cycling, €5,560
22. Groupama-FDJ United, €5,420
23. Picnic PostNL, €5,270

Tadej Pogačar has said he "totally accepts" anti-doping regulations if they are "necessary to prove that we are riding clean" after he was tested in the early hours before stage 15 of the Tour de France.

The UAE Team Emirates-XRG rider and yellow jersey said that this year has been "very strange" with testing, culminating in he and second-placed Jonas Vingegaard being woken up for tests on Sunday morning, mid-race.

The pair appeared to be the only riders tested in such an unusual way. The UCI's anti-doping rules, Article 5.2 reads: "The UCI may require any Rider over whom it has Testing authority, who has not retired, including Riders serving a period of Ineligibility, to provide a Sample at any time and at any place."

An additional comment says: "Unless the rider has identified a sixty minute testing window between the hours of 11:00 p.m. and 6:00 a.m., or has otherwise consented to testing during that period, the UCI will not test a rider during that period unless it has a serious and specific suspicion that the Rider may be engaged in doping."

A spokesperson for the International Testing Agency (ITA) confirmed the tests. The race leader is subject to a test every day post-stage, along with a targeted selection of other riders; they can also face other tests through the Tour.

"They were really nice today, the doctor who woke me up," Pogačar said in his post-stage press conference. "They were nice, they apologised, it's not their fault that they come. I asked because I thought the window was 11pm to 6am they cannot come, but they replied to me that it's a night control. I don't argue, I hope I will sleep after. I couldn't. It's a little bit strange, but I accept it if this is necessary to prove that we are riding clean, then I totally accept it. I commit to it.

"But it's shit when you sleep for four hours in the middle of a three week Tour. If Jonas, if he was tested at 2am in the morning, he probably slept less than four hours, or his deep sleep was ruined. It ruined the night. If this is what we have to do, then we do it."

Stage winner Remco Evenepoel (Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe) did not sound a conciliatory tone: "It's pretty disrespectful. To be honest, I had it, I would send my team to wake them up to feel how it is. It's something inhuman, it's something that we should not accept as athletes. Everyone knows sleep is the only recovery ,moment we have, and if that gets disturbed. This is the hardest and the biggest race in the world. This is a shame that this happened, and I hope it doesn't happen any more in the future."

Pogačar, asked if he knew why he and Vingegaard had been targeted, said: "This year, it has been very strange with the testing in general. If I can sit here two more minutes I can explain. It has been going on strange with controlling, they're doing different a little bit different testing than usual. They're doing everything. They're trying to do different things.

"For example, I counted how many controls I had at home from 1 January to end of Classics, when I was at home I was already waking up at 6am every morning to check the doorbell if someone was ringing because I had so many visits. I didn't want to go for dinner or whatever or to supermarket because they were coming at random hours, not in our slot."

The Slovenian also spoke of blood tests happening after races, including after Strade Bianche, which he won. A modification to the UCI's testing and investigations regulations from last month reads: "If a blood sample is to be collected in a serum tube from the rider, sample collection shall not occur within sixty minutes of the rider’s training, participation in competition or other similar physical activity."

"Then came also Strade Bianche, I had a blood test after the race," Pogačar said. "This was really strange for me, because normally if there's a blood test, the rule was before April 2026 that after you have a heat, sauna, hard session, there was a two hour window that you cannot test the blood. After Strade I did the press conference, I came to the control station one hour and a half after the finish and there were still six riders in front of me. All six riders did a blood test as well, so we needed to wait one hour. After one hour from the race they started to test. I think this was out of the rules, because Strade was before April.

"From April on they changed the rule that we can be tested one hour after the stage. It happened here at the Tour, they tested after some stages, the blood. Now, today happened."

Tadej Pogačar and Jonas Vingegaard were both awoken in the middle of the night ahead of stage 15 of the Tour de France by anti-doping testers, it was revealed on Sunday.

The pair, first and second on general classification at the race, had their sleep interrupted by officials from the International Testing Agency (ITA) overnight between the mountain stages in the Vosges on stage 14, and the Jura and Alps on stage 15, it was revealed by Le Parisien.

The news was later confirmed by their teams, UAE Team Emirates-XRG for Pogačar and Visma-Lease a Bike for Vingegaard and the pair talked about it with Eurosport at the start of stage 15 in Champagnole. The pair appear to be the only riders tested in such a way.

A spokesperson for the International Testing Agency (ITA) confirmed the tests. The race leader is subject to a test every day post-stage, along with a targeted selection of other riders; they can also face other tests through the Tour.

Since 2016, it has been permitted for anti-doping tests to take place between 11pm and 6am, but it remains very unusual. Pre-race, the ITA said it would aim to conduct around 600 tests during the Tour.

"I got four hours of sleep today," Pogačar said. "They were [at my door at] 5am in the morning. I always sleep late, it was a big shock for me to get four hours of sleep.

"I had a cool, long morning because I couldn't fall back to sleep. I was chilling, listening to some old Eminem hits, and making coffees, so I'm overcaffeinated and ready to start the day. It was definitely not nice to be woken up in the middle of sweet dreams."

Asked about the post-stage testing he undergoes daily the yellow jersey-wearer added: "There's a chaperone following you, and then you go to control, you do that. They also come randomly in the mornings through the Tour, and today they chose night time. I feel sorry for the guys that are doing the control, I can imagine that some riders get upset and angry with them, but it's not their fault. It's the bosses. The guys doing the control are just doing their jobs."

Vingegaard said, who was also tested overnight, said: "I guess the ITA didn't allow me to sleep much. I was sleeping very well but then somebody knocked on my door at 2am which was a surprise to me.

"Of course it's good that they test, but when it's affecting performance and your sleep, I don't think it's so good. Hopefully, I'm not the only one. It has to be equal for everybody I think. It's not the nicest at 2am.

"I think it took me about 40 minutes before I was back in my room, so it was not the best night. I still feel ok, but just not the best night. I cannot change it, but that's part of it I guess."

Three years ago, Tadej Pogačar won atop Le Markstein at the end of a brutal Tour de France for him. The stage 20 win, sprinting to the line ahead of yellow jersey Jonas Vingegaard, was an act of defiance, two fingers up to those who thought the age of Pogačar was already over, a reminder of his power. He lost that Tour by well over seven minutes, but his 11th stage win set the scene for what to come.

Three years on, the UAE Team Emirates-XRG rider won atop Le Markstein again, this time at the end of stage 14. This time, there was no loss of face to make up for, or scores to be settled. No, this time in the Vosges, Pogačar proved again that he will win this race, without misfortune getting in the way. For the third year running, it looks like the Slovenian will vanquish Vingegaard by minutes.

This was Pogačar's 25th Tour stage win, a number no other active rider will even get close to, his fourth of this race, and his 125th career victory on his 500th day of racing as a pro. That's a win every four days.

He now leads the race by 4:30 over Vingegaard, with seven stages still to go. His margin of victory last year was 4:24. He appeared to enjoy stage 14, which he described in his TV interview as a "perfect day", partly because of the hordes of enthusiastic fans that were on the Col du Haag, creating a one rider-wide corridor, perfect for the world champion.

His decisive attack came 1.6km from the top of the bike path climb, 7.5km to the finish on top of Le Markstein, but had been set up by his team controlling the day, pulling the break back in order for the Pogačar attack to happen. It might feel predictable, but the power is still impressive.

"We knew that today was one of the hardest mountain stages, but I think we benefit in these stages with the team that we have," Pogačar said in his post-race press conference. "We grabbed the opportunity, we grabbed the chance, we made it hard. Also the breakaway made it hard for us in the front. A lot of guys felt good and showed a big fight, that's how I saw it. Big respect to all the rivals, they did a really strong fight.

"I couldn't waste good legs today, I wanted to finish it off and finish off the work of the team. Also I enjoyed the atmosphere of the Markstein. It was one of the craziest atmospheres of my career."

The jeopardy does appear to have been sucked from this race – at least in the battle for yellow, anyway. For a second day running, Pogačar was asked what he would say about his rivals who are now racing for second. Interestingly, he recalled the Tour where he last raced up Le Markstein.

"If you remember, in 2023, I lost two minutes to Jonas in the time trial [in Combloux on stage 16] and the next day I lost eight minutes [to Courchevel on stage 17, where he lost over five minutes to Vingegaard], I think it's quite obvious that anything can change in one day," he said.

Of course, anything could happen, but a bad day does not feel around the corner, especially not after yet another dominant performance.

"I think for now I'm more confident," Pogačar said. "I must admit that yesterday and two days ago, when [Lidl-]Trek were going full gas, I was not feeling the greatest. Then yesterday I felt a bit better, and it was these kind of days you have to get through.

"Today in the morning I spoke with Urška [Žigart, his partner] and she gave me a moral boost also. I was feeling great today, after today, so far, this Tour has been amazing for me. Tomorrow's stage I will be confident, then it's rest day and a time trial, and I have to do it like a one-day race and do the best I can do because I've put a lot of effort into in. Then we'll see for Alpe d'Huez what is left in the tank."

By then, it's plausible that Pogačar will have won another stage or two, so it won't particularly matter what he has left in the tank, although he will hope to have a better final week than last year, when he suffered through it, with a knee issue, and also seemingly close to burnout.

“I don't like to repeat myself too much, but last year the last week was not the greatest for me,” he explained. "I managed it with my grinta to survive really good. With the knee pain, and also just... This year, we still haven't finished the second week. I'm in the same morale. Last year I had good morale until La Plagne when I was freezing in this room after the stage. My knee was painful, and I didn't know, I was just happy it was over more or less. Maybe I was a bit grumpy in the media zone. I would say that morale is good this year, and was good last year also.”

One reason Pogačar has been able to look so dominant is the lack of a concerted challenge from Vingegaard. Perhaps because of his efforts in winning the Giro d’Italia, he is a level below, and was beaten to the line by both Paul Seixas (Decathlon CMA CGM) and Isaac del Toro (UAE Team Emirates-XRG).

“I think honestly, he's missing a little bit compared to the last few Tours, but maybe the bigger, longer mountains like Alpe d'Huez he will get this extra boost,” the yellow jersey said. “Maybe he will drop me there, you never know. He's there, he's really strong, and he knows this, but he also knows that he misses a bit of a punch maybe. A bit more grinta. It's a small percentage, and he's there with me. I would not count him out for the next day, tomorrow is a good day for him also, and both Alpe d'Huez stages.”

Pogačar is winning comprehensively, but that doesn’t mean he’s not hurting. Asked why he was smiling on the Col du Haag, he replied: “It's my suffer face. Some people might think I'm smiling. When you suffer, but in a good way. That's maybe why it seems a bit more like a smile.”

Unfortunately for his rivals, the Slovenian is rather good at suffering. Three years on from his last defeat at the Tour, the end of his victorious era feels further away from ever.

Barring serious incident, illness or injury, it's incredibly likely Tadej Pogačar will win the 2026 Tour de France. There might be as many six more general classification days to come in eight stages, but with the form he has shown so far in this race, the strongest team here, and crucially 3:36 over second place, it feels rather inevitable.

If he achieves this, then the UAE Team Emirates-XRG rider will join an exclusive club of five-time Tour winners, equalling the record, alongside the greats: Jacques Anquetil, Eddy Merckx, Bernard Hinault and Miguel Induráin. Five five-time winners, it has a ring to it.

There is one issue with this Lance Armstrong. The American 'won' seven titles between 1999 and 2005, titles that were later stripped from him after he was found to have used performance enhancing drugs through his career. Officially, no-one won those Tours, due to the whole era being tainted with doping.

Therefore, officially, Pogačar will equal the record if he wins a fifth Tour in just over a week. However, unofficially, will he have broken the record? Armstrong, for his part, used his podcast The Move this week to press his case, which has never claimed to be an impartial space. "He knows damn well what the real record is," the Texan said, suggesting that Pogačar would go on to try and win seven.

In his post-stage 13 press conference, the Slovenian addressed the question: "I got this question in the morning. I don't know, I can't say anything. I don't go for records, I just want to finish this Tour with yellow in Paris, that's the main focus."

He has said he doesn't care about records before, but this is the same rider who is clearly trying to win Paris-Roubaix so he has won all five Monuments, who won Tour de Romandie and the Tour de Suisse this year on his quest to win every major stage race, who told L'Équipe that he wants to be the best in history. Why would he be doing all of this if he didn't care about records?

The Armstrong argument feels like a sideshow, particularly for a cyclist who was only six when he 'won' his last Tour, but it is interesting that Pogačar feels he "can't say anything" on the topic. Perhaps he will only be sated once he does break the unofficial as well as the official record; perhaps it doesn't matter which record he's going for, if this crushing form lasts.

On that crushing form, the world champion seemed slightly irked when asked what he would say to his rivals who feel like they are now racing for second place.

"I don't know how to respond to that," Pogačar said. "If you go for only second place, then it's a pity. In a Grand Tour, when you have a strong team around you, there are so many possibilities, you have to hope for the best. That's my opinion."

It is difficult to hope for the best when the race appears to be heading in only one direction. The weekend could be key, but it is difficult to see a scenario where he hasn't extended his lead by Sunday evening.

"It could be a day for a lot of attacks, it's a playground for that," he said of Saturday's stage 14, with its three first-category climbs. "I hope we can set a good pace that's good for us and not easy for the others. We will see.

"Tomorrow will be a tough day, and we have to be prepared for any attacks from the contenders. It will be good to watch on the TV like every day."

Domination, it seems, is not to everyone’s taste.

On stage 10 of the Tour de France in the Massif Central, the victor was once again Tadej Pogačar, his third triumph in the 2026 edition extending his lead in the GC to 3:36 to Jonas Vingegaard. He has never had such a comfortable lead at this stage of the race.

The tens of thousands of fans by the roadside on Bastille Day, however, were not united in joy in seeing another Pogačar win.

Speaking after the stage – his 24th victory in the Tour – Pogačar revealed that he had been the subject of booing from some spectators, though he didn’t specify how frequent it was.

What the UAE Team Emirates-XRG rider did reveal was that negative comments directed towards him only serve as inspiration.

“For sure I have haters and haters gonna hate,” Pogačar said, sounding somewhat like the rapper Eminem whose short cut bleached blonde hair he has mimicked.

“To all the booers who are out there, they just give more boost to my teammates. They put wood on the fire.”

Though Pogačar has never been the subject of a vitriolic, toxic atmosphere in the same way Team Sky and Chris Froome were in the mid-2010s, neither was it the first time that fans have expressed their disapproval with Pogačar’s stranglehold on the sport.

“In this scenario, when someone is booing me or anyone… I always think about tennis and Novak Djokovic and the great mentality he has,” Pogačar continued. “He has had one of the toughest careers [with] getting boos and unnecessary hate.

“He is the greatest and I always look up to Novak Djokovic when someone is booing and think about him.”

Despite experiencing some unpleasant reactions from fans, Pogačar was keen to point out that cycling is not as tribal as other sports. “For example, in tennis or in football there is much more booing and people go against one player or one team because it’s one against one and it’s 50-50,” he said.

“I also need to say that in cycling there isn’t so much booing. 99% of people are cheering for everybody. I think cycling fans are the greatest among all sports so we should be happy and grateful for all fans.”

With regards to the race at large, Pogačar looks to have a near unassailable lead in the yellow jersey, with only illness or a crash likely to prevent him from winning a record-equalling fifth yellow jersey.

He has made a mockery of pre-race anticipation that longtime rival Vingegaard would be able to mount a credible challenge to the maillot jaune this July.

“I cannot say anything about the form of my competitors – I can just say that mine is really good,” Pogačar said.

“I think so far the Tour has been laid out really good for our capabilities as a team. With me and Isaac [del Toro] together, it was to our advantage in the first 10 days.

“Now we will see when the big mountains come like Alpe d’Huez [on stages 19 and 20] and the Markstein [on stage 14], as they’re really pure climbing days.

“I hope my form will also be good for these kinds of days, but for sure the competitors will also be ready for the big mountains.

“I need to be really focused and not get too ahead of myself, to keep calm and think about anything that can happen. In one day you can easily lose 30 minutes. I need to keep doing what I can and as a team we will see how things develop during the Tour. I hope it stays like this.”

Tadej Pogačar stormed to victory on stage six of the 2026 Tour de France, ripping up the general classification in the process, and taking back the yellow jersey on Thursday.

The UAE Team Emirates-XRG rider flew away on the Col du Tourmalet, 43km from the finish, and put over two minutes into his closest rival, Jonas Vingegaard (Visma-Lease a Bike), by the finish. It is his 23rd stage win at the race, and second of this Tour already.

Pogačar won the Souvenir Jacques Goddet over the top of the Tourmalet, with just 30 seconds on Vingegaard, but pushed on down the descent and on the final climb to Gavarnie-Gèdre. Meanwhile, previous yellow jersey Torstein Træen (Uno-X Mobility) crashed after losing time, ending his time in the race lead. Isaac del Toro (UAE Team Emirates-XRG) finished third.

Del Toro was part of a chase group including the other main favourites, like Remco Evenepoel and Florian Lipowitz (Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe) and Paul Seixas (Decathlon CMA CGM), which finished 2:57 behind the winner.

Pogačar now leads the race by 2:42 over Vingegaard, just six days into this Tour.

"I think top five, I would say," the world champion said when asked where he would rank this win. "I got flashbacks to the stage with the Tourmalet in 2023 when I broke my hand. I got a lot of flashbacks, it was a similar finish. It was a really incredible victory, one of the sweetest for sure.

