{"id":602073,"date":"2025-11-29T21:35:22","date_gmt":"2025-11-29T21:35:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/602073\/"},"modified":"2025-11-29T21:35:22","modified_gmt":"2025-11-29T21:35:22","slug":"bold-proposal-by-tadej-pogacar-gets-backing-from-riders-union-within-24-hours","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/602073\/","title":{"rendered":"Bold proposal by Tadej Poga\u010dar gets backing from riders\u2019 union within 24 hours"},"content":{"rendered":"

Tadej Poga\u010dar has already received backing \u2014 within 24 hours \u2014 for a bold proposal: the world champion suggested in an interview with AS<\/a> swapping the places of the Giro d’Italia and Vuelta a Espa\u00f1a in the calendar, and CPA-director Adam Hansen<\/a> responded almost immediately.<\/p>\n

While currently staying on Gran Canaria, Poga\u010dar floated an idea that had been discussed before \u2014 but underlined that such a change would help not only him, but many other riders as well. After all, he has never won the Vuelta, and has only raced it once. In 2019 he finished third overall, won three stages and took the white jersey for best young rider.<\/p>\n

He has already won the Tour de France four times (most recently this past summer<\/a>), and last year he made a dominant debut in the Giro. That leaves only the Vuelta missing from the Grand Tour set. \u201cI always say that if they swapped the Giro d\u2019Italia and the Vuelta, it would be much better,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

In his proposal, Poga\u010dar stressed the weather differences: in Spain in May the conditions tend to be more stable (less rain), while in late summer Italy would likely offer milder temperatures rather than the heat typical for Spain in August or September.<\/p>\n

He argues that more riders might choose the Vuelta \u2014 especially if a spring Grand Tour is better-aligned with a build-up that includes the Tour de France and the World Championships later in the season.<\/p>\n

Continue reading below the photo!<\/p>\n

\"tadej-pogacar\"\/Poga\u010dar knows it will be tough to improve on last season<\/p>\n

The statements suggest that Poga\u010dar might again skip the Vuelta in 2026 \u2014 although his camp always leaves the door open. In 2025 he had aimed for a Tour\u2013Vuelta double, but was so exhausted after the Tour de France that he took a rest period. With what appears to be one of the toughest Tours ever coming in 2026, the Vuelta may have to wait another season.<\/p>\n

Poga\u010dar has previously said that in the spring he wants to try to target major classics such as Milan\u2013San Remo and Paris\u2013Roubaix \u2014 as he did in 2025. He knows he\u2019ll have to be at his absolute best, with rivals like Mathieu van der Poel and Wout van Aert likely present, and possibly also Remco Evenepoel in La Primavera. \u201cHe\u2019s a rival to keep an eye on and with a chance to win.\u201d<\/p>\n

Milan\u2013San Remo, Paris\u2013Roubaix and the Vuelta remain unchecked boxes \u2014 but according to Poga\u010dar, he doesn\u2019t feel forced to focus only on those three races in the coming years. He\u2019s willing to skip them if it benefits his long-term season results. \u201cIf you have seasons like last year, it\u2019s difficult to come back next year and do even better.\u201d<\/p>\n

Continue reading below the photo!<\/p>\n

\"tadej-pogacar\"\/Hansen wants to help Poga\u010dar push for alternate date for VueltaIn response to the surprising proposal to reverse Giro and Vuelta, the riders\u2019 union responded surprisingly quickly. CPA-director Adam Hansen wrote on his official channels<\/a>: \u201cI was laughed at when I proposed this, by people who have never ridden the Giro in freezing rain and snow, or the Vuelta in scorching heat.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThe tradition is holding the sport back,\u201d Hansen wrote, but added he would gladly follow up on Poga\u010dar\u2019s remarks. In a longer post he noted: \u201cI can say first-hand that organisers sometimes come to complain when stages are cancelled because of snow or heat \u2014 so reversing the races could be a solution.\u201d<\/p>\n

Poga\u010dar also argued that the rest of the calendar needs to be considered \u2014 especially now that climate change leads to warmer, longer summers and winters that often stretch well into March. \u201cIt\u2019s not crazy to let the calendar change along with the weather. If you start the season two weeks later, for example, Spanish races early in the calendar could benefit from less rain too.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Tadej Poga\u010dar has already received backing \u2014 within 24 hours \u2014 for a bold proposal: the world champion…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":602074,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4104],"tags":[188804,4230,79,16152,181698,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-602073","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-cycling","8":"tag-adam-hansen","9":"tag-cycling","10":"tag-sports","11":"tag-tadej-pogacar","12":"tag-uae-team-emirates-xrg","13":"tag-uk","14":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/115635141182135769","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/602073","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=602073"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/602073\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/602074"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=602073"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=602073"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=602073"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}