Rafał Majka suggests Tadej Pogačar could ride all three Grand Tours in 2024

UAE Team Emirates super-domestique is excited by Bora-Hansgrohe's addition of Primož Roglič, as he relishes the GC battles to come

11:59, Sunday 15th October 2023

Pete Trifunovic

Digital Content Creator

Share

Rafał Majka helped UAE Team Emirates teammate Marc Hirschi to fifth place at the Giro del Veneto

UAE Team Emirates’ Rafał Majka is anticipating an even more entertaining battle for the Grand Tours in 2024 and has hinted that teammate Tadej Pogačar may follow Sepp Kuss' (Jumbo-Visma) calendar lead.

The 34-year-old also believes that Bora-Hansgrohe’s capture of Primož Roglič will only help to make the general classification battle at three-week races even better.

Read more:

UAE Team Emirates and Jumbo-Visma asserted themselves as the top two GC teams this season, with Ineos Grenadiers falling by the wayside in the second half of the campaign.

Speaking to GCN at the start of the Veneto Classic, Majka’s final race of the season, the former Bora-Hansgrohe man predicted his old team to be contending with the big two next year.

“Since Roglič has changed teams, it’s one more team and [it’s] even better. It’s not only UAE and Jumbo-Visma but also Bora now maybe. It’s pretty interesting to race with these guys.”

For Majka and UAE Team Emirates though, the plan doesn’t change. After a bruising Tour de France campaign in which Pogačar finished 7:29 behind Jonas Vingegaard, the goal is clear.

“It would be nice if we could’ve won the [one of the] Grand Tours but next season we will change that.”

Asked if this year’s disappointment would be used as motivation, he responded: “It’s cycling, we know it’s hard to win. Next year, we try to win a Grand Tour.”

Tadej Pogačar to the Giro d'Italia? Or maybe all three Grand Tours?

Which Grand Tour Pogačar, likely supported by Majka, will try to win remains unclear though. The 2024 Giro d’Italia route was revealed to the world on Friday and the time-trial-heavy course could suit the Slovenian ahead of a potential Olympics road race bid.

He was unable to reveal much about his team leader’s plan, admitting that next season’s programme will be ironed out at their December training camp.

“I don’t know, you need to ask Tadej. Maybe he’ll want to do all three Grand Tours,” he remarked when quizzed on the topic.

However, Majka, who is just missing a Giro d’Italia stage from his palmarès to complete a Grand Tour stage win hat-trick, did acknowledge that the Giro could be a suitable target.

“I’ve not looked at it but somebody says it’s actually pretty nice with a lot of time trials. Of course, I think there’s six or seven really hard stages, it should be nice.”