"Yesterday on the bus when we were coming from the stage with the guys, there was a lot of hype already talking about today’s stage," he continued. "Today I woke up at 7 and my mind was going crazy already, I was really excited for today. All the guys were really hyped, so I knew it was going to be a good day. We just committed, we were going like nothing to lose, if we explode we explode. In the end, we succeeded and I’m super proud of everyone today, it was crazy teamwork."

As for whether he planned to decimate the race, he said: "In my mind I left everything to coincidence. Whatever happens happens, I was not calculating minutes or seconds, I just wanted to go all the way to the finish full gas.

"I think I would not take the yellow jersey today, because Torstein crashed on the Tourmalet. It’s a shit downhill, really dangerous if you miss a corner. I hope he’s ok. I would still prefer if he would keep the jersey today, so I hope he recovers fast and can continue racing."

The day's early break began with Mads Pedersen (Lidl-Trek) surging up the road in search of points, follows Huub Artz (Lotto Intermarché) and Victor Campenaerts (Visma-Lease a Bike).

The only notable thing to happen early on was Artz being pulled up by the race jury over his position on his handlebars, which ended up with the Belgian dropping out of the break.

With 135km to go, the bunch split up on the Côte de Loucrup, the first classified climb of the day. Visma-Lease a Bike applied a lot of pressure to the front of the peloton, with Tadej Pogačar (UAE Team Emirates-XRG) briefly looking isolated.

Remco Evenepoel (Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe) was briefly distanced after he stopped for a nature break, and the peloton pressed on.

Once Pedersen won the intermediate sprint, he sat up and was caught with 123km to go. Immediately, the action to try and get into the day’s next break began, especially at the race headed onto the Côte de Mauvezin. However, with a lot of action at the front of the peloton, it proved difficult to establish anything significant. Ben O’Connor (Jayco AlUla) and Xabier Mikel Azparren (Pinarello Q36.5) headed up the road, before O’Connor forged on alone.

The Australian built up a lead of over a minute approaching the Col d’Aspin, the opening first-category climb of the race. On the Aspin, UAE Team Emirates-XRG took to the front of the peloton, and O’Connor was caught with 73km to go.

Lenny Martinez (Bahrain Victorious) won the KOM sprint at the top of the Aspin, ahead of Valentin Paret-Peintre (Soudal Quick-Step). On the next climb, the hors categorie Col du Tourmalet, the front of the race got dramatically smaller. Among those dropped under pressure from UAE was Torstein Træen (Uno-X Mobility), the yellow jersey, who was dropped. Next to go was Jai Hindley (Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe) and Tom Pidcock (Pinarello Q36.5).

Just 14 riders remained in the front group with 5.5km to go on the Tourmalet, three UAE riders including Isaac del Toro and Pogačar, Jonas Vingegaard and Sepp Kuss (Visma-Lease a Bike), Remco Evenepoel and Florian Lipowitz (Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe), Juan Ayuso and Mattias Skjelsmose (Lidl-Trek), Paul Seixas (Decathlon CMA CGM), Martinez, Egan Bernal (Netcompany-Ineos) and Tobias Halland Johannessen (Uno-X Mobility).

Yates dropped back, then Del Toro took over. The UAE pair moved clear, shadowed by Vingegaard, Lipowitz and Seixas, with Evenepoel further back. Pogačar pressed on alone 4.1km from the top, as Vingegaard, followed by Lipowitz and then Del Toro, sought to fight back.

Over the top of the Tourmalet, Pogačar had half a minute on Vingegaard, a gap which only extended on the descent. Meanwhile, Træen was over seven minutes back, looking like he was heading out of the yellow jersey. A crash on the descent then fully ended his yellow dream.

The chase group including Seixas, Lipowtiz, Evenepoel and others swelled with just over 27km to go. On the final climb of the day, Pogačar’s lead to Vingegaard ballooned to over 90 seconds, with the group of other chasers another 40 seconds behind.

Results

Tour de France 2026 stage six: Pau > Gavarnie-Gèdre (186.2km)

1. Tadej Pogačar (Slo) UAE Team Emirates-XRG, in 4:32:07
2. Jonas Vingegaard (Den) Visma-Lease a Bike, +2:38
3. Isaac del Toro (Mex) UAE Team Emirates-XRG, +2:57
4. Remco Evenepoel (Bel) Redu Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe
5. Paul Seixas (Fra) Decathlon CMA CGM
6. Florian Lipowitz (Ger) Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe
7. Juan Ayuso (Esp) Lidl-Trek
8. Mattias Skjelmose (Den) Lidl-Trek, all at same time
9. Lenny Martinez (Fra) Bahrain Victorious, +3:02
10. Sepp Kuss (USA) Visma-Lease a Bike, +3:06

General classification after stage six

1. Tadej Pogačar (Slo) UAE Team Emirates-XRG, in 21:11:57
2. Jonas Vingegaard (Den) Visma-Lease a Bike, +2:42
3. Isaac del Toro (Mex) UAE Team Emirates-XRG, +3:27
4. Remco Evenepoel (Bel) Redu Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe, +3:30
5. Juan Ayuso (Esp) Lidl-Trek, +3:34
6. Paul Seixas (Fra) Decathlon CMA CGM, +3:55
7. Florian Lipowitz (Ger) Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe, +4:00
8. Lenny Martinez (Fra) Bahrain Victorious, +4:21
9. Mattias Skjelmose (Den) Lidl-Trek,+4:57
10. Mathias Vacek (Cze) Lidl-Trek, +7:10

Tadej Pogačar crossed the Col du Tourmalet first on stage six of the 2026 Tour de France to win the Souvenir Jacques Goddet.

The UAE Team Emirates-XRG rider pushed on alone 4.1km from the top of the hors categorie climb on Thursday, after initially attacking with his teammate Isaac del Toro.

Pogačar was chased by his rival Jonas Vingegaard (Visma-Lease a Bike) over the top of the Pyrenean climb, but he had an advantage of around 30 seconds by the time the Tourmalet was summited. He also had almost a minute and a half on a group containing Paul Seixas (Decathlon CMA CGM) and Florian Lipowitz (Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe)

The award is given yearly for the rider to reach the top of the Tourmalet first, along with a €5,000 cash prize, and 20 points in the mountains competition. It's the first time Pogačar has won the prize, although the Slovenian has won three stages which have included the climb.

Interestingly, the prize has never been won by a rider who has gone on to win the race, showing how remarkable Pogačar's attack on the climb was.

On Thursday, with the Tourmalet 38.5km from the finish, Pogačar looked in an excellent position to win stage six, which would be his second of the race. With yellow jersey Torstein Træen (Uno-X Mobility) over seven minutes behind the leader on the road, it also looked like the Slovenian was heading into yellow.

This early in the race, it looked like he was putting his stamp on proceedings, with 15 stages still to come. The second-category climb to Gavarnie-Gèdre (18.7km at 3.7%) was still to come after the Tourmalet.

More to follow...

How many Tour de France stages do you think Tadej Pogačar will win this edition? Before this year, the UAE Team Emirates-XRG rider had won 21 times across six races, so an average of 3.5 stages per race, or a win every six days, if you prefer that metric. For context, Marcel Kittel won 14 stages in six Tours, 2.3 a race, or a win every seven days, in total. Kittel was a dominant sprinter, while Pogačar is a general classification rider.

After three stages of the 2026 Tour de France, Pogačar has already won a 22nd stage, putting him just 13 behind the record held by Mark Cavendish. Feasibly, the Slovenian could win another five stages; even when he finished second at the 2023 race, he won two. That doesn’t leave many opportunities for other teams.

Stage two was won by his teammate, Isaac del Toro, while stage one’s team time trial was won by Visma-Lease a Bike. There are now 18 more days for teams to make an impact; if we imagine that at least a few of the days in the big mountains are destined for GC riders, and there will be a handful of days which end in bunch sprints, then it doesn’t leave a lot for everyone else.

Spare a thought for the 18 riders who fought hard to make the breakaway on stage three. Given their size, how early it was in the race, and how there were unlikely to be huge gaps at the finish line, they would have all been hoping that they would have some leeway to compete for the stage win. Getting in a break is not something that happens by accident, but after a lot of effort, positioning, and skill, so for it all to be for nothing must have been dispiriting.

UAE did not need to pull them back on Monday; the race was not on the line, there is lots of road to win the yellow jersey on. As soon as Tuesday morning, there was speculation that Pogačar might be looking to give the jersey back away, so they don’t have to control the race for basically three weeks. Therefore, stage three was just a show of strength, a point proven, the Slovenian and his team showing that they can do what they want.

The Tour’s organisers, ASO, probably loved the opening stages, the big names in the distinctive jerseys, a GC battle which, for now, has the illusion of being close, due to there not being incredibly selective climbs. For the casual fan, I suppose it’s nice to see the big names doing it all.

However, I long for some novelty, for not complete domination, for teams not called UAE, or Visma to a lesser extent, to dictate the race, and to allow other story lines to grow. Perhaps this will happen on stage four, and there are still a lot of stages left, I just fear another Tour de Pog. At least wait until the Vosges, please. By the way, I think Pogačar has four more stages in him this year; any advance?

This piece is part of The Leadout, the offering of newsletters from Cycling Weekly and Cyclingnews. To get this in your inbox, subscribe here.

If you want to get in touch with Adam, email adam.becket@futurenet.com.

Tadej Pogačar sprang to victory on stage three of the Tour de France on Monday, taking the yellow jersey in the process.

Launched across the finish line by his UAE Team Emirates-XRG teammate, and yesterday’s stage winner Isaac del Toro, Pogačar took an impressive win on the ascent to Les Angles, securing a two-second gap over Jonas Vingegaard (Visma-Lease a Bike) The two GC rivals are now level, but as a result of count back, Pogačar now has the race lead and the maillot jaune.

Richard Carapaz took third place on a day when his EF Education–EasyPost teammate Alex Baudin led a spirited breakaway and took the KOM jersey.

During his post-ride interview, Pogačar was effusively complimentary about Del Toro, who put another massively impressive ride on a tough, long, hot and hilly stage.

"It’s because of him, it’s because of Isaac today, I got some extra power I think in the final," said the Slovenia. "He committed more than 100% in the final climb, all the team actually. In the middle of the stage we decided that it’s possible to go for the stage win, and I’m really happy that we start the Tour like this. An incredible finish today.

"If we can win like we won today, and the team feels super good, then we have to take the opportunity. We tried, we gave it all, and we won.

"To take the yellow jersey is a dream for any cyclist, of any age. For me, I don’t know which time already, but every time I can get it is really special. I don’t know for how long this will last, but we try to enjoy every moment."

On a day when most people expected a breakaway to prevail, it came down instead to a battle between the GC contenders during the final 10km, with very few spectators as the stage finished in France, but in an 'exceptional format', due to soaring heat and the heightened risk of wildfires.

The second-longest stage of this year's Tour had a tough and challenging parkour – not a mountain stage, but relentlessly lumpy, with lots of long climbs and a total of 3940 metres of altitude gain across the day, including an uphill finish.

The first third of the stage was ridden at a frenetic pace, with average speeds of 43km per hour despite the lumpy terrain and temperatures in the mid to late 30 degrees celsius. An early crash on the first climb took down multiple riders and left Bruno Armirail (Visma-Lease-a-bike) with a visibly injured right knee and a broken shoe.

With 125km to go, after one-and-a-half hours of relentless riding, the race seemed to settle and then 19 riders made a move. Of this group, Alex Baudin (EF Education-EasyPost) was best placed, with decent position in the GC and a vaguely realistic chance of moving into yellow if he could get the right support from riders around him.

Visma-Lease a Bike appeared almost content to let go of the yellow jersey for a stage and sat back, and UAE Team Emirates-XRG soon capitalised, significantly stepping up the pace and chasing the advance group down. The breakaway failed to establish enough of a gap and it was soon whittled down to six riders, with Nicolas Prodhomme (Decathlon CMA CGM), Vlad Van Mechelen (Bahrain Victorious), George Bennett (NSN Cycling), Raúl García Pierna (Movistar) and Mattéo Vercher (TotalEnergies) hanging in with Baudin.

Baudin mounted an attack during the second-last climb of day – the relatively gentle, but long, ascent of the Col du Calvaire, and fellow Frenchman Nicolas Prodhomme stuck with him. Baudin took the points at the top of the climb, and with it the KOM jersey, and stayed doggedly ahead of the peloton until 11.5km to go, but the UAE-led peloton was always going to reel him in.

This set the scene for an exciting finish, with all the GC contenders in the mix as the pack entered the final kilometre. Having seized control of the race, UAE Team Emirates-XRG were in a commanding position, and Del Toro launched Pogačar into the pole spot with 500 metres to go.

Results

Tour de France stage three: Granollers › Les Angles (195.9km)

1. Tadej Pogačar (Slo) UAE Team Emirates-XRG, in 4:45:11
2. Jonas Vingegaard (Den) Visma-Lease a Bike, +2s
3. Richard Carapaz (Ecu) EF Education-EasyPost
4. Paul Seixas (Fra) Decathlon CMA CGM, both at same time
5. Tobias Halland Johannessen (Nor) Uno-X Mobility, +4s
6. Lennert Van Eeetvelt (Bel) Lotto Intermarché
7. Florian Lipowitz (Ger) Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe
8. Remco Evenepoel (Bel) Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe
9. Isaac del Toro (Mex) UAE Team Emirates-XRG
10. Juan Ayuso (Esp) Lidl-Trek, all at same time

General classification after stage three

1. Tadej Pogačar (Slo) UAE Team Emirates-XRG, in 8:46:55
2. Jonas Vingegaard (Den) Visma-Lease a Bike, at same time
3. Remco Evenepoel (Bel) Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe, +23s
4. Isaac del Toro (Mex) UAE Team Emirates-XRG, +24s
5. Juan Ayuso (Esp) Lidl-Trek, +27s
6. Paul Seixas (Fra) Decathlon CMA CGM, +48s
7. Florian Lipowitz (Ger) Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe, +53s
8. Lenny Martinez (Fra) Bahrain Victorious, +1:09
9. Tobias Halland Johannessen (Nor) Uno-X Mobility, +1:11
10. Ilan Van Wilder (Bel) Soudal Quick-Step, +1:17

Defending Tour de France champion Tadej Pogačar goes into Stage 1's 19.6km team time trial on a new Colnago time trial bike, code-named the TT2. The Slovenian was spotted using it during the Tour de Romandie prologue in April already - no doubt a move to get some race-effort miles on it in preparations for July.

According to Colnago, complete bikes, including a solid-disc rear, can be built to the UCI weight limit of 6.8kg, which is an incredible feat. The TT2 is some 580g lighter than the model it replaces, with savings said to come from across the bike to improve stability and weight distribution and to aid performance on modern WorldTour TT courses and uphill finishes. Of course, it's faster, too, thanks to a new-fangled front end with a conventional steerer (no bayonet here) that is claimed to save 2 watts over the TT1 and cull weight.

The new bike is also bang-on trend to accommodate wider tyre clearances – up from 28mm to 30mm. Based on what we examined, that might be considered overkill, as Tadej's bike was fitted with 25mm Continental GP5000 TT TR tyres.

The bike is built with Shimano Dura-Ace Di2 components and adorned with Carbon-Ti trim here and there. Up front is a one-by-specific 64T Carbon-Ti chainring with an 11-30T cassette out back, driven by 160mm cranks – a balanced gearing configuration for the flats but something that will pose a notable challenge for the double-kick ascent up Montjuïc hill to the Olympic Stadium.

Despite the narrow-wide profiling of the Carbon-Ti chainring, Pogačar is using a UAE-branded K-Edge chainkeeper to ensure retention across all terrain types.

An interesting move was the fitment of 25mm Continental GP5000 TT TR tyres – the narrowest size we've seen across all the teams we visited at the Grand Depart weekend in Barcelona. Despite the 22mm internal rim width of the Enve SES Pro wheels, the tyres will - at the most - inflate to between 26-27mm, which suggests it's been employed as an aerodynamic move. UAE Team Emirates-XRG have also been running 28mm tyres on their Colnago Y1Rs and V5Rs road bikes, again an aerodynamic ploy, according to the mechanics.

Pog's Colnago TT2 rolls on a pair of Enve SES Pro wheels with a 100mm depth up front and a solid disc at the rear.

The touchpoints come compliments of Enve and Fizik. The Slovenian's cockpit is a custom one-piece Enve solution that mounts directly to the basebar via dual risers. For extra support, there's a bridge near the top that doubles as a Wahoo computer mount.

After parting ways with Prologo at the end of the 2024 season, UAE Team Emirates-XRG are now using Fizik saddles, with Tadej opting for the 192g 3D-printed Aeris 1.0 TT model.

We spotted some interesting hacks on the Colnago TT2. For hand retention during cornering, the base bar has grip tape mounted over a layer of black electrical tape – not the prettiest solution, but these rudimentary solutions have become part of the discipline.

Closer examination of the front end reveals an extra shifter button that has been hot-glued onto the Dura-Ace Di2 ST-R9180 STI TT brake levers. Given that these levers already have a remote shifter button, the extra shifter offers an alternative for shifting with the index finger rather than the thumb.

Other details worth noting are the gold Bikone ceramic bottom bracket, gold Carbon-Ti UDH-compatible dropout and axles, 140mm front/rear disc rotors, and Shimano Dura-Ace pedals. Sadly, no baby Hulk sticker was to be found.

