Tadej Pogacar to defend Tour de France and world title with ambitious 2025 programme
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UAE Team's Slovenian cyclist Tadej Pogacar speaks to members of the media at the Grand Luxor hotel in Benidorm, on Dec 10.
PHOTO: AFP
BENIDORM – Tadej Pogacar insisted on Dec 10 he would not ease off after a record-breaking 2024, declaring that he was hungry for more success with a plethora of one-day classics and two Grand Tours on the 2025 menu.
The 26-year-old Slovenian dominated the 2024 season – winning two one-day monuments, the Italian Giro, the Tour de France and the world title on his way to 25 wins in total for the year. He was not selected for the Olympics owing to fatigue after his Tour victory.
He will get his 2025 season under way at the UAE Tour. He will race the Strade Bianche, Milan-San Remo, the E3 Grand Prix, Gent-Wevelgem and the Tour of Flanders before the Ardennes classics.
One race off the agenda is the Paris-Roubaix, suited to heftier riders due to its harsh old cobbled mining roads.
“I wanted to get back on the cobbles and I’ll do it again in the future. I’m saving Paris-Roubaix for later. But I love racing the classics,” he said in Benidorm, Spain, on Dec 10.
“After the Giro-Tour thing this season, I’d like to do the Tour-Vuelta, or even the Giro-Vuelta. But the Tour is the Tour, and it will still be my priority next year, along with the worlds.”
As well as the Tour de France, which will run from July 5 to 27, Pogacar will choose between the Giro and Vuelta once the routes have been revealed.
If he forgoes the Giro (May 9-June 1) in favour of the Vuelta (Aug 23-Sept 14), the Slovenian will take part in the Criterium du Dauphine (June 8-15) in preparation for the Tour de France.
“What’s certain is that he won’t be doing the three big Tours next year,” Team UAE sports manager Joxean Fernandez Matxin said.
Pogacar is also due to defend his title at the World Championships, which will be in Rwanda in September, on a very demanding course in Kigali.
“I’d like to race all three Tours one day, but there are 30 riders in the team you know, and I can’t race everything,” the rider said.
He should then end his season on Oct 11 at the Tour of Lombardy, the last Monument of the year, where he will be aiming for a fifth consecutive success.
“Last season was an exceptional year for me. I had a great time. Everything went super smoothly, I managed to be in great shape in every race,” added Pogacar who, at only 26, feels “still young” and believes he can “progress particularly on the small details”.
Last week, he was awarded the Velo d’Or in recognition of his Giro, Tour and world championship sweep. Picking up his second men’s rider of the year accolade after 2021, Pogacar said he was more appreciative the second time around.
“As the years pass, we realise the importance of things. I feel honoured that all the work has been recognised,” he said. “It will be almost impossible to have another year like this, but I will do my best.” AFP
