Tadej Pogačar: I never thought about skipping the Tour de France

Slovenian stresses the importance of changing his racing calendar in order to try new challenges, as he explains his reasons for riding the Giro d'Italia and Tour in 2024

20:45, Monday 18th December 2023

George Poole

Junior Writer

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Tadej Pogačar has often left Italy with a smile on his face in recent years, which makes his Giro d'Italia participation a tad less surprising

Less than 24 hours after confirming he would race the Giro d'Italia in 2024, Tadej Pogačar sits in front of a group of journalists at UAE Team Emirates' winter training camp in Altea, Spain.

Sports manager Matxin Fernandez has already revealed that Pogačar will still ride the Tour de France in 2024, but his Giro attendance raises the question: Did the two-time champion ever consider skipping the Tour?

"I never actually thought about [skipping the Tour], because I know how important the Tour is for the team and me."

With that question put to bed, Pogačar explains that without the Tour de France to aim for after his debut in the Giro next May, his preparation for goals later in the season would suffer.

"I think if you just do the Giro, you have basically the end of the season [left to target] and it’s hard to prepare for the races at the end of the season without any racing in the summer. So I think there was never really [any] thought about this.”

Whether it be Geraint Thomas (Ineos Grenadiers), possibly eyeing another crack at the Giro in May, Jonas Vingegaard (Visma-Lease a Bike), pondering the challengers to his Tour de France defence, or your everyday cycling fan on social media, Pogačar's announcement on Sunday will have taken everybody by surprise. There had been plenty of fantasising over a debut Giro d'Italia appearance for the Slovenian, but few expected it to come in tandem with another attempt to reclaim his Tour title.

Pogačar has not won the Tour de France since 2021, but his chance at revenge over the Dane this season was arguably compromised by a broken wrist in the spring - which hampered his preparation for July and led to an inconsistent, but spirited, performance to finish second.

Heading into 2024, Pogačar is ready for a fresh challenge and a crack at the Giro-Tour double is his desire.

"I am now not so young anymore and I think I can do two Grand Tours. I could probably do it before but now is a nice time to do a new challenge in my career."

UAE Team Emirates supported the decision to ride the Giro

A debut in the Giro d'Italia for Pogačar was doubted not simply due to the rider's own ambitions for the Tour de France, but also those of his team. As is the case for all teams in professional cycling, the Tour is the biggest race of the season for UAE Team Emirates, and without a victory since 2021, the team are, needless to say, desperate to regain their title.

UAE Team Emirates placed Tadej Pogačar and Adam Yates on the Tour de France podium this year, but would love to reclaim the top step in 2024

In turn, there was an expectation that the Emirati squad may deny any notion of Pogačar tilting his focus away from the Tour in the months leading up to July. But Pogačar is quick to explain that the idea to ride the Giro was as much welcomed by the team as it was by the rider himself.

“I could feel the team would also want me to try something else, not to repeat every year the same… and to try new challenges. Because if you do every year the same story then I think for my body it would not be good, I think also in the team they saw this and when I proposed this to them, they immediately said ‘Yes, let’s prepare for this.’”

A fresh programme for the first time in years will certainly provide new motivation for the Slovenian in 2024, but the Giro d'Italia is more than a new challenge for Pogačar - it is a lifelong romance.

Pogačar fulfils a childhood dream in riding the Giro d'Italia

Hailing from Komenda in central Slovenia, Pogačar's home is little more than an hour's drive from the Italian border and the 25-year-old reveals that trips to the Giro d'Italia as a youngster left a lasting impression as he made his way into professional cycling.

“I always wanted to do the Giro," he says. "It is one of my favourite races because it is close to Slovenia and as a kid, we really loved to go to stages of the Giro. I had one of the nicest memories from the Giro when Luka Mezgec won a stage in Trieste and I was there. It was an unforgettable moment, so it was always a dream.”

Mezgec's stage victory in 2014 was a first for Slovenia in the Giro d'Italia, but since the rider earned himself some national history, the country has taken eight further stage wins through Jan Polanc, Matej Mohorič, Jan Tratnik and of course, Primož Roglič.

Luka Mezgec rides for Jayco AlUla these days, but proved a hero for young Tadej Pogačar back in his formative years

Lining up at the Giro d'Italia ten years on from Mezgec's only Grand Tour stage win to date, Pogačar will carry the hopes of Slovenia on his back, and will no doubt attract thousands of his compatriots to the roadside. It is a new race for the three-time Il Lombardia winner, but not one he is daunted by. Rather, the opposite.

"So far my shape was always better in the spring," he is quick to note. "I perform better in the colder weather."

'I can do all three Grand Tours' says Pogačar, as he dreams big for the Tour de France

Opening up the possibility of becoming the first male rider since Marco Pantani in 1998 to win both the Giro and Tour in the same season, Pogačar is at first hesitant to burden himself with too much expectation - "Let's not think about the double, let's just go to enjoy racing" - but behind his happy-go-lucky exterior lies a rider confident that he can fight for victory once more at the Tour next season.

“I would not say only the yellow jersey in Nice, but to fight again for the top spot, to be there and to give a good fight," answers Pogačar when quizzed by GCN on what success might look like for him in 2024.

“I think I know myself pretty much now that if nothing goes wrong in my head, I can do even all three Grand Tours if I want. But to race 100 percent mentally focused is a little bit different, and you don’t know until you try. I think it is a good year to try to give 100 percent in Giro and percent in the Tour."

UAE Team Emirates' squad for the 2024 Tour de France: Tadej Pogačar, Adam Yates, Pavel Sivakov, Juan Ayuso, João Almeida, Marc Soler, Tim Wellens, Nils Politt

Looking ahead to 2024 and the not-so-small matter of ending Vingegaard's reign of dominance, the two-time winner may well have to discover how his body reacts to back-to-back Grand Tours, but one thing is for certain: he can count on the support of a star-studded list of teammates.

"I think after the Giro is still solid time to recover and with not so busy schedule before the Giro. It is a bit different preparation than classic preparation for the Tour, but I think it can be solid.

"The Tour is still far away and a lot of things can happen, but one thing is for sure: we have a strong team either way we put it."

With Pavel Sivakov, Adam Yates, Juan Ayuso, João Almeida, Marc Soler, Nils Politt and Tim Wellens by his side, one could argue that UAE Team Emirates' provisional squad for July may well be one of the strongest teams to have ever assembled at the Tour de France. But first, the small matter of winning the Giro for Tadej Pogačar.