Colnago TT2 bike specs

• Frameset: Colnago Carbon monocoque
• Fork: Colnago Carbon fork with 25mm steerer
• Cockpit: Custom Enve bar and extensions
• Seatpost: Colnago Aero
• Groupset: Shimano Dura-Ace Di2: 64T, 11-30T
• Wheelset: Enve SES Pro front, SES Disc Pro rear
• Tyres: Continental GP5000 TT TR 25mm
• Saddle: Fizik Aeris 1.0 TT

Brimming with energy and sporting a blonde-dyed buzzcut that will put paid to any ideas of tufty hair protruding from helmet vents, Tadej Pogačar addressed a packed Tour de France press room in Barcelona for a look ahead to the race.

Last in a series of big GC players to subject themselves to media questioning in the sumptuous surrounds of the city's Recinto Modernista, with the Sagrada Familia looking on just a block away, the UAE Team Emirates-XRG rider had his 'Pogačar' dialled up to 11 as he began by offering his smiley thanks to the media for turning up, flanked by team-mate Isaac Del Toro.

The questions went this way and that, with those asking them perhaps aware that the usual 'what are your hopes for the race?' and 'how's your form?' were somewhat redundant ('winning' and 'pretty amazing, thanks', presumably being the answers).

Asked about his rivals and in particular Jonas Vingegaard (Visma-Lease a Bike), Pogačar took the first of more than one opportunity to big up the young team-mate sitting beside him.

"I don't think [Vingegaard] is the only one that can come close. I think there's quite a few guys here that could push for the victory – this guy next to me…" he said, nodding towards a slightly embarrassed looking Del Toro.

"But competition between me and Jonas the last four years was spectacular, I would say. I think we push further to new heights every year," he said.

A certain amount was also made of his scant 2026 racing calendar – he has only raced 16 days up to now, but he said he was feeling, "pretty good. Only 16 days of racing, but the training kilometres also count, and there's been a lot."

Was racing fewer days helping him to enjoy it more, he was asked.

"I've enjoyed racing all my lifetime," he responded, batting the question away, "but I must say that maybe I even enjoy it more every year because I've stayed in the same team with the same riders and people around me, so every race I feel like I look forward to coming back with the teammates and staff. The race is also there, but mainly I enjoy just seeing the team and being around the guys."

The 27-year-old, who is gunning for a landmark fifth Tour de France win this year, was asked, too, about his pro cyclist girlfriend Urška Žigart, who broke her jaw in a crash in the recent Tour de Suisse. "Thank you for the thought," he offered, before explaining that she was healing fast and already riding outside, even if the doctors had advised against it. And he addressed, too, the €100,000 he donated to his home village of Komenda, which was hit by a storm last month, with roofs ripped off houses. "I think it's quite important to have a roof over your head," he said. "While I was growing up in Komenda, for me everything was perfect, all the neighbours, all the people there… It's my time to give back."

The Tour de France begins on Saturday with a team time trial, around a city that is already thrumming to the beat of the race, dripping in Tour de France Yellow. Pogačar will hope to be sporting that yellow too come Saturday night, and he left no doubt as to how much he was looking forward to it, giving local journalists the top line they had perhaps turned up for.

"I really like Barcelona. It's one of the coolest cities ever," he gushed, before quipping, "It would be better to be here for vacation. But yeah, I'm really looking forward to the Grand Départ here, and really excited to race around here and similar roads as in [the Volta a] Catalunya. I think we are in the same hotel as we were on stage one in Catalunya, so it's quite familiar."

And Pogačar in the race lead on Saturday? That might be more familiar still.

UAE Team Emirates-XRG have announced the seven riders that will support Tadej Pogačar as he defends his title at this year's Tour de France.

Isaac del Toro, Felix Großschartner, Brandon McNulty, Nils Politt, Florian Vermeersch, Tim Wellens, and Adam Yates will all join the Slovenian at the race, which begins this Saturday 4 July in Barcelona, Spain.

If Pogačar wins the yellow jersey, he will equal the all-time record, and join an exclusive club of five-time winners, alongside Jacques Anquetil, Eddy Merckx, Bernard Hinault and Miguel Induráin.

"The Tour de France is always the biggest challenge of the season and also the race that motivates us the most," Pogačar said in a statement. "Every year, you arrive at the start knowing that anything can happen over three weeks, and that’s what makes it so special.

"We’ve prepared really well as a team, everyone has worked incredibly hard, and now we’re excited to finally get started in Barcelona.

"I feel good, I’m looking forward to racing, and I know I’ll have a fantastic group of teammates and staff around me. We have a lot of confidence in each other and have built up a lot of experience together over the years."

Pogačar has never finished lower than second in six previous participations at the Tour. He won on debut in 2020, aged 21, when he dramatically overturned the GC in a penultimate day time trial to La Planche des Belles Filles.

The 27-year-old then went on to win in 2021, 2024 and 2025, finishing second to Jonas Vingegaard (Visma-Lease a Bike) in 2022 and 2023.

Del Toro is the only debutant in UAE Team Emirates-XRG's squad for this July's edition. The 22-year-old Mexican placed second on debut at the Giro d'Italia last season, winning 18 times throughout the year.

This season, both Del Toro and Pogačar have topped the GC at every stage race they have finished; Del Toro won the UAE Tour, Tirreno-Adriatico and the Tour Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes, while Pogačar won the Tour de Romandie and the Tour de Suisse.

"From a training perspective, I would say I'm stronger," Pogačar said of his form a week ago at the Tour de Suisse, speaking to L'Équipe.

Although the world champion has only completed 16 race days in 2026 so far, he has enjoyed one of his most successful season starts to date, winning three Monuments in Milan-San Remo, the Tour of Flanders and Liège-Bastogne-Liège.

The Tour de France opens with a team time trial in Barcelona on 4 July.

Looking ahead to the race, Pogačar said: "There will be strong rivals, difficult stages and many other unpredictable moments, but we’re ready to give everything."

A group of non-governmental organisations have called on the UCI to suspend the licence of UAE Team Emirates-XRG over the UAE's alleged role in the Sudan civil war.

In a letter to the UCI's president, David Lappartient, on Thursday, FairSquare, the Bahrain Institute for Rights and Democracy, Sudan Unlimited, and Christian Solidarity Worldwide, write that Tadej Pogačar's team is used "to project a positive image of the UAE, which stands in marked contrast to the violence and repression that underpins its power".

They also call on the UCI to "conduct an immediate review of its licensing policies".

The UAE has been accused of providing support to the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) in Sudan, who, according to the UN, have carried out acts which show "hallmarks of genocide". Amnesty International published evidence last year that the UAE had provided arms to the RSF.

Last year, Salem Aljaberi, the UAE’s assistant minister for security and military affairs, said: "The UAE strongly rejects the suggestion that it is supplying weaponry to any party involved in the ongoing conflict in Sudan."

FairSquare, the Bahrain Institute for Rights and Democracy, Sudan Unlimited, and Christian Solidarity Worldwide, argue that the "stern action" of suspension should happen until the UAE cuts support from the RSF.

In the letter to the UCI this week, the group of NGOs write: "UAE Team Emirates is under the financial and political control of the UAE state... It is financed and branded by state-owned companies in the United Arab Emirates. The team's principal sponsors are two state-controlled entities. Emirates airline is owned by the government of the emirate of Dubai, and XRG is the investment wing of the Abu Dhabi National Oil Company, which is owned by the government of the emirate of Abu Dhabi."

They continue: "The UAE’s actions in this regard [supporting the RSF] have prolonged and exacerbated the conflict in Sudan in which more than 150,000 people have been killed, with documented indiscriminate attacks on civilians, and more than 30 million people left in need of humanitarian aid."

"It is clear that the team and its participation in UCI events acts as a prominent vehicle for the international branding and promotion of the UAE," it continues. "The UAE has used its financial strength to create the best-resourced and most successful team in world cycling."

UAE Team Emirates-XRG are currently the number-one ranked team in men's cycling, which they have been since 2023. In Pogačar, they have the world's best cyclist, who has won four Tours de France since 2020, and is the favourite for next month's edition.

The letter continues: "Cycling’s most prominent and celebrated races have become a very public platform that the UAE state is using to project a positive image of the UAE, which stands in marked contrast to the violence and repression that underpins its power. The UCI has a responsibility to respect human rights throughout all its operations."

The NGOs write: "The UCI’s code of ethics acknowledges its responsibility to safeguard the integrity and reputation of cycling throughout the world and its 'duty of neutrality' in their dealings with governments. In this context, the participation of teams established, funded, or promoted by governments facing persistent allegations of serious human rights violations raises questions about the processes undertaken by the UCI in the granting of licenses."

UAE Team Emirates-XRG said: "As a sports team, we don’t engage in geopolitical commentary." The UCI was separately contacted for comment.

Jhonatan Narváez sprinted to victory on stage four of the Giro d'Italia from a reduced group in Cosenza on Tuesday, as Giulio Ciccone secured the pink jersey.

Narváez of UAE Team Emirates-XRG had the speed on the run-in to beat Orluis Aular (Movistar), as Lidl-Trek's Ciccone finished third and moved into the race lead because of bonus seconds.

Aular went off early, with 350m to go, giving Narváez the time to round him and win by a clear bike length on the line.

It marked a turnaround for UAE's fortunes in the Giro, coming days after they lost three riders in a mass crash on stage 2, including their GC hopeful Adam Yates.

There were still around 40 riders in the peloton come the finish, but that number had been thinned down brutally by the category-two climb of Cozzo Tunno, peaking around 45km from the finish, meaning none of the top-rate sprinters were able to contest victory.

It was Narváez's third stage victory at the Giro, and came months after he was seriously injured at the Tour Down Under, where he broke vertebrae.

"It's really big for me, this victory here, coming from three months training in Ecuador," Narváez said on TV post-race. "I want to send thank to my family, my wife, my team, they have been a great support this time. Obviously, this victory is also for my team-mates, they crashed on stage two, they've been working for a while to come here in good condition, and finally we take the victory today, but we were good on stage two too. I think we are happy now.

"Jan [Christen] is a great guy, he was trying to take the maglia rosa," he said of his team-mate, who sprinted to the Red Bull KM bonus seconds, and also launched a flier in the last couple of kilometres which came to nothing, but set his team-mate up. "He's a young guy, he needs to learn how to race. He did a great final, and in the end for me, it was just waiting for the sprint.

"I knew they [Movistar] worked so hard in the climb, also Ciccone was there. I think I took a really good corner, 700m to go, and in the end had the legs in the last straight."

The key point of the stage was the Cozzo Tunno climb, 14.4km at 5.9%, where Movistar put the pace on to distance all the pure sprinters in order to set themselves up best for the stage win. Among those dropped were pink jersey Guillermo Thomas Silva (XDS Astana), and winner of two stages already Paul Magnier (Soudal Quick-Step).

Most of the riders aiming for general classification survived without worry, apart from Egan Bernal (Ineos Grenadiers) who dropped off the back of the peloton on the second-category climb. He made it back in before the finish, but his performance will give some pause for thought ahead of more significant climbing stages.

Results

Giro d'Italia 2026 stage four: Catanzaro > Cosenza (138km)

1. Jhonatan Narváez (Ecu) UAE Team Emirates-XRG, in 3:08:46
2. Orluis Aular (Ven) Movistar
3. Giulio Ciccone (Ita) Lidl-Trek
4. Ben Turner (GBr) Ineos Grenadiers
5. Alessandro Pinarello (Ita) NSN Cycling
6. Afonso Eulálio (Por) Bahrain Victorious
7. Lennert Van Eetvelt (Bel) Lotto Intermarché
8. Diego Ulissi (Ita) XDS Astana
9. Andrea Raccagni Noviero (Ita) Soudal Quick-Step
10. Michael Valgren (Den) EF Education-EasyPost, all at same time

General classification after stage four

1. Giulio Ciccone (Ita) Lidl-Trek, in 16:18:51
2. Jan Christen (Sui) UAE Team Emirates-XRG, +4s
3. Florian Stork (Ger) Tudor
4. Egan Bernal (Col) Netcompany-Ineos, both at same time
5. Thymen Arensmen (Ned) Netcompany-Ineos, +6s
6. Giulio Pellizzari (Ita) Red Bull-Bora-hansgrohe, at same time
7. Lennert van Eetvelt (Bel) Lotto Intermarché, +10s
8. Enric Mas (Esp) Movistar
9. Markel Beloki (Esp) EF Education-EasyPost
10. Jan Hirt (Cze) NSN Cycling, all at same time

Tadej Pogačar proved that he can just about win in any situation on Thursday as he won stage two of the Tour of Romandie in a reduced bunch sprint.

The UAE Team Emirates-XRG rider was part of a significant 32-rider group which made it to the finish after a lumpy stage and timed his sprint to perfection to beat Dorian Godon (Ineos Grenadiers). Finn Fisher-Black (Red Bull-Bora-hansgrohe) finished third.

He had survived as riders put in attacks on the final climb, including from Florian Lipowitz (Red Bull-Bora-hansgrohe).

It was the second victory in a row for Pogačar, who extended his lead in the yellow jersey as a result. Three stages remain of the race, with the odds of the Slovenian winning every stage now shortened. While Pogačar winning a sprint seems remarkable, it was a front group made up of mostly climbers, in a race almost without any sprinters of not, apart from Godon, who was beaten into second.

"We knew the final lap, we did it three times, and I knew the sprint was going to be tough because of the climbs before," Pogačar said on TV post-stage. "It was indeed, a super-fast climb with a tailwind. The sprint was pretty much headwind and quite downhill, so you couldn't be too much in front. I was, the last corner, too much in front, and suddenly some guys came, and they were too early, and that was an advantage for me."

Asked if the final climb of Vuillens, which they had ascended thrice, was decisive, he said: "To make the difference in time gaps no, but it makes the difference in the legs. If you go over the limit then for sure it's hard to do a good sprint. Luckily for me it was under control and I could still do a good sprint."

João Almeida will not take part in the Giro d'Italia, it was revealed on Monday morning, after suffering from illness in the build-up.

After it was reported in the Portuguese press on Sunday, the UAE Team Emirates-XRG rider posted the news on Instagram on Monday. He was one of the top favourites for the race, alongside Jonas Vingegaard (Visma-Lease a Bike).

Later on Monday morning, it was also revealed that Mikel Landa (Soudal Quick-Step) would also not start, due to a small pelvic fracture.

"Unfortunately I won’t be at the start of the Giro d’Italia next month as planned," Almeida wrote.

"Sickness in the past months has affected my preparations too much and has meant I just won’t quite be ready in time which is a shame as it’s a race I love so much.

"After talking it through with the team we decided it was best to take a rest period and switch focus to new goals later in the season."

"We haven’t set out those new goals yet but that will be done calmly in the next few weeks…" he continued. "For now it’s time to first rest-up a bit and build things back up slowly.

"Best of luck to the guys for the Giro, will be cheering from home."

Almeida finished second at the Vuelta a España behind Vingegaard last season, after winning three WorldTour stage races. 2026 began well, with podiums overall at the Volta Comunitat Valenciana and the Volta ao Algarve.

However, 38th at the Volta a Catalunya hinted at bigger problems, and Almeida suggested he would undergo tests to figure out the problem. "I just need to rest a bit and maybe see what’s wrong with me," he said then.

In his stead, UAE will likely line-up with Jay Vine and Adam Yates as leaders at the Giro, two riders with Grand Tour stage wins and podiums in their lockers.

In a press release from Soudal Quick-Step, Landa said: "I am obviously disappointed, as I had worked hard to come back from a difficult winter and was starting to feel good again in Itzulia. I had been experiencing some discomfort, but the type of fracture made it difficult to fully identify at first. Now that we have clarity, I can focus fully on my recovery.

"It’s a shame to miss the Giro d’Italia, especially as I was motivated to return after last year. But the priority now is to get healthy again and rebuild my condition, and then we will look ahead to new goals later in the season."

"The cobbles, the stress on the body, it’s definitely one of the roughest, toughest, hardest races I’ve done. I think I gained some experience that maybe next time that I come here it will not be so extremely hard as it was today."

Almost 365 days ago, that was Tadej Pogačar's verdict after his debut Paris-Roubaix, where he finished second, looking as exhausted as I have ever seen him after a race. It wasn't the buoyant, jokey man we have all become used to, but someone who had been put through the wringer.

He finished second that day, behind Mathieu van der Poel, after a performance which belied any kind of conception of what we thought about the 'Hell of the North'. We might have expected the supreme race-craft, the positioning and the power, but this was a Tour de France winner, a climber, going toe-to-toe with Van der Poel, without any experience of the race. He did crash, possibly showing his naivety, but he still finished second, beating Classics specialists like Mads Pedersen and Wout van Aert.

Last year it felt like an adventure, almost a free hit – we didn't know what to expect, so second place was huge, a confirmation that yes, the Slovenian could do something not seen since 1981, and win both the Tour and Roubaix.

This year is different. There is pressure on the UAE Team Emirates-XRG rider, because we all know he could win. Forget question marks over his knowledge of the race, over whether he's heavy enough to perform on the pavé or whether a general classification rider could look at home in the biggest Classic of them all.

It is now a serious possibility, maybe even 50:50, that Pogačar will win Paris-Roubaix. He is no longer a wildcard, an outsider, and could become the first person since Roger De Vlaeminck in 1977 to win all five Monuments, and become the first person ever to be the champion of all five at the same time. Liège-Bastogne-Liège and Il Lombardia last year, Milan-San Remo and the Tour of Flanders in 2026. There is only one left. I will not be surprised if he wins. That would have once sounded ridiculous, but no more.

