Slovenia's cycling superstar withdraws from Vuelta
Having just won the Tour de France for a fourth time, Tadej Pogačar will not appear in what would be his second Grand Tour this year, the Vuelta a Espana, despite earlier indications that he might. The Slovenian superstar is not on the UAE Emirates squad for the Vuelta, CE Report quotes The Slovenia Times.
The UAE Emirates squad at the Vuelta will be led by Portuguese rider Joao Almeida with Spaniard Juan Ayuso as a co-captain to increase the team's strategic chances during the three-week stage race, which starts in Italy's Turin on 23 August.
Pogačar, 26, raced the Vuelta in 2019 in his debut appearance at a Grand Tour, winning three stages and placing third overall. His compatriot Primož Roglič was the overall winner that time, a feat that he went on to repeat three more times.
The world's top-ranked rider, Pogačar has finished the world's biggest road cycling race, the Tour de France, on the podium for the sixth year in a row this year, labelling the race as the hardest so far. Apart from winning the title this year, he also won it in 2020, 2021 and 2024 and placed second in 2022 and 2023. He also won his debut Giro d'Italia last year.
"After such a demanding Tour, we decided it was best to take a break. The Vuelta is of course a race I would dearly love to return to. I have fantastic memories there from 2019, but now the body is telling me to rest," Pogačar was quoted as saying in a post on the UAE Emirates - XRG's website.
Next he will lead his team at the Grand Prix races in Canada's Quebec and Montreal in September.
"I'm excited to go back to Canada; the races are tough but beautiful, and they fit my style well. I'll be aiming to be back racing well again for that part of the season and for the World Championships especially," he said.
Apart from defending his rainbow jersey of the world champion in Rwanda later in September, Pogačar is also planning to race the Giro di Lombardia, the last of the five Monuments or most prestigious one-day races of the season, in early October.
