Tadej Pogacar has decided against racing in next month's Vuelta a Espana saying that his body is telling him to take a rest after the exertions of winning a fourth Tour de France title.
The UAE Team Emirates-XRG rider sealed his latest Tour crown in Paris on Sunday after producing a dominant performance over three draining weeks on what was one of the toughest courses in recent memory.
Pogacar had suggested he might take part in La Vuelta, that starts in the Italian city of Turin on August 23, for only the second time in his career.
But after Sunday's 21st and final Tour stage on Sunday, the 26-year-old made a point of talking about the threat of burnout due to the relentless nature of cycling's calendar and obsession with training.
So it was not a huge surprise that when UAE Team Emirates announced their eight-man squad for La Vuelta on Tuesday, Pogacar was missing from the line-up.
The 26-year-old will instead be back in the saddle at the Grand Prix Cycliste de Quebec and Grand Prix Cycliste de Montreal in September, with one eye also on the World Championships that are being held in Rwanda later that month.
Pogacar's victory in the men’s elite road race at the 2024 World Championships in Zurich saw him become the first male rider since Irishman Stephen Roche in 1987 to win cycling's unofficial triple crown.
“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,” said Pogacar in a statement announcing the UAE Team Emirates Vuelta squad.
“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.”
UAE Team Emirates sports manager Matxin Fernandez added: “The idea this year was for Tadej to return to the Vuelta, but the season has been a long one for him. We spoke and agreed that the best thing for him now is to take a good rest and build up to his final season goals.”
Instead, Portuguese rider Joao Almeida will lead the team’s general classification ambitions for the season's final Grand Tour event won last year by Pogacar's countryman Primoz Roglic.
Almeida's tour was ended abruptly after a 12-rider downhill pile-up on Stage 7 that left him with a fractured rib as well as various cuts and scrapes.
Despite managing it through the following day's action, Almeida had to call it quits during Stage 9 as Pogacar lost the services of a key teammate ahead of the mountainous second half of the Tour.
But Almeida, who already has nine victories to his name this season, has declared himself for La Vuelta and will be joined in a co-leadership role by Spain's Juan Ayuso. Mikkel Bjerg, Felix Grossschartner, Domen Novak, Ivo Oliveira, Marc Soler, and Jay Vine complete the UAE Team squad.
“It’s a special feeling to start the Vuelta as team leader, especially with the form I’ve shown this season,” said Almeida, 26, ahead of the three week race.
“The recovery from the Tour crash has been smooth and my sensations in training have been good. We have a strong group around us, and I believe we can fight for something big.”
Ayuso returns to his home tour for a third time having finished third and fourth, respectively in 2022 and 2023. The 22-year-old will be hoping for better luck than in this year's Giro d'Italia when he was forced to drop out after being stung in the eye by a bee.
“The Vuelta is a very special race for me, my home race,” he said. “I’ve been training well, I’m feeling good, and I’m focused 100 per cent on doing a good race for the team.
“It’s always an honour to race on home roads, and I’ll give everything to make it count – whether it’s helping the team or going for a result myself. Spain always brings out something extra in me.”