The 27-year-old goes into almost every race as the favourite, so this is nothing new for him, but it will change the perception of the race. His rivals can look to him and his team to pull, to chase every move, to be in charge of the race, essentially. A moment of inattention could result in an incident like last year's minor crash, or something altogether more serious. The stress will be real.

It is not a done deal, however, no fait accompli. This isn't Flanders, Strade Bianche, or Lombardia, races that suit Pogačar to an overwhelming extent. There is the chaos of the cobbles, and also the 170 riders in the race to contend with. Van der Poel of Alpecin-Premier Tech is top of the pile of these, with three wins in a row; he appears to be able to power through the race unlike anyone else, and has sprinter Jasper Philipsen as a teammate to muddy the waters in any chase. The Dutchman is chasing legendary status himself, with the opportunity to be the first person to win four in a row.

The race itself is incredibly flat, for a WorldTour event anyway. There isn't a clear route to victory for Pogačar, no Oude Kwaremont or Le Tolfe to climb away on.

"Maybe the best [thing] would be to attack with surprise, but I don’t think I can do that anymore. Everybody’s looking at me," Pogačar told Cycling Weekly earlier this year. "I’ll just go with the flow, see where the race takes me, and try to gamble for the final maybe, with a small group sprint. I know after such a tough race I can do, for me, a solid sprint. There’s always a chance."

Beyond Van der Poel and Philipsen, Lidl-Trek's Pedersen has finished on the podium of the last two editions, and is coming back into top form, while Van Aert of Visma-Lease a Bike is surely due another shot at victory at the race which probably suits him more than any other.

There's Ineos Grenadiers' Filippo Ganna, former world time trial champion, and winner of Dwars door Vlaanderen this year, and strong sprinters like Jordi Meeus (Red Bull-Bora-hansgrohe), Matthew Brennan (Visma-Lease a Bike), Arnaud De Lie (Lotto-Intermarché) and late addition Tim Merlier (Soudal Quick-Step). There is also a sense that the race is due a surprise winner, something not unusual at the mayhem in Northern France. It's 10 years since Mat Hayman won, after all.

However, there is something inevitable about Pogačar, something that just feels right. If he wins – if – it might not be a surprise, it would not scramble our brains, but perhaps it should. Riders in 2026 aren't supposed to be able to win it all, but somehow the Slovenian can and is. All we have to do now is sit back and watch history happen.

Often described as Merckxian in his achievements and the way he races, Tadej Pogačar made yet another bit of history on Sunday as he won the Tour of Flanders for a third time. It marked the twelfth Monument victory of his career and moved him ahead of Roger De Vlaeminck in the all-time list, meaning that he is now second only to Merckx himself.

The World Champion has been unstoppable so far this season, winning all three races that he has ridden, with victories at Strade Bianche and Milan-San Remo preceding his Flandrian triumph. He has now won four consecutive Monuments and is one win away from completing the full set.

With multiple victories at Liège-Bastogne-Liège and Il Lombardia to his name, a Paris-Roubaix cobble is the only omission from Pogačar’s Monument trophy cabinet. Having impressed on debut at last year’s race, he is set to return to the Hell of the North this weekend in the hopes of becoming only the fourth rider in history to win all of the Monuments.

If he were to win Roubaix, then he would be the only rider to ever hold all five race wins at the same time, and given his incredible record at Liège and Lombardia over the last few years, he could go on to become the first rider to win all five Monuments in a single season.

Speaking to Eurosport after his victory at Flanders, Pogačar was asked if he thought such a feat was possible, to which he replied, “In one year, I don’t know. Next week is the really tough one. I will give it a go, but it’s going to be difficult. I don’t want to think about it, but I’ll just go from race to race and enjoy Roubaix next.”

“Just to win one race, not even a Monument, is hard in cycling,” he continued. “Even if you have the best legs, everything needs to click together. Even after San Remo or today, I’m not thinking that I can win all five this year.”

Perhaps afraid of his words coming back to haunt him, or simply of jinxing it, the Slovenian rider’s objectives for the season are evident from his schedule alone, as he looks to win wherever he races.

Whatever happens, one thing seems certain: Tadej Pogačar will create yet more cycling history this season.

Everything hinges on Paris-Roubaix

If Tadej Pogačar is to win all five Monuments this season, then Paris-Roubaix will be his toughest challenge, as he has effectively shown that he can win Liège and Lombardia with his eyes closed at this point.

Of the five major one-day races, Pogačar’s characteristics are probably least suited to the Hell of the North, with his weight and size counting against him, as he is more susceptible to bouncing over the uneven cobbled roads.

The rigorous terrain did not seem to phase him too much on debut at last year’s race though, with only Mathieu van der Poel able to follow him over the pavé. It was ultimately a crash on a cobbled sector and a poorly timed puncture that put him out of contention, as he was forced to settle for second place whilst his Dutch rival soloed to victory.

Van der Poel will be his main adversary once again at this year’s race, with the likes of Mads Pedersen, Wout van Aert and Filippo Ganna also among the contenders. He will certainly have the power to match them over the cobbles, but the issue will be dropping them from his wheel if he hopes to avoid the uncertainty of a sprint in the Roubaix velodrome.

If Pogačar is able to get a gap, then it will be difficult to bring him back, as even Van der Poel struggled to make any inroads into his advantage once he went clear at the Tour of Flanders.

However, Roubaix is a different race and not always won by the strongest rider, as punctures and mechanicals are a constant. Luck will therefore be a major factor once again during this year’s race, and the Slovenian rider will need some on his side if he is to win.

One aspect that will play in Pogačar’s favour will be his team support, as UAE Team Emirates-XRG will bring a strong lineup to support the World Champion. Among their number will be former Paris-Roubaix runner-up Florian Vermeersch, who finished fifth at last year’s race and has been in tremendous form throughout the Spring Classics so far this season.

The Belgian rider will hope to be towards the front to support his leader as late into the race as possible, but it will ultimately be Pogačar’s own legs that decide the outcome of the race and whether or not history is made.

Having crashed on the run-in to the Cipressa in the weekend's Milan-San Remo, Tadej Pogačar, admitted he thought his race was over. As we all know now, he made a typically stunning comeback to take his first win in the race on the Via Roma, but had he known the full story, he may well not have even bothered.

It turns out that the Slovenian's victorious ride, which saw him outsprint Tom Pidcock (Pinarello-Q36.5) on the line in San Remo, was done on a cracked frame with, incredibly, a rubbing rear brake, the damage incurred in the earlier crash. All this only transpired after the race, upon inspection of the UAE Team Emirates-XRG rider's Colnago V5Rs.

Pogačar's mechanic, Boštjan Kavčnik, explained: “Only after the finish did we realise Tadej had ridden the finale on a cracked frame,” he told Slovenian outlet Delo.si. “The rear triangle was damaged, but fortunately it held together. The disc was also rubbing against the braking surface.”

The four-time Tour de France winner had crashed on his left-hand side at the front of the peloton as they raced towards the foot of the Cipressa climb – one of two key ascents in the finale, along with the Poggio that follows. He was using a single ring set-up for light weight and aerodynamics, explained Kavčnik, so there was no left-hand shifter but, all the same, his Shimano Dura-Ace Di2 gears went into crash mode.

“He reset it himself and didn’t notice anything else wrong, so we didn’t change the bike,” the mechanic said.

Despite the crash, and the damage, Pogačar was quickly up and was able to forge a gap with Pidcock and Mathieu van der Poel (Alpecin-Premier Tech) on the Cipressa. They took that advantage to the Poggio where Pogačar attacked again, dropping Van der Poel but taking Pidcock with him. A daredevil run off the hill followed as two of the world's best descenders attempted to draw out an advantage, but, said Kavčnik, “If he had known the true condition, he would never have descended so aggressively."

Having been used to best Pidcock by half a wheel, Pogačar's Colnago has become a luxurious and storied museum piece. No longer useable, "it will go into his special collection," Kavčnik said.

Everything glitters inside the hall of Vienna’s Hotel Sacher – chandeliers overhead, polished marble underfoot, and bouquets festooning every corner. Rooms here start at £550 a night. It is, by any measure, a grand setting – which makes it feel faintly absurd to be discussing the rough, muddy farm tracks of northern France. But that’s exactly what I’m doing, because opposite me is Tadej Pogačar, and I’m asking him about one of the few big races he is yet to win: Paris-Roubaix.

We have slipped into a quiet sideroom, off the main hall, and settled into armchairs. “The biggest point is,” says Pogačar, leaning forwards, “the faster you go on the cobbles, the easier they are.” Moments earlier he was on stage announcing his new ambassadorship with crypto exchange KuCoin, but it’s clear he’s more comfortable talking about bike racing. Dressed in a white shirt and navy check jacket, his hair freshly clipped into a neat short-back-and-sides, he looks disarmingly young, almost like a school-leaver eager to make a good impression at his first job interview. Yet, at 27, there is only one position he is still seeking: that of the greatest cyclist of all time.

In fact, Pogačar’s CV is now so comprehensive that it’s easier to list the races he hasn’t won – the ones that now most motivate him. Already a four-time Tour de France winner and double world champion, the glaring omissions are Paris-Roubaix and Milan-San Remo, the two remaining Monuments missing from his palmarès. Only three riders in history have collected the full set of five – Milan-San Remo, the Tour of Flanders, Paris-Roubaix, Liège-Bastogne-Liège and Il Lombardia – and they’re all Belgian: Eddy Merckx, Rik van Looy and Roger De Vlaeminck. Could Pogačar become the first rider in nearly half a century to join them? And if so, would it confirm his status as the best cyclist there has ever been?

For Pogačar, racking up all five Monuments is a “challenge” that keeps his career fresh. “I won some races, and it doesn’t feel the same [to win them again] because you’ve already put a tick on them,” he tells me. Of the other three Monuments, he’s won Liège three times, Flanders twice, and Il Lombardia a record five times in a row. When a journalist asked him last year to choose between a hypothetical fifth Tour title or a first Paris-Roubaix, the Slovenian opted for the latter. Now he’s trying to make it a reality. “Well, at least this year I’ve had it in mind since last year,” he smiles.

Pogačar’s Roubaix debut last spring, announced just two weeks before the race, was one of the sport’s most talked-about topics in years. Roubaix director Thierry Gouvenou called it “a huge moment for cycling”. In fact, the world champion’s presence alone made history, when he became the first reigning Tour champion since Greg LeMond in 1991 to start the race. But while LeMond finished a lowly 55th, Pogačar placed second. What did he learn from it? “It’s a f***ing hard race,” Pogačar laughs. “When I did it as a junior [finishing 30th in 2015 and 13th in 2016], I was like, ‘Damn, I don’t want to do this ever again because it’s just so hard’… If I compare my Roubaix power file [from 2025] – I know I changed the bike in the last hour, but still, up to that point, my power numbers were more impressive than in any other race.”

His attacks in last April’s race began with over 100km remaining. By 50km to go, it had come down to a duel between Pogačar and the defending champion Mathieu van der Poel, the script seemingly written for a velodrome shoot-out. The Slovenian appeared to be as assured on the jagged cobbles as he was in the mountains of France. Then came an error – small but decisive. Tracking a camera motorbike into a sharp right-hander, Pogačar misjudged his line, braked too hard too late, and tipped off into the dirt, scrambling as Van der Poel rode away. It was precisely the scenario his team had feared.

Speaking ahead of the race, his UAE boss Mauro Gianetti told La Gazzetta dello Sport that he didn’t want his leader to compete, for fear a crash would “jeopardise” the Tour. Looking back now, Pogačar understands the concern. “Obviously, if I’m the manager of the team, I also don’t want to risk everything in the pre-Tour, because in 2023, I was not ready because of a crash [at Liège-Bastogne-Liège]. As we know, touch wood” – he taps his knuckles against his forehead – “it can happen so quickly in Roubaix, or any other race. The stress is always there, [the risk of being] out for the main goal of the season, but you need to accept it.” That second place, he says, shifted the mood. “When I came second, they saw maybe we have a chance to win another Monument.”

As such, preparations for this spring have been more focused. Rather than tagging on a first recon to his Flanders prep in February as he did in 2025, Pogačar began his visits to northern France two months earlier, riding 160km across the cobbles in December. He plans to go back at least once more before the mid-April race weekend. Course familiarity helps – Magnus Bäckstedt said he did “three, if not four” recons the year he won, 2004 – but Pogačar knows power and tactics will unlock the title.

“For me, it’s really tough to make the difference,” he says. Without any climbs on which to launch one of his trademark attacks, how does he plan to win? “Maybe the best [thing] would be to attack with surprise, but I don’t think I can do that anymore. Everybody’s looking at me,” he says. “I’ll just go with the flow, see where the race takes me, and try to gamble for the final maybe, with a small group sprint. I know after such a tough race I can do, for me, a solid sprint. There’s always a chance.”

It’s hard to believe that, for a rider who has won his last five races with solo attacks averaging 55km, Pogačar’s plan is to rely on his sprint. But the more I think about it, the more sense it makes. After all, he’ll likely have tested his dash three weeks earlier at Milan-San Remo, the race familiarly known as the ‘sprinters’ classic’. If it can work there, why not double down; refine the kick for both? Whatever Van der Poel can do, Pogačar can at least attempt to do better.

At over 300km long, and mostly as flat as a carpenter’s workbench, San Remo is widely regarded as the easiest Monument to finish but the hardest to win. Pogačar has previously said it’s the race that will “send me to the grave”; in five participations, he’s finished 12th, fifth, fourth, and twice third. The trend shows he’s getting closer, but still, he says, finding the podium’s top step is “really tricky – these days, the climbs, I would not call them climbs anymore, because we go so fast on the Cipressa [at 22km to go] and Poggio [at 6km to go] that the draft there is so important.” As at Roubaix, there is no dependable launchpad. There’s a reason why nobody has won from a Cipressa attack since Gabriele Colombo in 1996.

Even when UAE Team Emirates-XRG ramped up the pace on the climb last year, Van der Poel and Ineos Grenadiers’ Filippo Ganna managed to hang on, and both beat Pogačar in the sprint.

“For me, it’s hard to make a difference,” the world champion says, returning to a refrain he used for Roubaix. “But I will keep trying. It’s one challenge that keeps me going. I haven’t succeeded in winning yet, and I’m getting closer. I still have a few years left to try it out.”

Let’s imagine that Pogačar does win both races – picture him sprinting to victory on San Remo’s Via Roma and in Roubaix’s outdoor velodrome. What will it mean for his legacy? He’s the greatest rider of his generation, the Giro-Tour-Worlds treble in 2024 proved as much, but also the greatest of all time? He’ll have won all of cycling’s major crowns (bar the Vuelta a España and Olympics) and in a more competitive, professionalised era than that dominated by Eddy Merckx.

I remind Pogačar of what he said in an interview with L’Équipe two years ago – that he wanted to be “the best in history”. He scrunches his face slightly and claims he never said the line – “maybe they twisted the words a little bit” – but the point seems to stand nonetheless. “I wouldn’t mind going for it,” he says, and pre-empts a Merckx parallel. “There is so much talk about me and comparing [me] to Eddy etc. For me, it’s complete nonsense,” he says. “I like to live in the moment, in the present, not thinking too much about records.” He steers the legacy theme towards his youth team, Pogi Team, and charity, the Tadej Pogačar Foundation. “Maybe the results are not everything that I want people [to remember me for],” he says.

From many riders, a claim they are not hung up on results can sound like protective deflection. From Pogačar, it feels credible. He is driven, and hungry for new titles, intent on improving year after year, but, as he puts it, “will not lose any sleep over it”. At a press day in December he told reporters that, contrary to the narrative they were eager to build, he’s “not obsessed” with winning Roubaix or San Remo. And when a reporter asked when he would win them, he firmly corrected them: “If I win these races…”

What if both races continue to elude him – does it really matter? “I came close, but I’m yet so far,” he says. “If it happens, it happens. If not, I will live my life the same as I do now.” This laconic acceptance may be Pogačar’s greatest advantage. It is what allows him to chase races that do not naturally suit him – Paris-Roubaix chief among them – with curiosity rather than desperation, ambition unclouded by anxiety. As our allotted interview time runs out, he stands up, wanders over to a nearby marble-topped table and helps himself to three unhurried forkfuls of chocolate cake. Five Monuments or not, he seems entirely at ease with the uncertainty. Greatness, for him, is something to be savoured.

This feature first appeared in Cycling Weekly magazine on 12 March 2026. Subscribe now and never miss an issue.

The knee injury that almost saw Tadej Pogačar retire from last year's Tour de France was triggered by a shunt with a Visma-Lease a Bike team car, the Slovenian's agent has said.

The knee injury incurred by UAE Team Emirates-XRG's Pogačar in the final stages of the last year's race – which he went on to win – has been well documented. But the fact it was caused by a collision with the team car of his main rival Jonas Vingegaard had not been revealed before now. Speaking on the Domestique Hotseat podcast, Alex Carera described how the "crazy" incident took place just ahead of stage 18 to Courchevel.

“When he goes against the car of Visma, he’s really unlucky because it’s a crazy situation,” Carera said. “After that of course he’s worried because he doesn’t feel well.”

Beyond getting Pogačar better, the priority became ensuring that other teams did not get wind of his weakness. “It was my job to protect him so this information didn’t go out,” Carera said. “If other teams knew he had an injury, the tactics could change and become more aggressive.”

There was a point, says Carera, when it was not certain that Pogačar would be able to continue. It would appear he remained in the race by a whisker.

