“I think after all of these years and all of these victories, I start to realise that I am making something great. I enjoy that process and I hope I don't stop writing this book.”
At the launch of UAE Team Emirates-XRG’s 2026 season in Benidorm, Spain, Tadej Pogačar is his usual understated self, the champion rider – the greatest of all time? – still seemingly coming to terms with just how exceptional an athlete he is, even though his own legs have been telling him for the past seven years. Only now, he says, with four Tour de France titles, 10 Monuments, two World Championship gold medals and much more besides, is his greatness hitting home.
If the cycling world thinks we must have already reached Peak Pogačar – and, let’s be honest, there are many that hope for the sport’s competitiveness we have – then the Slovenian admits that might be the case. “I think I don’t need to improve much more, and if I keep the same level I will be more than happy,” the 27-year-old says. But what the chronicler of history, the artist who has fundamentally changed what a cycling spectacle looks like, is also saying is that he’s not done yet. Far from it.
“There is always some way to improve,” he tells a packed press conference, with media from across Europe having descended to eastern Spain. “Is it performance-wise or mental or physical? Is it a way of living? I think you can always improve. Maybe, we don’t know, but my power could be even better.” That’s a shuddering thought. Even better. This is the man who rode 6.98 watts per kilogram for 40 minutes on a HC climb at the Tour de France in 2024. If that doesn't mean much to you, the phrase ‘greatest climbing performance of all time’ will. And he’s suggesting he could get better. “There’s still other things you can work on, things that maybe you lack, so you focus on that,” he goes on. This is a man in constant pursuit of eternal greatness.
On top of the world: Pogačar celebrated his latest Tour triumph this July. Image: Zac Williams/SWPix.com
The biggest threat to his longevity is mental. During the 2025 Tour de France, in particular the final week, he moaned regularly about tiredness and fatigue, and suggested that he wasn’t immune to burnout. His tone didn’t really improve in the coming months. Here, fresh from an off-season that he termed “too short”, he addressed the question of what it’s like being a superstar who transcends the sport.
“I will not deny that it was easy to arrive at the top, and it’s not easy to stay on the top,” he says. “We work really hard for that. Obviously you get tired in the season as well. There is a lot of tension, a lot of media, and a lot of sponsor obligations.” Last winter, he changed his white rainbow jersey to a black one so that he was less easily spotted during training rides by fans, with accounts of some overly-enthusiastic supporters putting him and his team in danger as they sought to ride with him for a brief second. It’s a tough line between giving adoring fans a smidgen of his time, and requesting privacy.
“Sometimes one guy recognises you and you cannot be the normal Tadej anymore,” he accepts. As if to illustrate that very point, moments after Pogačar leaves the hotel’s function room, there is a small gathering of supporters in the lobby who have heard that the Slovenian is around. They all scramble for photos with him. Only some are lucky. He’s in-demand 365 days of the year. “I would say it’s tough but it’s not too bad,” he says of the attention. “I try to enjoy these moments in the last few years that I have been blessed to be on top, and try to make the most of it, for my life and for the people around me. It’s all worth it I think.”
Smiling, relaxed, but on sponsor duties at the UCI E-Sports World Championships in Abu Dhabi this autumn. Image: Alex Whitehead/SWPix.com.
Rarely-spoken about, one of the key pillars of Pogačar’s success has been his ability to stave off injuries and illnesses. He’s had crashes – quite a few in 2025, in fact – and had the sniffles at various points, but he’s never had a long-term injury like his closest competitors Jonas Vingegaard, Remco Evenepoel and Mathieu van der Poel have. Is that down to injury-prevention work he does, or simply a case of him being blessed by the cycling gods?
“First, knock on wood,” he laughs, tapping his head. “Every day we risk our lives in the traffic, during training, in races, and it’s getting really dangerous all of the time. But I think for sure sometimes I say to myself, ‘Oh, I was really lucky there’ or, ‘Someone was watching over me’. When there is a close call of something, I realise that the first thing is to be careful and to take care of yourself and others around you. Sometimes we push ourselves too much. When there’s a close call you think maybe it's better not to be so obsessed and crazy with training and in races and to take it a little easier and to stay safe. Not every time you will be lucky.”
The 2026 season will follow a similar pattern to the one before: the spring will be dominated by the Classics – Milano-Sanremo and Paris-Roubaix remain the standout goals – and the Tour de France will take centre-stage in the summer. A record-equalling fifth yellow jersey is on the line, and if the aforementioned Vingegaard goes to the Giro d’Italia as expected, Pogačar’s path to yet another Tour title could be made substantially easier. “I and everybody else always says that when you’re an athlete doing sport, you want to fight the best at their best level in their best shape without bad luck or whatever,” Pogačar says. “It confirms the victory more if everyone is there 100%. He [Vingegaard] can choose what he wants, but I will not call him and say to him, ‘Hey Jonas, you need to go to the Tour’. It’s not up to me.”
What about Pogačar himself going back to the Giro two years after he won it by almost 10 minutes? “I cannot guarantee anything,” he smiles. “With my experience and my mind, I can decide some things and in a second my calendar collapses. Even La Vuelta, anything is open until they close the sign on the season.” Even La Vuelta a España. It’s the only Grand Tour he’s yet to win, but he appears to be in no hurry to return to the Spanish Grand Tour anytime soon. Or maybe, like in early 2025 when he added Roubaix to his calendar late in the day, he’ll do the same with the Vuelta next summer.
The more likely scenario is that once he’s won six Tour titles and claimed the full set of five Monuments, then he’ll target Vuelta red. Then again, maybe not. He’s Tadej Pogačar – he’s writing his own script. “I now know what I do all year: I pace myself through all of these races and I know when to rest and not do too much,” he says. “It works well for me. With the team we have found a really good balance that works for me.” The bet everyone’s placing is that it’ll continue for a few more years at least.
