After perhaps the most brutal and difficult Tour de France of his illustrious career, Tadej Pogačar signed off from cycling for a few days with a repost to his Instagram story that captured the moment best: “The Champion has left the building.”
He plans to take a few days off, slow down and enjoy time at home in Montecarlo after spending four weeks in the spotlight, as the world observes and analyses everything he does and says.
His UAE Team Emirates-XRG team announced their plans for the Vuelta a España and their end-of-season calendar on Tuesday and confirmed that Pogačar would not ride the Vuelta after all. Juan Ayuso and João Almeida were named as co-leaders instead.
“After such a demanding Tour, we decided it was best to take a break,” Pogačar said.
Pogačar is expected to race the Canadian one-day races in Québec and Montréal in mid-September and then the World Championships in Rwanda and Il Lombardia. He will return the Tour in 2026 and target a record-equalling fifth victory, but also hinted he may not race on much longer than 2028 and the Los Angeles Olympics.
In an extensive interview with L’Equipe, conducted before the final stage of the Tour in Paris, Pogačar revealed his mindset for the immediate and long-term future. Returning to Paris-Roubaix stands out as an early goal for 2026, but eventual retirement is already on his mind.
“I’m really looking forward to the Critérium de Komenda, at home, on August 9, because it’s something different. I’m not really looking ahead because I’ve just finished the Tour,” Pogačar told L’Equipe.
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“I have goals left until the end of the season, but not many races left. Then I’m going to take a break, enjoy the rest period, and think about preparing for next season. I want to win Paris-Roubaix in particular. This year, for my first participation, I found this race crazy; my second place was already incredible. I want to come back.”
Only Jacques Anquetil, Eddy Merckx, Bernard Hinault and Miguel Indurain have won the Tour five times, but Pogačar insisted that legacy still isn’t at the forefront of his objectives.
“I’ve reached the point where I’ve proven to myself that I can achieve great results,” he said to L’Equipe, when asked if achieving a fifth maillot jaune served as extra motivation.
“Now I’m trying to focus on other things in my life while enjoying cycling. And if I break some historical records, that would be great, but that’s not my goal.”
“It’s not a goal to win five Tours, right now, I have no clear goals,” Pogačar reiterated when asked the question at his winner’s press conference on Sunday night in Paris.
“Maybe I’ll go for the Worlds this year, and Lombardy. But I don’t have any other clear goals. I just want to enjoy these moments, and then I’ll think about the rest quite soon.”
Talks of retirement and racing LA Olympics
Retirement, despite still only being 26, is already being talked about by Pogačar, with onlookers having noticed his fatigue, and some have suggested boredom, with the Tour in its latter stages.
Pogačar gave some hints as to when that day could come.
“I’m not planning too much, I still have a long contract [until 2030]. I don’t think I’ll stop right away, but I don’t see myself continuing for too long either,” said Pogačar.
“The [2028] Los Angeles Olympic Games are one of my goals, which takes me to three years from now. Then I might start thinking about retirement, we’ll see.
“But if I keep riding like this, with such a strong team and such a supportive entourage… I’m not too interested in my future. I try to enjoy the moment.”
However long he does indeed continue, what’s certain for the already all-time cycling great is that he is satisfied with what he’s done after seven dominant years at the highest level, and with the races he has won.
“I’m at a point in my career where I could finish tomorrow, and I’d be happy,” Pogačar said jokingly when fielding more questions about burnout, but he was serious about the challenges and expectations that come with the territory of leading a sport for so long.
“Seriously, burnout does happen in sport and in cycling, where there’s so much mental and physical training, it can happen a lot.
“Sometimes riders get a bit too obsessed with training, they do more and more and a lot of the time, you can see that from their levels of fatigue early in the season. The team needs you to race; you keep going into this kind of circle and never recover. Then in October, you get your break, and in December it happens. So burnout happens.”
His dominant reign won’t last forever, but for the moment, this remains the Pogačar era at the Tour de France and almost the entire calendar, with his clear superiority over close rival Jonas Vingegaard (Visma-Lease a Bike) and the rest suggesting it won’t be ending as long as he turns up.
The way he raced the final stage in Paris too, attacking the wet cobbled streets up to Montmartre and risking everything in the treacherous conditions, points to a Pogačar that will want to return, and light up the biggest bike race in the world.
He probably just needs a break.
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