In the daily press conference following the Courchevel stage, Pogačar admitted that he could not wait for the race to finish. "I ask myself why I'm still here," he said. "It's so long these three weeks. You count the kilometres to Paris and yes, I can't wait for it to be over so I can do some other nice stuff in my life as well."

These most recent revelations add new context to those comments, which were unusually gloomy for the usually cheerful character.

The story does not end there though. Pogačar's team-mate Tim Wellens puts a different spin on the issue, insisting that the knee problem flared up the day before on a wet stage 17 to Valence.

“It was so bad that he even went down to the race doctor," Wellens said in L'Equipe in November. "After that stage, he went to the hospital for a number of tests. That’s where they discovered the inflammation, but nobody knew! I was certain the news was going to leak out. Withdrawing was seriously considered. It was therefore a huge relief that Tadej didn’t give up in the mountains. After the Tour de France, we were worried about his physical condition.”

Perhaps one incident exacerbated the other, but what seems to be beyond any doubt is that Pogačar was suffering with a problematic knee injury in the final stages of last year's Tour.

If his rivals had known, we may have seen a different finale, but the fact that the Slovenian and his team managed to keep it a secret is indicative of his own professionalism and that of the tight knit group around him.

Amid rumours of UAE Team Emirates-XRG interest in super-talent Paul Seixas, it has emerged that the French teenager has a younger brother… who has already been training with Tadej Pogačar’s team.

Seventeen-year-old Nino Seixas, two years the junior of his brother Paul, joined UAE Team Emirates-XRG for a week-long internship in December.

He posted about the experience on Instagram at the time, a series of photos and videos in full team kit, writing: “End of internship in Benidorm with UAE Team Emirates-XRG where I had a great week full of learning.

“A big thank you to Matxin [Joxean Fernández, UAE sports manager], without whom none of this would have been possible.”

Nino’s brother Paul, who rides for Decathlon CMA CGM, has been the subject of speculation over the last week about a potential move to UAE. According to reports in Belgian outlet HLN, UAE are interested in signing the 19-year-old, who they see as Pogačar’s successor.

The Strade Bianche runner-up is currently under contract with Decathlon until the end of 2027, with discussions ongoing to extend his stay.

In December, Paul was among those who commented on his younger brother’s Instagram post about training with UAE. “Bg,” he wrote – a French slang abbreviation of ‘beau gosse’ meaning handsome boy or man.

Nino is a first-year junior rider this season for French under-19 club VC Villefranche Beaujolais. Though his talent is unknown, he has made a similar start to his cycling career as Paul, competing in cyclo-cross and joining the same club.

Speaking to Ouest-France, an unnamed member of Nino’s entourage said “there is no UAE strategy” for the young rider, stressing that his internship was “just an invitation”.

“Nino doesn’t have a long cycling history yet,” they said. “The pressure on Paul is intense, and Nino could be subjected to completely unnecessary pressure because he is Nino Seixas. We want to avoid that at all costs.

“His career start will be different. We want Nino to work and progress at his own pace, calmly.”

It is common for WorldTour teams to invite junior riders to training camps, where they might carry out tests to learn more about their potential. Just because a rider has trained with a team, there is no guarantee they will sign for them.

In modern pro cycling, the term super-team gets bandied about a lot. The class of squad which dominates, is able to buy more of the best riders than everyone else, is just a rank above, essentially. There have always been dominant teams, from La Vie Claire to HTC Highroad, but in the last decade, there have been Team Sky, Jumbo-Visma and UAE Team Emirates. Some would add Lidl-Trek and Red Bull-Bora-hansgrohe into that group too.

This week, it was reported that Ineos had acquired new sponsorship worth €20 million a year in order to rejoin the ranks of the ‘super-teams’.

For me, this term should not be plural. There is one super-team: UAE Team Emirates-XRG. In 2024, they won 81 times. In 2025, they won 97 times. So far in 2026, they’ve won on 14 occasions, just under the 15 they’d won by this point last year, but still on target for a gargantuan tally by the end.

It is far from just Tadej Pogačar. The Slovenian, the best bike rider in the world, has raced and tasted victory once this year. He dominated Strade Bianche for the third year in a row, but seven other riders have won races; Isaac del Toro, Tim Wellens, António Morgado, Marc Soler, Jan Christen, Juan Sebastián Molano and Jay Vine have all stood on the top step of the podium.

Despite Jhonatan Narvaéz and Tim Wellens both being out for significant amounts of time with injury, their Classics squad reigned supreme at Strade, with Pogačar dovetailing with Del Toro and Christen perfectly to deliver victory; the latter pair finished third and sixth, after top work by Florian Vermeersch, Felix Großchartner, Kevin Vermaerke and Domen Novak. No other team has this level of strength in depth.

UAE has the backing of a sovereign wealth fund from an oil rich nation behind it, so it is not a surprise that they can afford to stockpile riders like almost no team before. The team are able to dominate throughout the year, not in one type of race or situation, but across many. When HTC were winning all the time, it was mostly in sprints; when Sky ruled, it was only largely at the Tour de France. Jumbo-Visma won the Giro d’Italia, Tour and Vuelta a España in 2023, but they only won 69 times.

This is clearly tilting the balance of competition to the detriment of racing, to the product of cycling. The issue isn’t the generational talent of Pogačar on its own, it's that he has what might be the strongest squad in history behind him.

The most exciting upcoming talent in the world right now is Paul Seixas. The 19-year-old has won more UCI points at his age than Pogačar or Remco Evenepoe did, or a whole host of other phenoms. The Frenchman was the nearest challenger to Pogačar at Strade Bianche on Saturday, and the applause that greeted his arrival in Siena was the loudest all day.

He has a contract with his current team, Decathlon CMA CGM, that runs until 2027, but sharks are already circling to secure his future. One shark in particular, naturally. Yes, it’s UAE Team Emirates-XRG, according to Belgian newspaper Het Laatste Nieuws.

It is only slightly hyperbolic to say that if Seixas moved to UAE cycling would be ruined for me. I want to see different riders at different teams dueling it out for wins. I do not want to see one nation state-backed outfit winning forever, inexorably, hoovering up all the talent. I sincerely hope Seixas stays at Decathlon, and that he is allowed to grow and flourish there. He’s only 19, after all.

Like how the wealth of nation states or people connected to them have unbalanced football through PSG, Man City, and others, it has come for cycling. There is no Financial Fair Play or draft system in the wild west of the WorldTour, nor does there appear to be any work happening to bridge the gap between rich and poor.

The inequality of cycling’s finances is not a fresh topic, in fact it is a subject that I have returned to repeatedly. Bigger and bigger sponsors are needed just to keep some afloat, while the team at the top continues to stockpile the best riders.

The answer has legislation from the top down, and some kind of system for financial equity, but this might require some turkeys to vote for Christmas, which seems unlikely. A salary cap seems too hard and fast, and damaging to riders, but some kind of budget cap could work, allowing teams to spend money as they see fit. Perhaps the wealthiest team’s spending could be tied to the poorest, with a limit on how much more the top team could spend, meaning that budgets couldn’t spiral out of control. This isn’t just about UAE Team Emirates, as another nation state or billionaire could simply come in and further stretch levels of finance in cycling.

If not, then we will live in a world where Pogačar can be backed by Del Toro and maybe Seixas in the future. The same team will keep winning all the time, and this will be normal. We can’t allow cycling to become too unbalanced.

This piece is part of The Leadout, the offering of newsletters from Cycling Weekly and Cyclingnews. To get this in your inbox, subscribe here.

If you want to get in touch with Adam, email adam.becket@futurenet.com.

The world champion Tadej Pogačar is "excited to get stuck in" on his season debut at Strade Bianche in Italy this Saturday.

UAE Team Emirates-XRG confirmed their roster for the race on Monday evening, including Pogačar and the six riders that will ride alongside him: Isaac Del Toro, Jan Christen, Felix Großschartner, Domen Novak, Florian Vermeersch and Kevin Vermaerke.

The four-time Tour de France champion has won the previous two editions of the race – three in total – crashing into a ditch with 50km to go last year, before attacking to win with an almost minute-and-a-half gap to Tom Pidcock (Pinarello Q36.5).

“Strade is a race where I have unforgettable memories,” Pogačar said in quotes attributed to him on the UAE Team Emirates-XRG website.

“My record there is pretty good and I hope that I will be in a good position again come Saturday. We expect there to be some strong rivals, the startlist is always at a high level for these big races and it should make things exciting for the fans.

“It is my first race of the season, and I hope to have a good start. I’ve been cheering on from the couch until now, so I’m excited to get stuck in myself again and finally race. The team has been on a good wave at the moment with many wins already and we hope to continue that over the next few races.”

The last time Pogačar competed was when he won Il Lombardia last October, almost five months ago. It was his last of 20 victories in 2025, which also included a second Tour of Flanders, a third Liège-Bastogne-Liège, four Tour de France stage wins, and both the world and European road titles.

Among the other riders on the start list for Strade Bianche are previous winners Wout van Aert (Visma-Lease a Bike), Julian Alaphilippe (Tudor Pro Cycling) and Pidcock, last year’s runner-up. There is also growing excitement around 19-year-old Paul Seixas (Decathlon CMA CGM), who is considered in his native France to be the heir to Pogačar’s throne.

This year’s Strade Bianche will be the 20th edition of the one-day race. It takes place in Tuscany, Italy, and counts 14 gravel sectors which cover 64km of the total 201km.

The men’s race will start in Siena at 11:40 local time, 10:40 UK time. It is expected to finish in the same city’s iconic Piazza del Campo around 16:30 local time, 15:30 UK time.

Isaac del Toro climbed to victory on Jebel Hafeet on Saturday, taking over the race lead on the penultimate stage of the UAE Tour with it.

The Mexican UAE Team Emirates-XRG rider attacked with 4km to go, dropping all eventually, including previous race leader Antonio Tiberi (Bahrain Victorious) on the way to the top of the dam. With one flat stage to go, it seems likely that the Mexican is on course for his first WorldTour general classification victory.

It was Del Toro's relentless riding out of the saddle which allowed him to power away on the iconic UAE finish. It was a reversal of stage three, when Tiberi beat Del Toro to the top of Jebel Morah. Tiberi remained with his rival until 2.7km to go, before finally dropping, and finishing fourth.

Luke Plapp (Jayco AlUla) finished 12 seconds behind Del Toro in second, to move up to third overall. Tiberi remains second on GC, but Felix Gall (Decathlon CMA CGM) finished third on stage six.

"Ot's a mentality game that you have to be confident enough to keep trying and of course if one time it doesn't work you need to still have to have it in your head that you're able to do it," Del Toro said post-stage. "Today we weren't confident that we'd be able to win but we had the mentality that we will work for it.

"With 2.5km to go, I knew I had to keep going to the line and when I saw the gpa I tried to believe and increase the gap as much as I can.

"Today is one of the top three victories of my career. It's so special, when you win with a team like this it's even more special. Now it's time to realise that I'm working for it and I need to believe in myself more day by day."

Previous race leader Remco Evenepoel (Red Bull-Bora-hansgrohe) is now 10th overall. If Del Toro is to win the UAE Tour tomorrow, after a flat sprint stage, he will be the first UAE rider who isn't Tadej Pogačar to win his team's home race.

'There's a thousand faces all shining bright – and those golden faces are under 25', sang Paul Weller in The Jam classic 'In the City'. The song's sentiment was that young people have something to contribute, and they deserve to be seen and heard.

This appears to be manifesting itself in bike racing right now, because while all eyes remain glued to champions like Tadej Pogačar and Remco Evenepoel, who not long ago at all were the young generation themselves (and still are hardly old), a new batch is emerging. And, even in the face of cycling's biggest talents, they are refusing to go quietly.

Oscar Onley, Isaac Del Toro, and Matthew Riccitello are all aged 22 or 23 and all notched up high placings in last year's Grand Tours, and wins elsewhere. Now there is another name we're going to be conjuring in cycling's grand theatres: Paul Seixas.

A mere grasshopper even in comparison to his young peers above at 19, the French Decathlon CMA CGM rider this week netted his first professional victory, following a 2025 replete with close-run-things and a win at the prestigious U23 Nations Cup stage race, the Tour de l'Avenir.

His win atop the climb to Foia in the Volta ao Algarve was especially interesting, given that he outgunned two of stage racing's biggest established names: Juan Ayuso (Lidl-Trek) and Joao Almeida (UAE Team Emirates). Ayuso he outsprinted on the line; Almeida was a second back. But three and five seconds behind this trio, living up to their billing as ones to be closely watched, were none other than Onley and Seixas's team-mate Riccitello. Del Toro, meanwhile, has also been doing his thing this week at the WorldTour-ranked UAE Tour, winning a lumpy first stage and placing second on the stage three summit finish behind Antonio Tiberi (Bahrain Victorious).

Underlining his all-round ability, the day after his victory Seixas placed fourth in a flat time trial stage at the Volta ao Algarve, bested by the winner – TT supremo Filippo Ganna of Ineos Grenadiers – to the tune of just 12 seconds, and with Ayuso and U23 world TT champ Jacob Soderqvist nestled in-between just seconds apart. A rider this good on the climbs and in the time trials this young demands attention.

Onley, newly signed to Ineos Grenadiers, has made no secret of his Tour de France aims. Del Toro is also down to ride the French race, while Riccitello's programme says he will be at the Vuelta a España and Seixas is currently keeping his Grand Tour options open.

But we won't have to wait till the summer for this troupe of youthful cycling wizards to show their magic in the big races: Seixas is due to ride Strade Bianche and Liège-Bastogne-Liège, while Del Toro will also be at Strade, plus Tirreno-Adriatico and Milan-San Remo. Onley rides Paris-Nice and Riccitello the Volta Cataluyna, both WorldTour races.

The stage is set for a new new generation. As Weller's lyrics continued, in a parting shot that could be directed at the established stars: "They're gonna tell you about the young idea… you better listen now you've said your bit."

Tadej Pogačar's UAE Team Emirates-XRG team has taken to shielding him using motorcycle outriders, after a recent string of fan-related incidents.

Fans were looking for social media exposure, UAE team boss Matxin Joxean Fernández told Spanish media outlet AS, but sometimes the consequences could be negative for the pro cyclist involved.

“This is about moments and getting more views, something that's very fashionable these days," Fernández said. "I've seen some very complicated situations where many cyclists, caught up in the excitement, start recording in the middle of the road. If at that moment a cyclist gives you a rude response because you see a car coming towards you when you're encroaching on the opposite lane, the one who probably comes out looking bad is the one who gives that response, when the context is completely different.

"What we see is what we perceive as right or wrong. Sometimes we don't consider the full context of the situation.'

A recent Spanish training camp saw the team post a motorcycle outrider to protect the popular Slovenian and to stop the situation becoming unsafe.

"An example of situations we've had during our training camp in Alicante: we had a motorcycle to protect Tadej, because we ride in small groups," said Fernández. "If you have groups of 20, the cars behind can't overtake them. So we ride in groups of eight, but if cyclists join in, they become too large.

"Now, what we do is put a motorcycle behind Tadej to ensure that the small group is respected and that cars can pass without creating a traffic jam.”

The Tour de France champion posted a ride on his Strava account last week imploring fans to be more respectful, after he was sworn at by a fan who became impatient to have his picture taken with the star. And Pogačar is not the only rider to have fallen foul of fan attention lately – Jonas Vingegaard crashed last month on a training ride while attempting to drop an unwelcome fan on a descent. The Dane then had to miss the UAE Tour.

Finally, Fernández struck what felt like a conciliatory note in an attempt to foster empathy between both sides, saying "we have to put ourselves in each other's shoes".

"If we make a mistake at any point, we apologise," he said. "If, as Tadej said, you're talking and someone asks you for a photo while we're doing this interview, you ask them to wait and they get angry... Who's right? The one who gets angry or the one who asks for two minutes of patience?

"We all have to put ourselves in each other's shoes, as they say in Italian. We have to be willing to apologise and be respectful.”

Throughout 2025, UAE Team Emirates-XRG won almost 100 races including the Tour de France, Tour de Suisse, multiple classics and three Monuments. While Tadej Pogačar was the most prolific winner on the squad, his teammates still won more than 60 races between them, more than any other team in professional cycling.

It was an incredible feat, one they may be bound to repeat in 2026 given the age of many on their roster. Pogačar is only 27, Isaac Del Toro 22, Joao Almeida 27, and Jan Christen 21.

Just a few weeks into the 2026 season and UAE Team Emirates already have six wins, the most of any professional team. When we analyze their success the first thing that comes to mind is money.

With a bigger budget than most if not all their rivals, they can buy in the best riders and offer the biggest contracts. But talent and budget don't always translate to race wins, which is why good coaching is so important.

When Tim Wellens joined UAE Team Emirates in 2023, he was a solid WorldTour rider with multiple Grand Tour stage victories. Now, he is one of the best Classics riders and domestiques in the world; reliable on all sorts of terrain, and still improving at 34 years old.

Jhonatan Narvaez was an above average rider with INEOS Grenadiers, but after one year on UAE Team Emirates, he has become one of the best puncheurs in the world and a key support rider for Pogačar in the biggest races.

So how do they do it? How does UAE Team Emirates transform these riders from above average racers to some of the strongest cyclists in the world? That's what brought me to Calpe, Spain and an analysis of their training data. While they don't post all of their rides on Strava, they share more than a few secrets. Let's take a closer look.

