Tadej Pogačar, one of the best athletes of 2025, chosen as "Champion of Champions" by French newspaper L'Équipe after he won Tour de France, three Monuments (Tour of Flanders, Giro di Lombardia and Liege-Bastogne-Liege) and the UCI Road World Championships in Kigali, has priorities set for 2026. There are few major races he has not yet won, one of those is La Vuelta a España, which he only raced in 2019 (his first Grand Tour).
However, Pogačar is not thinking in La Vuelta as one of his targets for 2026. Instead, it remains more likely that he will continue to focus on Tour de France, winning it a fifth time, that would put him in par with Jacques Anquetil (France), Eddy Merckx (Belgium), Bernard Hinault (France), and Miguel Induráin (Spain) as the cyclist with more Tours.
But, if he could only win one race next year, Pogačar would not choose Tour de France. "I have won the Tour de France four times. I think there is a bigger difference between zero and one than four and five".
The Slovenian is talking about Paris-Roubaix, one of the five Monuments of cycling, which he has not yet won: he was second last year, finishing behind Mathieu van der Poel, who has dominated the race for the last three years: "I think I would choose the Roubaix", he admitted last month (via TNT Sports).
However, Pogacar admitted that "if it would come to choosing, if I could start one and the other or the Roubaix was at the same time as the Tour, I think it would come down to a decision from the team as to which one I do. I don't see another way where I would compromise one or the other."
Paris Roubaix will take place on April 12, 2026, one week after another monument, Tour of Flanders, and three after Milan - San Remo, the other of the five Monuments Tadej Pogačar has not conquered yet...