UAE Team Emirates-XRG’s December Training Camp

Gone are the days of strict Zone 2 training all winter. Now, pros are performing intervals multiple times per week at winter training camps, including VO2 Max and sprint intervals. Here is what an example week looks like at the UAE Team Emirates- December training camp.

• Monday: 4hrs Zone 2
• Tuesday: Gym in the morning + 2hrs Zone 2 in the afternoon
• Wednesday: Aero testing at the velodrome + 4hrs Zone 2
• Thursday: 4.5hrs with 3x10min torque intervals
• Friday: 3hrs Zone 2
• Saturday: 3.5hrs with 3x8min 40/20s Over Unders
• Sunday: 1.5hrs Zone 1 coffee ride

There is a lot of information here, so let’s take it step-by-step. First, we can see that high-intensity intervals are done 2-3 times per week on top of lots of Zone two riding. The intervals are short and sharp, making up only 20-30 minutes out of a four-hour session. There is only one true rest day, with the other “recovery” days being three or four hour endurance rides. So why do they train this way?

While Zone two is a major part of the teams training schedule, it is not their only focus in winter. High intensity intervals help riders stay sharp for the long racing season ahed. Many of them race from February through to October, meaning they need to maintain race shape for almost nine months. Races are also faster, more aggressive, and more meaningful than ever. Riders cannot show up to races at 80% when they are expected to compete for the win in every race.

Year-round intensity can make you fitter and faster purely from a physiological perspective. Of course, you must tread carefully, because high-intensity training can quickly turn into too much of a good thing. It's a lot like the high-carb revolution. Fuel with 40 grams of carbs per hour, and you won't get very far in professional cycling. Start fueling with 120g per hour, and you will be faster and stronger for longer. That means more is better, right?

Try fueling with 400g of carbs per hour and you'll probably end up like Tom Dumoulin pulling down your bibs on the side of the road, or curled up in the fetal position with stomach cramps. That is too much of a good thing, just like high intensity training. If you did 40/20s every day, it would only be a matter of time before you crashed and burned. So what is the perfect balance between high and low intensity training?

Two days of high-intensity interval training per week seems to be the best approach for most cyclists. Highly-trained and experienced riders may be able to handle 3-4 days of intensity per week, depending on the type of intervals and overall training load. But on a regular basis, two days of high-intensity is best.

We must also point out that pros can handle more than amateurs, so we don't recommend copying UAE Team Emirates-XRG workout-for-workout. Their whole lives revolve around cycling – training, nutrition, recovery, massage, physio, sleep, etc. – so they can handle more than us amateurs with jobs and family responsibilities. There is a lot of value in what Pogačar and his teammates do, so let's take a look at their workouts first, and then we can see how we can try it ourselves.

UAE Team Emirates key Workouts

There are two workouts that nearly every UAE Team Emirages rider does on a regular basis: 40/20s and torque work. We’ll dive into the details of those sessions below, but we also have to mention a never-before-seen workout posted by none other than Tadej Pogačar. Here are the workouts:

1. Torque Bursts: 7x (4min @ 70% into 35sec at 130% and 50 rpm into 15sec high cadence sprint)

Pogačar posted this workout only a few weeks ago, and it is one of the toughest torque sessions we have seen. There are seven repeats of high-torque intervals at VO2 Max power immediately followed by a 15-second sprint. You can see Pogačar’s speed and cadence throughout each effort, fluctuating between 20-35 kph on a steep gradient. In between each interval, aim for high Zone 2 power rather than complete recovery.

2. 40/20s Over Unders: 3x8min 40/20s (40sec at 115% into 20sec at 85%) with 30-60min between sets

Every cyclist knows 40/20s, but few do them like UAE Team Emirates. Instead of explosive intervals, the UAE Team riders typically do 40/20s at a hard recovery pace. The 20-second intervals are quite hard, usually around Tempo or Sweetspot pace as opposed to complete recovery. You can see this in Pavel Sivakov’s workout, in the way that his speed doesn’t vary drastically during 8min of 40/20s.

If you want to try this workout at home, aim for high Zone 3 during the 20sec intervals, and VO2 Max power during the 40sec intervals. While the pros have time for 30-60min of Zone 2 between each set, you can just take 5-8min of recovery in between each set of 40/20s.

3. 3x10min Steady Torque: 3x10min Tempo at 50 rpm at 90-95% FTP with 5min recovery

UAE Team Emirates loves torque training, and you should too. In addition to Pogačar’s explosive torque session, the team also has their riders do blocks of steady torque intervals. That means 5-10min blocks at 50 rpm, at a power output just under FTP. Well-trained riders can perform these intervals at 95% FTP, while less experienced riders can aim for more of a Sweetspot pace around 90% FTP. This session includes shorter recoveries of just five minutes between each set.

January is finished with and the scores on the doors are in. We've had a good look at the runners and riders in races across the globe from the Tour Down Under to the Trofeo Mallorca and all points in-between, and they have turned up some interesting – and enticing results.

They won't necessarily enable us to predict the winner of this year's biggest races, but they do at least hint at who has come out of the blocks with momentum, who might be biding their time, and more.

1. Remco Evenepoel means business

Having moved teams from his long-time home at Soudal Quick-Step to Red Bull-Bora-hansgrohe, the Belgian has wasted no time in getting some first places on the board. He is currently sitting on a 100% record, having won two of the Mallorcan races – the Trofeos Andratx-Pollenca and Serra Tramuntana, as well as the Ses Salines team time trial.

In both individual wins, crossed the line solo, and in the case of Serra Tramuntana after a 50km solo effort. When 2026 is done and dusted, it's unlikely these races will be the ones Evenepoel will be celebrating the most, but they will have given the Belgian and his team a confidence-boosting running start to the year.

2. Matthew Brennan brimming with confidence – and defiance

Having already taken a first and a second at the Tour Down Under – as well as second in the young rider classification, up and coming Britain Matthew Brennan is clearly determined to build on the successes of last season, when he launched himself at the WorldTour with a string of victories.

He also appears to have carried plenty of confidence across the off-season too and, when he finished second again, this time at the Cadel Evans Great Ocean Road Race on Sunday behind Tobias Lund Andresen (Decathlon CMA CGM), he laid the blame at the feet of a confusing 300m to go sign:

"300m sign looks the same as 200," he protested on X, explaining on the team website: "Unfortunately I launched my sprint about a hundred metres too early. That was a misjudgment."

3. Human Powered Health have already beaten their 2025 pro win record

At the beginning of the new season, anything is possible. Every team wants to go one better than the year before, achieve new aims and goals. Leading the way on that front is surely the Human Powered Health team. Thanks to Maggie Coles-Lyster's victory at the Santos Tour Down Under one-dayer have already surpassed last year's achievements, at least in terms of pro wins.

Last year Thalita De Jongh's win in the Trofeo Binissalem-Andratx in Mallorca was the team's only pro victory, and it was rated UCI 1.1 – lower than the Santos TDU's 1.Pro rating. It seems a little soon after the off-season to be opening the Champagne, but we wouldn't be surprised if corks were popping that evening.

4. UAE sitting pretty on top

With seven victories and a couple of handfuls of top-fives under their belts already, both the men's and women's teams at the UAE stable are already sitting pretty at the top of the UCI's team rankings for 2026. It's a defiant counter-response, perhaps, to the success of Remco Evenepoel and a reminder that UAE's Slovenian talisman is waiting menacingly in the wings.

The men's team, UAE Team Emirates-XRG has seen wins at the Tour Down Under, thanks to new Aussie road champion Jay Vine, and at the AlUla Tour, where Jan Christen scored a final-day triumph after grabbing a sticky bottle only the day before.

On the women's side, UAE Team ADQ netted a double victory at the Challenge Mallorca thanks to Karlijn Swinkels and double Tour de France Femmes stage winner Maeva Squiban.

5. Wollaston's best ever start

Rivalling Remco Evenepoel in the 'flying start' stakes is Ally Wollaston of FDJ United-Suez. You could even argue that the 25-year-old Kiwi has outdone Evenepoel, for the three races she has won already are all WorldTour ranked. In fact the stats currently show she has won 75% of all the WWT events so far this season, thanks to a double stage win in the Tour Down Under and victory in the Cadel Evans Great Ocean Road Race. That only leaves one stage and the overall of the TDU – and she even took the points classification there for good measure. It's the best start to a season she's had yet.

Wollaston looks to be building on the "bit of belief" that last season's achievements gave her, but said: "I'm still feeling my way through the races and working out what works for me and what doesn't."

There was around 100km left of the final stage of the Tour Down Under when two kangaroos jumped into the peloton from the roadside bush.

“Oh, it’s a kangaroo!” Shouted Phil Liggett from the commentary box. “Never seen that before!”

Race leader Jay Vine (UAE Team Emirates-XRG) was among those knocked off their bike, along with Menno Huising (Visma–Lease a Bike), Lucas Stevenson (Tudor Pro Cycling) and Alberto Dainese (Soudal Quick-Step). The latter were forced to abandon the race due to injuries, along with several other riders.

"Everything was going according to plan up until that point," Vine told reporters after the stage. "Sebastián [Molano] was doing a great job. The breakaway was well within reach. And then, unfortunately, we lost Mikkel, and he knocked the kangaroo into me. So it was just like pinballing inside the group there. But I didn't fall too hard."

After crashing, Vine swapped bikes with teammate Ivo Oliveira and worked his way to the front of the race as the bunch sat up to wait, ultimately finishing in 26th, with Visma–Lease a Bike’s Matthew Brennan sprinting to finish first in the stage. Vine emerged the overall winner of the 2025 Tour Down Under.

“You can’t really predict two kangaroos jumping across the road - I hope everyone is alright,” Brennan said after the race.

“They were quite big - I wasn’t expecting that. I just looked to the right and I saw this big animal. I thought ‘oh, you’re not meant to be here’.

“All the Aussie boys were like ‘they come in pairs’ and then all of a sudden the second one comes along and decides he’s going to throw himself in front of the peloton. So we had two sacrificial kangaroos today.”

While one kangaroo escaped unharmed, the other was euthanised after breaking its leg, an injury it would be unlikely to recover from in the wild.

"Everyone asks me what's the most dangerous thing in Australia and I always tell them it's kangaroos,' two-time race-winner, Vine, told ABC Australia.

'They wait and they hide in the bushes until you can't stop and they jump out in front of you. Point proven today."

UAE Team Emirates-XRG finished 2025 with 97 wins, the most a professional cycling team has ever won, but just short of 100. The aim for 2026 then, improbable as it is, is to better their record from last season.

Their year has begun well, then, with a dominant victory on stage two of the Tour Down Under, which saw Jay Vine win after riding away with teammate Jhonatan Narváez. There are still three stages to go, but the pair have a minute on the field.

UAE took until the fifth day of WorldTour racing in 2025 to take a win; this year, it was day three. Add in Vine's win in the time trial at the Australian National Championships, and things feel like they're heading in one direction.

On Thursday, the inevitable happened on the Corkscrew climb, as Adam Yates – an 18-time WorldTour winner – put the peloton under pressure, stretching things out, allowing Vine – a six-time WorldTour winner – to attack alone, only to be joined by Narváez, himself a four-time WorldTour winner, and the defending champion.

It doesn't take a genius to work out that through being the richest team in the world, funded by the UAE and Abu Dhabi-based energy company XRG, they can stockpile talent to hitherto unforeseen levels, and create results like stage two of the Tour Down Under.

"It’s been on my mind since the last time I wore it. I really love this jersey," Vine said post-race. “It’s incredible to win on such a hard stage. We’ve got such a strong position now with me and Jhonny, and being led out by Adam is pretty incredible as well."

"With two guys in the front, it’s pretty simple what’s going to happen,” Yates added. "I just followed the guys that were attacking and we ended up with a group of five or six. They were working quite well together, but we had two super strong guys in the front. So yeah, it was a good day for the team."

A lead of a minute might already be enough to secure the overall for Vine and UAE. Three lumpy stages remain, including three ascents of Willunga Hill on stage four, but in this form, it already appears that the race might be gone for their rivals. UAE are simply a level above.

"Anything can happen," Vine laughed when it was put to him that 'you can't lose it from here', according to Cyclingnews. "But yeah, it's really good to have such a big lead compared to my last tour. It's a lot more secure and we also got Jhonny in second now so we've got a very strong position."

Visma-Lease a Bike sports director Jesper Mørkøv put it succinctly in a statement: "The UAE Team Emirates-XRG block was simply too strong today."

Two wins by the 22 January, with the possibility of more this week to come; it feels like we might be in the era not of super-teams, but one super-team.

Tadej Pogačar returned to break his own Strava KOM on the famous Coll de Rates climb in Spain, setting a time of 11:57.

The UAE Team Emirates-XRG rider claimed the record last December, in a time of 12:21, but has now taken a further 24 seconds off the record ascent, on a Friday spin. The official verified Strava segment is 6.43km at 5.5%, meaning 347m of elevation gain.

Pogačar was in the area for his team's training camp, with Calpe or Benidorm on the Costa Blanca a popular spot for squads this time of year. The Coll de Rates is a regular haunt for pro riders testing themselves.

The world champion set the record time, which meant he averaged 32.3km/h, as part of a 226km ride he titled "Merry Christmas and happy new year". Last year, he set the record on 20 December, this year it was 19 December; it seems like a final flourish before heading home to enjoy the end of 2025.

The whole ride, which took over six hours, was ridden at 36.8km/h, despite taking in over 4,000m of elevation gain. That's some festive ride.

Before Pogačar, the record was held by Jonas Vingegaard’s former ColoQuick team through Peter Øxenberg Hansen, who set a record of 12:38.

Pogačar rode with teammates including Kevin Vermaerke, Florian Vermeersch, Domen Novak, Nils Politt and Pavel Sivakov.

The climb itself was seemingly ridden as a team time trial, in order to give the 27-year-old the best chance of succeeding in his goal.

Pogačar will begin his 2026 season at Strade Bianche in March, before lining up for Milan-San Remo, the Tour of Flanders, Paris-Roubaix and Liège-Bastogne-Liège.

His season will build to targeting a record-equalling fifth Tour de France in July, but it feels clear that his focus is on Roubaix and San Remo first, the two Monuments he is yet to win.

At his team's media day earlier in December, Pogačar said: "I think if I could choose one [race to win between one extra Tour title or Roubaix] it’d be Roubaix. I’ve already won four [Tours], so if I win four of five… there is a bigger difference between zero and one than four and five."

The Slovenian has already been spotted training for Roubaix, months away from the cobbled race.

The BBC is in the news a lot this week, what with Donald Trump suing it for $10 billion over defamation claims, so it is the perfect time to stick the boot in once more.

This Thursday, the winner of 2025's BBC Sports Personality of the Year (SPOTY) will be announced. For the uninitiated, which is probably everyone not in the UK, the award is given to the best British sportsperson of the year, after a public vote on a shortlist; it has run every year since 1954. The "Personality" bit of the title is a bit of a misnomer; it doesn't require the winner to be a great raconteur, just to be popular with the public. Five cyclists have won the award: Tom Simpson (1965), Chris Hoy (2008), Mark Cavendish (2011), Bradley Wiggins (2012) and Geraint Thomas (2018).

Since 1960, there has been a separate award, currently called 'World Sports Star of the Year', decided on the same night, also by a popular vote. Only two cyclists have ever won it: Jacques Anquetil (1963) and Lance Armstrong (2003), although the latter's was later stripped, after his doping came to light.

The shortlist for this year's World Sports Star of the Year was published last week, and, to my mind, came with a glaring omission. The lucky six are: footballer Mariona Caldentey, boxer Terence Crawford, pole vaulter Armand Duplantis, runner Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone, baseball player Shohei Ohtani and footballer Mohamed Salah.

Tadej Pogačar is missing from that list. The Slovenian, who has won 45 times in the last two seasons, 20 times in just 50 race days in 2025, has never been nominated for the title, in fact. It's hard not to jump to superlatives when describing the 27-year-old, but Pogačar has forced people watching cycling to reframe how good someone can be; he is arguably the best male cyclist of all time, and his snubbing by the BBC SPOTY panel stands out.

"I actually think he should be more famous in mainstream sport," his biographer, Andy McGrath, told me last month. "He's never been on the short list for the BBC World Sports Star of the Year. He probably won't be this year, which would be a travesty, if he isn't. He should be up there with Carlos Alcaraz, and Max Verstappen, the big stars. He is kind of too big for cycling. I wonder if that’s a pro cycling problem, like is the sport still seen as too niche? Or is it still tainted by Lance Armstrong?"

It feels like a bit of a mug's game to moan about the nominations for an award that I have no control over, so I won't do more of it – it just seems weird that in cycling some are bored by Pogačar's dominance, and yet he does not have cut-through outside of our sport.

It can't be that cycling is completely too niche; after all, there have been four cycling overall winners in the last 18 years. However, perhaps it's just British riders that are known by the wider public here, especially if they have done well at an Olympics, other global awards have been bestowed upon Pogačar, after all. He might be doing things like no rider has before, but there is just little name recognition – he shouldn't take it too personally, either, considering Eddy Merckx never won the award, or Marianne Vos, or any other dominant cyclist other than Anquetil and Armstrong.

Perhaps there’s a positive to take here: it shows the potential that cycling has to market Pogačar, to grow its audience, to point out to the world that one of the greatest athletes ever is currently riding his bike, and this level won't go on forever. Duplantis won last year, and could well win two in a row, as he vaults to ever new heights; it's not quite the same as solo attack after solo attack to victory, as Pogačar does, though.

He's my world sports star of the year, anyway. There’s something special about the world champion, who doesn’t just confine himself to Grand Tours and monotonously grinding down the opposition. He’s always on the attack, from Paris-Roubaix to Il Lombardia, and we will miss him when he’s gone, even if it is easy to bemoan his control over cycling.

This piece is part of The Leadout, the offering of newsletters from Cycling Weekly and Cyclingnews. To get this in your inbox, subscribe here.

If you want to get in touch with Adam, email adam.becket@futurenet.com.

As we hit January, it is more than the time for pro cycling teams to release their new kits for 2026. For some, this is the best part of the year, before the reality of racing gets involved, when we can just imagine how good the jerseys will look on the road.

Rather than writing up each team individually, we thought it would work better if we collated them together, unless someone does something mad. When all the kits are out, we can do our usual arbitrary evaluation of them too, so do look out for that. In this guide, we will cover all the WorldTour teams, and notable other squads, but not all, otherwise it will get a bit overwhelming, apart from particular exceptions.

If you would rather find out which team riders will be appearing for next year, rather than what they will be wearing, you can find that on our comprehensive transfer guide for 2026 too.

Teams have also changed names – Israel-Premier Tech to NSN Cycling, Alpecin-Deceuninck to Alpecin-Premier Tech, and Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale to Decathlon CMA CGM and more – so that will have an impact on the kits too.

While teams will have tried to keep the fresh designs under wraps, a few have leaked into the public domain. However, this list will only have confirmed designs. So far, those who are fans of garish outfits should be pleased.

So far, we are only certain of a few kits for next season, but more will appear in the coming weeks or days. We'll update this as we go!

Picnic PostNL

If I were to play spot the difference, I would be hard pushed with the 2026 Picnic PostNL kit. It remains navy and orange, with the 'Keep Challenging' stripes, and the name is the same too. There are a couple of new sponsors on there, and this is apparently different, but that's it.

As the press release says: "Clear and vibrant amongst the colourful peloton: fans, commentators and pundits alike won’t have to re-adjust for the 2026 campaign as they can expect to see the two orange stripes from those helicopter shots on even the foggiest of days."

Pinarello-Q36.5

It's a continuation of navy for the renamed Pinarello-Q36.5, but no white sleeves this year. Instead, this smart jersey is fully navy, with fancy gold accents. The bikes don't look bad either...

According to Q36.5's founder, Luigi Bergamo: "The new jersey design evolves the visual language we began developing last season to reflect the Italian values of premium, daring, design that we share with Pinarello.

"The result is a kit that allows our riders to feel, from the very first moment they pull on the kit, that they are part of something special and unique: the only team in the professional peloton founded and powered by Italian technical partners. We can’t wait to see this jersey (and our iconic Dottore bib shorts!) racing sharp at the front of the bunch."

Jayco AlUla and Liv AlUla Jayco

MAAP entered WorldTour cycling with their Jayco AlUla and Liv AlUla Jayco kits, and have stuck to their theme from 2025 with this purple – sorry, "Aurora" – jersey, paired with dark grey shorts.

The new addition is the flame motif, which stretches to the socks, which is a bit of fun.

MAAP's creative director, Misha Glisovic, said: "MAAP has always been driven to push the boundaries. It’s core to who we are and how we see our place in the sport. We want to use design to broaden the appeal of pro cycling, nudging the sport towards something more stylish and aspirational. Ultimately, we want to be true to our values at MAAP, and GreenEDGE shares this vision."

Human Powered Health

Women's WorldTour squad Human Powered Health have partnered with Verge Sport for their new kit. The new design keeps the orange/red/purple that we have become used to for the team, but in a new pattern, which is called 'Tailwind'. It's designed "to embody speed, motion, and momentum".

The press release says the jersey has a "rich, sweeping warm-to-cool colour gradient that represents Human Powered Health’s Pillars of Performance". It'll be paired with black shorts.

Lotto-Intermarché

The newly merged Lotto-Intemarché go with the red of Lotto for 2026. The kit is a dark-ish red, paired with black shorts, and there isn't really too much more to say about it. It's smart!

According to the statement: "In terms of colour, both main sponsors, Intermarché and Lotto, were already allies: their brand colours red and black dominate the design. The meaningful, subtle fingerprint pattern further strengthens the bold look."

Bahrain Victorious

Bahrain Victorious have been red, orange, purple, and white, but never blue. That changes in 2026, when the team, now riding Bianchi bikes, will be in navy blue with teal sleeves.

The press release reveals deeper meanings: "At the heart of the kit sits a deep navy, a colour that has been part of the team’s identity since its foundation. Subtly woven into the design is a faint “X” that crosses the jersey, the Roman numeral representing ten years in the sport.

"On the sleeves of the jersey, Bianchi’s iconic Celeste is distinctly featured, perfectly matching the shallow blue waters and teal tones that represent Bahrain’s two seas."

Visma-Lease a Bike

The men and women of Visma-Lease a Bike will continue in yellow for 2026, wearing a kit made by Nimbl, who are more known for their cycling shoes.

According to Francesco Matrone, graphic designer at Nimbl: "In a WorldTour context, design must be essential, intentional, and instantly recognizable. One of our key goals was to create a visual identity that's identifiable at speed and reflects performance and clarity. It must be unmistakably Visma-Lease a Bike. Every graphic element is functional, integrated, and designed to perform under pressure.”

EF Pro Cycling

EF Education–EasyPost and EF Education–Oatly will remain pink next year, but have switched kit suppliers from Rapha to Assos.

Assos says the 2026 kit reflects a "forward-looking mindset" with a "bold colour palette" that evolves EF Pro Cycling’s unmistakable visual identity while introducing "a new, almost other-worldly energy to the peloton."

The silver bits are fun, and pink is always good to me – I just wonder what's going to happen when the Giro d'Italia comes around.

Alpecin-Premier Tech and Fenix-Premier Tech

It's a brand new name for Alpecin-Premier Tech and Fenix-Premier Tech – no more Deceuninck – but not a completely new kit, with similar vibes for the WorldTour and Women's WorldTour teams. The men's team has a kit made by Kalas, which is the same blue as before, more or less, but with a bit more of a light grading across the chest.

The women's team, meanwhile, wear a kit made by Alé, which is pretty similar to the orange of 2025, and there doesn't seem to be the green and blue options from before.

Canyon-SRAM zondacrypto

Canyon-SRAM zondacrypto are usually found in a bold, colourful kit, and next season is no different. This is Luminous, designed by Mckenzie Sampson and made by Canyon. It takes a dark purple base and merges it with turquoise, pink, coral and red.

Sampson said: "I’ve always found Canyon-SRAM zondacrypto to be an aspiring light within the peloton. They’re a team that gives a unique platform to a diverse set of riders across the globe to get their big break in cycling. To visually illustrate that sense of light and hope, we wanted the kit design to be bold yet convey the right balance of contrasting light, unique patterns, and rich saturated moments of colour."

AG Insurance-Soudal

AG Insurance-Soudal have mostly the same kit as their brother team Soudal Quick-Step, just with different sponsors. There is a new logo, too: Datashift, a Belgian leader in data solutions and strategy.

It's a blue base, with green accents across, with a white band across the chest for AG Insurance.

Ineos Grenadiers

There was rumour and speculation that it might happen, but now it is official... Ineos Grenadiers will be wearing WHITE yes WHITE shorts next season. Well, it's technically 'light grey', but come on.

Orange is the main colour on the jersey for the first time, after various blues and reds, but it is the white that stands out. It's as striking, if not more so, as AG2R's famous brown shorts, and we wonder how the riders are feeling about it...

The press release says: "The design was created with a clear purpose: immediate recognition. The exclusive use of this orange ensures a striking presence in the peloton, while the white panels on the lower sections add balance and clarity, allowing the leading colour to shine with harmonious strength. The result is a sophisticated, functional and memorable kit."

Apparently: "Orange is the new uniqueness. Orange is the new icon." Read our opinion on it here.

Soudal Quick-Step

It's evolution not revolution for Soudal Quick-Step in 2026, who have a similar kit to this season, but green rather than white as the accent colour, along with the classic blue.

According to the team: "The new design incorporates a vivid electric-lime element, a deliberate move inspired by the Shine for Safety visibility campaign launched during this year’s Ardennes Classics."

There is a lot more green on the back, which will help them stand out, apparently. It's a nice wavy pattern. The kit is designed and made by Castelli.

FDJ United-SUEZ

If you're thinking "I've seen this kit before", you would be right. FDJ United-SUEZ will be wearing their 2025 Tour de France Femmes avec Zwift kit full-time next year. It's largely black, with an explosion of red and blue on the chest.

The press release says about the Gobik kit: "The jersey reflects the unseen hours of the sport: training sessions before dawn, rides in the rain, the fear and doubts of a jour sans. In contrast, a vivid halo of light rises on the chest, symbolising the inner spark that transforms sacrifice into brilliance at the moment of victory.

Demi Vollering won't be in this kit, given the Dutchwoman is European champion.

UAE Team Emirates-XRG

UAE Team Emirates-XRG rarely mix the colour palette up too much, and 2026 will be no different – it's largely white, with black and red trim, but it definitely has changed since last season.

The Pissei kit, handcrafted at the brand's Italian Custom Lab, has some fun geometric patterns on the stormach of the jersey, with black on the arms too. Don't expect to see Tadej Pogačar in this one, however, considering he is world champion.

Movistar

It's a second year in a row in white for Movistar, who have ditched the navy box across the chest for this cleaner offering. There is the classic M on the front, and some accents across the rest of the front.

Apparently: "Gobik sought a futuristic aesthetic, an evolution that projects innovation and performance on a white base. Technological textures, iridescent graphics and subtle transparencies were combined to create a striking design that reflects the identity and avant-garde spirit of the team." Avant-garde. Right.

Lidl-Trek

Lidl-Trek's kit is different. Definitely. There's less red on the front, more blue, and there's a new sponsor on the front, but it is, essentially, the same as last year. There's nothing wrong with that! It's a good kit! "Our favourite colours" is what the team said. Keep it simple. The men and women use the same kit, which is good.

The team say: "With a fresh twist on a fan-favorite design, Santini have delivered again with the 2026 Lidl-Trek kit. Pairing the ultimate fabrics with playful colours, the latest design delivers looks as well as performance."

Decathlon CMA CGM

Sadly, there's no exciting bumf to go with the new Decathlon CMA CGM kit, but with a new name comes a new colour - red. The brown shorts are sadly still in the dustbin of history, with new sponsors CMA CGM bringing the new colour. One sleeve is still teal (?) while the other is a lot darker, rather than the dark blue it was before.

Red Bull-Bora-hansgrohe

Now, Red Bull-Bora-hansgrohe's kit is yet to be officially announced, but seeing as all the riders in the plane stunt were wearing a new kit, let's assume this is the new one for 2026. It's a lot whiter than before, with royal blue sleeves, and less navy. It is similar to the special kit they used at the Tour de France this season.

SD Worx-Protime

SD Worx-Protime have veered away from the purple and pinks of recent years, and instead will race in this primary colour-heavy jersey which is called "New Dawn"

It's designed by Specialized, and is paired with black shorts. Notably, Lotte Kopecky will be racing in it, no longer being world, European, or Belgian champion, for once.

According to the press release: "The new jersey reflects the team’s and sponsors’ ongoing drive for innovation. Standing still is not an option – continuously reinventing ourselves in every aspect is a core value at SD Worx-Protime. The new design symbolises our rich history through the spark, now multiplied and displayed in various shades. This emphasises the team’s slogan: we spark success."

NSN Cycling

The team formerly known as Israel-Premier Tech have become NSN Cycling, and will be wearing a busy kit next season, with a base of sky blue and orange. The jury is out over whether this will be easy to notice or to lose in the peloton. They're also riding Scott bikes now.

If you want to know why it looks like this, the press release says: "It's designed by Stijn Dossche of stycle.design, is inspired by the Mediterranean city from which the team’s new identity has been forged.

"Its design blends geometry, colour blocks, and patterns reminiscent of contemporary Barcelona - a city that never stands still, where tradition meets modernity, where Mediterranean light becomes art, and movement becomes identity."

Just in time for the Tour de France Grand Départ in July, then – that's in Barça.

Groupama-FDJ United

Another new name, though less dramatic, is Groupama-FDJ United. The French stalwarts are slow to change their kits, normally, and the same is true next year. It's the fetching number they wore at this year's Tour, although it's now made by Bioracer rather than Alé. Essentially, it's royal blue with a red accent sleeve.

Cofidis

Cofidis are another French team barely changing their kit for 2026. The men's and women's teams, now both ProTeams, will use the same red and yellow jersey as this season, although the shades might have been slightly altered, and the sponsors have moved around a bit.

Tadej Pogačar has been spotted on a recon of the Paris-Roubaix cobbles, four months out from the 2026 race.

The UAE Team Emirates-XRG rider was seen by a French local on Tuesday, according to regional newspaper La Voix du Nord, seemingly training on the famous Carrefour de l'Arbre. The French paper obtained pictures of the event, showing him alongside teammates Nils Politt and Tim Wellens.

It suggests that Pogačar will take a second tilt at 'the Hell of the North' in April; the world champion finished second behind Mathieu van der Poel (Alpecin-Deceuninck) at his debut in the Monument.

He crashed – without harm – in that race after misjudging a corner. With no cobbles in next year's Tour de France, Pogačar racing Roubaix again is a natural conclusion.

"I live nearby, in Sainghin-en-Mélantois, and I cycle a lot," Jean-Luc Gallus told La Voix du Nord. "When I arrived at the Arbre crossroads, I saw UAE cars in the distance and as I got closer, I recognized Tim Wellens’ Belgian champion’s jersey,. Then I saw the rainbow bike and I realized it was Pogacar.

"I asked him if I could take his picture, he said there was no problem at all, and he even posed.

"I heard them talking," Gallus continued. "They were going back down towards Cysoing to take the cobblestones of Bourghelles and return via L'Arbre." He was "quite surprised".

He added: "In the middle of winter, it's rather daring. It's been raining a lot lately. The cobblestones are wet and there are muddy sections."

Following his debut, Pogačar said: "The cobbles, the stress on the body, it’s definitely one of the roughest, toughest, hardest races I’ve done. I think I gained some experience that maybe next time that I come here it will not be so extremely hard as it was today."

It is no secret that the Slovenian would like to win Roubaix, perhaps above all else. "I want to win Paris-Roubaix in particular," he told L'Équipe in July. "This year, for my first participation, I found this race crazy, my second place was already incredible. I want to come back."

Last year, Pogačar and UAE teased his debut with a training clip posted to Instagram in February. This year, it appears harder to keep the news under wraps. Sunday 12 April is the date everyone should circle on their calendars.

Few riders in history have made dominance look as effortless as Tadej Pogačar. The four-time Tour de France winner, back-to-back world champion and 10-time Monument victor is arguably the best rider in the history of the sport. The 27-year-old’s record speaks for itself: 108 wins, 45 of them in the last two seasons.

Despite all this success, there has not been a full-length biography of the Slovenian published in English – until now, with the launch of Tadej Pogačar: Unstoppable by Andy McGrath.

Having already published books on late greats Frank Vandenbroucke and Tom Simpson, journalist and writer McGrath faced a new challenge with his latest project: the subject was still alive. “Me and my friends joked after the Vandenbroucke book that my next subject had to be alive,” says McGrath. “But this is quite different. I was writing about the sport’s big superstar, a moving target.”

There could be no benefit of hindsight with Pogačar – his greatness still unfolding and hard to encapsulate. “Tadej needs to have a calmer, more conservative streak to be a Grand Tour racer,” the biographer reflects, “but he is also a one-day dominator, which makes him really interesting.”

Mindful that he was in pursuit of a “moving target”, McGrath had to proceed with haste. “It was one calendar year, almost to the day, from first meeting with an editor at Bloomsbury to finishing the project,” he says. “It was probably the ultimate challenge for me as a writer because I didn’t want to just collage it. I wanted new insights, new stories, and to talk to people, to do it face-to-face.”

Over that year McGrath was writing, his subject won a fourth Il Lombardia; a third Strade Bianche; a second Tour of Flanders and La Flèche Wallonne; a third Liège-Bastogne-Liège; the Critérium du Dauphiné; a fourth Tour de France; a second World Championships; and the European Championships; and, after the book was published, a fifth Il Lombardia. Enough to take up the whole book.

Instead, McGrath dedicates 25 pages to 2025, and about the same to 2024, the year in which Pogačar took the triple crown of Giro d’Italia, Tour de France and Worlds. The biography is no blow-by-blow account, nor can it be, with those blows still being struck.

“The nice thing about this book is that you finally get a big-picture view,” McGrath explains. “From being nobody, this tiny kid in Slovenia riding a unicycle, to being the complete cyclist, the superstar.” The 250-page book seeks to explain and show Pogačar’s rise, which was not as inevitable as it may seem now. As much space is devoted to his early years as to his recent glories.

Given the reams of material published about Pogačar – more than 100 articles on Cycling Weekly’s website this year alone – how did McGrath tackle the mammoth research challenge?

“There was a huge element of sifting, like panning for gold,” he says. “I listened to all the press conferences he’d done, from 2020 to the present day, but picked only a handful of the best quotes.”

McGrath spoke to primary sources too, including team-mates and former team-mates including Mikkel Bjerg and Matteo Trentin, and mentor Andrej Hauptman. “You’re looking for gold there too – nuggets that will add something different.”

Were his interviewees willing to spill the beans? “There’s kind of an inscrutability. The fact he is Tadej Pogačar, the biggest star in modern sport, means that there are things people won’t tell you on the record. They don’t want to betray his trust. They don’t want to get into trouble.”

Unauthorised biography

The book is not an authorised biography and as such contains no new material from the subject himself. “He didn’t give me any one-on-one time, but he doesn’t do many of those [interviews],” McGrath says. “He doesn’t win all these races by being freely available to journalists. I don’t think it affected Unstoppable. His voice runs through it. As for the broader access level, I think it was pretty good, and it speaks to the positive things people have to say about him.”

One notably absent voice is that of Mauro Gianetti, the boss of UAE Team Emirates. “There’s so much riding on Pogačar, financially, competitively, that there’s no point [from the team’s perspective] in him being super open with the media,” adds McGrath.

The author did travel to Slovenia to meet with many figures from Pogačar’s past and present, a trip which gave him more than just quotes.

“I didn’t have an interpreter, so God bless Slovenians for being so good at English,” McGrath says. “It was January, and Hauptman, the UAE DS, was still there, so it turned out to be a really good time to go and talk to people.”

McGrath was also able to get a sense of the landscape and community that made Pogačar. “Going to his hometown gives you a very grounding sense of who he is, the core of him growing up. There’s nothing there to suggest that he would be an outstanding cyclist.”

Pogačar’s winning has come to feel predictable, but the book reminds us of the shock in 2020 when the then 21-year-old stormed to victory at the Tour de France. Just two years earlier, he was on a Slovenian Continental team. “The lack of hype and his nationality worked for him in the long run,” McGrath says. “If Pogačar had been Belgian, there would have been a lot more pressure.”

He recounts the story of a WorldTour team who, initially interested in signing the young rider, changed their mind upon discovering he was Slovenian. “There was definitely snobbery from the heartland nations of Europe,” adds McGrath.

Highs and lows

What gives the book its compelling story isn’t that Pogačar is a serial winner, the unstoppable great of its title, but that he has had to overcome adversity. “With the Tour defeats to [Jonas] Vingegaard in 2022 and 2023, there’s a little bit of revisionism in the book,” McGrath argues.

“You realise just how impressive Visma’s plan and execution was. I think it was probably one of the best days of bike racing since I started watching 22 years ago. We thought Pogačar was invincible, and 2022 showed he wasn’t, and after the 2023 defeat, there was a sense he might not come back from it.”

In light of the past two years, though, the book’s title can only be taken literally. “Unstoppable was decided very early on,” says McGrath, “before the 2025 season. In the back of my mind was, what if he has a terrible year? Would we have a big black mark through the title?”

Thankfully for McGrath, Pogačar’s unstoppability has become undeniable. It has left some arguing that his dominance has become boring – a charge his biographer rejects. “Why is excellence boring? After Pogačar retires, probably in five years’ time, we won’t see someone like that for decades, probably ever.”

The book may soon need an update, given the rate at which the Slovenian wins – a prospect McGrath isn’t ruling out. “I’m not bored by Pogačar. There were always new things to say about him.”

That, ultimately, is the point of Unstoppable: a portrait of an athlete whose story keeps outrunning those who try to capture it. McGrath’s challenge was to fix on the page something still in motion – and in doing so, he’s shown why Pogačar remains the sport’s most compelling moving target.

WHAT’S NEXT FOR POGAČAR?

Having spent more time thinking about Pogačar than most, McGrath is well placed to play Nostradamus with the Slovenian.

“Logically, he’s going to face the biggest hurdle he’s ever faced in the next two years. So far, he has avoided serious crashes. He pushes the limits so much, and that’s another reason why he’s so exciting.

“He said a few times this year that he’s at his peak. How long could he stay there? My hunch is two more years, which would be phenomenal.”

The rider McGrath identifies as Pogačar’s biggest foe might come as a surprise: “I think [Remco] Evenepoel, not Vingegaard, will be the one who could challenge him more in the future, because Red Bull are not in cycling just to finish third in the Tour.”

This feature originally appeared in Cycling Weekly magazine on 27 November 2025. Subscribe now and never miss an issue.

It was raining a lot on the edge of Valence after stage 17 of the Tour de France in July. After days of baking heat, the sky had turned black on the edge of the Ardèche; if real life was a school English essay, the phrase pathetic fallacy would be on everyone’s lips. The world’s biggest bike race has a habit of bringing everyone back down to earth, metaphorically as well as literally, as the majesty of Mont Ventoux the previous day was followed by a sprint on an arterial road, hemmed in by grey offices.

The sense of doom was increased by the chaos at the finish, where a prankster had somehow got onto the course, and a crash in the final kilometre which led to a handful of riders contesting for the win, which went to Jonathan Milan.

In the midst of this heavy precipitation, slightly uninspiring stage, and a man trying to ride on the course to gain a few likes on social media, perhaps it’s not surprising that no-one spotted what Tadej Pogačar, the yellow jersey, was up to. He finished 27th, safely, completed his obligations as the man leading the race, including one of those press conferences where both sides were dissatisfied, and that was the end of the story.

Or so we thought. In an interview this week, his UAE Team Emirates-XRG colleague Tim Wellens revealed that Pogačar visited hospital that evening due to knee pain, and that there were fears that he would have to leave the race. It is remarkable that this didn’t come out before, given the world we live in, but I like the mystery, the intrigue.

Of course, his departure didn’t come to pass – the Slovenian went on, kept his yellow jersey through the Alps, and won by over four minutes in Paris. It was clear in the last days of the Tour that this was a different Pogačar, however, one who didn’t win on Ventoux, on the Col de la Loze, or in La Plagne.

This did not pass unnoticed; in every press conference in that final week, Pogačar was asked some variation of the question ‘what’s up?’ or ‘are you bored?’ from the assembled press. The answer, though, was not “my knee hurts” but instead that he was tired, maybe a bit bored, and done with the rigmarole of racing and leading the Tour de France.

“I ask myself why I'm still here – it's so long these three weeks,” he said after stage 18. “You count the kilometres to Paris and yes, I can't wait for it to be over so I can do some other nice stuff in my life as well."

"I'm obviously tired," Pogačar added the next day in La Plagne. "It's not been an easy Tour. People attacking me from left and right, from day one until the end. Being focused, motivated. The priority is the yellow jersey, so I was counting down the kilometres because I was going with my pace and hoping that nobody would attack from behind, and that's it. Sometimes you just count down the kilometres."

However, this might have been hiding the real issue. As Wellens explained: “It was a relief that he didn’t give up in the mountains. Everyone wondered why he wasn’t attacking, which is understandable… Afterwards we worried about him physically, but mentally I was surprised to read he wanted to go home, because we actually had a great time together.”

Clearly, it was important to keep the knee issue a secret. There were still four minutes between Pogačar and Jonas Vingegaard in second place after stage 17, but the news of a weakened Pogačar might have re-energised Visma-Lease a Bike in the final two mountain stages. Perhaps there was a weakness there to be exploited, although a complete reversal seems unlikely, given the lead and how exhausted everyone was.

Maybe Pogačar was bluffing over his mental state, hiding the true problem. It certainly was a convenient, easy excuse, but like the best cover stories, there was more than a ring of truth to it. He did seem exhausted, and done, and who could blame him. Especially if his knee hurt. A few months later, the Slovenian was back in Valence, winning the European Championships – there was a smile this time.

The Tour incident is a useful reminder that we can’t know everything, not even what’s going on with the best, most famous cyclist in the world. That’s no bad thing. It also raises questions for the future: how is the knee? Are you bluffing? It’s something to think about next time we’re on a rainy ringroad in the middle of France.

This piece is part of The Leadout, the offering of newsletters from Cycling Weekly and Cyclingnews. To get this in your inbox, subscribe here.

If you want to get in touch with Adam, email adam.becket@futurenet.com, or comment below.

Tadej Pogačar's knee injury at the Tour de France was so bad that a hospital visit was required, his UAE Team Emirates-XRG teammate Tim Wellens has revealed.

In an interview with French sports newspaper L'Équipe, published on Tuesday, the Belgian said that the squad were worried he would be unable to complete the race, such was the pain.

The injury was already public knowledge, but the hospital trip shows how close the yellow jersey came to leaving the race. It also partly explains why the Slovenian throttled back his dominant performance as the race went on. Pogačar still won his fourth Tour by over four minutes, and took four stage wins, but there was a sense he was not at his best in the Alps.

"The day after the stage with the finish on Mont Ventoux, I had problems with my knee and I started to have doubts about whether I would be able to continue at all, whether I would be able to endure the queen stage," Pogačar told Slovenian outlet siol.net last month.

"In the stage to Valence [stage 17] he said to me: 'Tim, we have a problem, my knee hurts.' It was so bad he walked to the doctor’s car to be examined. After the stage, he went to the hospital," Wellens explained, giving more context.

"They found an inflammation or something like that, and nobody knew," he continued. "He was in a lot of pain and we doubted he’d make it to the finish. We even considered stopping. On the team bus, we could see he wasn’t doing well."

Wellens added: "It was a relief that he didn’t give up in the mountains. Everyone wondered why he wasn’t attacking, which is understandable… Afterwards we worried about him physically, but mentally I was surprised to read he wanted to go home, because we actually had a great time together."

Pogačar had intimated he was tired during press conferences towards the end of the race, and at the end of the Tour, he said: "I'm at this point in my career that if I do burnout I would be happy with what I achieved. To be serious, burnouts happen in sport, in a lot of sport, mental and physical burnout. We do train a lot, I think cyclists are a bit too obsessed with training, and we always try our hardest. Everyone wants to train more and more.

"You see some riders have fatigue too early in the season, and the team needs you to race, race, race, and you keep going in this circle and you never recover. Then you get to October and finally a break, then in December you do it all again. Burnouts happen all the time, and it could happen to me as well."

Last month, his mother told French website Le Parisien that she would understand it if he took a break from cycling.

Another weekend, another monster solo victory for Tadej Pogačar. Sunday's European Championships road race in the French Ardèche region saw the Slovenian attack solo with 75km to go and hang on for a 31-second victory over (once again) a dispirited solo chaser Remco Evenepoel.

It's becoming hard to remember a time when UAE Team Emirates-XRG rider Pogačar wasn't the imperious winning machine that he has been for much of this season, such is the regularity with which he trounces all comers.

Only a week ago he won the World Championships road race in Kigali with an attack at 100km to go that saw off a host of the world's best riders. The European Championships field was very nearly as strong.

But you need only think back two seasons ago to recall a time when he was very much the underdog – certainly at the Tour de France – and many fans were starting to become deeply concerned that we might be looking at several years of Jonas Vingegaard dominance.

But how the tables have turned. And now it appears the malaise is setting in again – this time directed at Pogačar.

This became apparent at the weekend, with Pogačar suffering all manner of harassment as he rode through fans that crowded the Val d'Enfer climb.

According to a report in Dutch outlet Wielerflits, many fans put stickers on his back as he rode through, with others dropping their trousers or attempting to startle him by pretending to kick out.

Whether or not this is a one-off occurrence remains to be seen. But the smart money suggests that the longer Pogačar's dominance continues, the more frequent this kind of behaviour will become.

There is, of course, no excuse for it. You don't have to like the rider that dominates. Boo them if you like. But physical contact and overtly aggressive behaviour as they pass by inches away isn't on and is the sort of thing that could see climbs closed off for fans.

Expecting a rider to give up the victory simply because they won the week before (and yes, the week before that) is unrealistic given how hard every pro works all year to be able to put themselves in a position to do so.

As history shows though, once a rider has been dominant for long enough, it is also unrealistic to expect cycling fans to remain universally supportive of them.

The bike racing annals are littered with generational talents who suffered the slings and arrows of outrageous fandom. Every other decade has one. Jacques Anquetil – inaugurator of the five-time Tour de France-winning 'Club Cinq' – snubbed by home fans in favour of eternal underdog Raymond Poulidor. Eddy Merckx, whose cannibalistic ways eventually led to a fan fatigue that hurt him deeply. Lance Armstrong and US Postal Service, who even when the doping was only a rumour, left huge swathes of cycling fans non-plussed by their machine-like dominance. And then Team Sky and Chris Froome, whose US Postal-like dominance quickly became old for non-British fans.

Pogačar has spent much of the past two seasons riding a wave of goodwill, a lot of which is down to his ability to mix a human charm and humour with seemingly inhuman feats of cycling brilliance.

But the calling card he brandishes with increasing regularity – the swashbuckling long-range solo attack – is apparently starting to leave some fans cold. After all, we can now be reasonably sure that when 'Pogi' gets a gap with 75km to go (or some other equally unlikely distance), that the race is over.

The first few times you see it, it's hard not to be impressed. But it feels inevitable that some fans will be turned off by the ensuing lack of any jeopardy.

Whether Pogačar is aloof to the disapproval of onlookers like Anquetil, who required only "respect not adoration", or sensitive like Eddy Merckx, has yet to be truly tested.

But if the Pogačar juggernaut keeps on rolling, that could soon change.

Juan Ayuso will ride for Lidl-Trek next year, signing a five-year contract with the team, after leaving his UAE Team Emirates-XRG contract early.

The Spanish rider, a two-time stage winner at this year's Vuelta a España, is considered one of the most promising general classification riders in the peloton. He won Tirreno-Adriatico this year, has won a stage of the Giro d'Italia, and also finished on the podium of his first Vuelta in 2022.

However, his contract with UAE, which ran until 2028, was terminated due to "differences in the vision of development plans and in the alignment with the team’s sporting philosophy".

Due to those differences, the 23-year-old will ride for Lidl-Trek next season, it was announced on Thursday morning, although he will race in UAE colours for the rest of the year.

"I’m really excited," Ayuso said in a press release. "Joining Lidl-Trek is the start of an important new chapter in my career, and I’m motivated to keep growing as a rider. Change always brings new energy and ambitions, so I can’t wait to get started.

"From the outside you can see the team has built a strong identity, with a lot of unity and ambition. The long-term project they’re putting together is something quite unique and special. It feels like a place where I can take the next step in my development, surrounded by riders and staff who share the same goals. I want to keep improving in the biggest races; the Team has the ambition to become the best team in the world, so I’m really looking forward to contributing to that success.

"I feel super grateful towards the team for giving me this opportunity and their confidence. I can’t wait to wear the Lidl-Trek jersey."

For their part, Lidl-Trek's Luca Guercilena, said: "Juan is one of the brightest young talents in cycling. He is already one of the best climbers and time trialists in the world, which makes for a very exciting package.

"At only 23 years old, he still has room to grow, and we are committed to giving him all the support he needs to reach his full potential. Bringing Juan on board is an important step in our long-term vision, and we are excited to see what we can achieve together in the years ahead."

Ayuso is set to race the elite men's road race at the UCI Road World Championships in Kigali, Rwanda, this weekend, before heading to the European Championships and then Il Lombardia.

If you've been following bike racing this season with any consistency, the chances are you have at some stage thought to yourself: 'This UAE Team Emirates-XRG lot, they're quite good, aren't they?'

Well, that has just become even more of an understatement than it was last week, because as of Brandon McNulty's overall victory at the Skoda Tour de Luxembourg on Sunday, UAE Team Emirates-XRG have now won more races in a single season than any other team, ever.

The tally, as it stands, is 86 victories, surpassing the 85 recorded by the Columbia-HTC team back in 2009.

You'd be forgiven if your knee-jerk response to this goes something along the lines of 'well, Tadej Pogačar... duh'. But that is not the reality. Of course, the Slovenian played a significant role, notching up 16 of the 86 wins – including of course his imperious fourth Tour de France victory in July.

Any team setting this record is likely going to have a star like Pogačar. Back in 2009 Columbia had Mark Cavendish, who with 23 took a far greater share of the wins than Pogačar has.

But no less than 20 UAE riders have crossed the line first this season, so far. That represents huge strength in depth that has turned UAE Team Emirates into a winning machine.

They began winning from the word go, with Jhonatan Narvaez taking a stage and GC at the Tour Down Under. Among the honours that followed were major Classics wins (Strade Bianche, Tour of Flanders and Liège-Bastogne-Liège, thanks to Pogačar), stage race GC victories (Juan Ayuso, Tirreno-Adriatico; Pogačar, Critérium du Daupine and Isaac Del Toro, Tour of Austria) and of course the Tour de France. The list is very, very long.

Impressive, of course, but not everyone is convinced this is a good thing. My colleague Adam Becket wrote a piece earlier this month questioning whether we ought not introduce a budget cap for teams, after UAE won a third of the stages in the Vuelta a España.

And with UAE Team Emirates still to take part in the Il Lombardia and the Tour of Guangxi WorldTour races, as well as the Trofeo Tessile & Moda and the Coppa Agostoni .1 events – all next month – this number could rise further.

Unsurprisingly, the achievement was not lost on the team and its riders, with McNulty quoted on the team's website as saying: "It's very special to be part of the team to break the record and even more special to be the one to do it."

Team CEO and principal Mauro Gianetti added: “Reaching 86 victories in one season is an extraordinary milestone, and it reflects the incredible commitment and unity of everyone in this organisation – from our leaders in the UAE to our riders, staff, sponsors, and supporters.

"This record is not just about numbers, but about the consistency, the sacrifices, and the belief that have carried us through every race. I am immensely proud of what we have achieved together, and this moment will stand as a reference point in the history of our team and of cycling. We will enjoy it, but also remain motivated to keep pushing for more.”