Two-time Tour de France winner Tadej Pogačar refutes rumours that he is set to break records: the Vuelta is a backup option!

Twenty-five-year-old Slovenian cyclist Tadej Pogačar has refuted rumours that his UAE Team Emirates team is pushing him to attempt a minor cycling miracle and win all three major events this year – the Giro d’Italia, Tour de France and Vuelta a Espaňa.

“There’s not a word of truth in that, I’m not going to try for any record,” Slovenian cyclist Tadej Pogačar, a two-time Tour de France winner and gold medallist in the 2020 Tokyo Olympic road race, told his team’s website.

“Everything is different,” Pogačar said, adding. Only if those two events don’t produce the necessary results would I consider participating in the Spanish Vuelta a España stage race with the team management. Moreover, the Slovenian cyclist has strong competition in the UAE Emirates squad, which can replace him in case of failure in one of the Giro or Tour de France stages.

Among the UAE Emirates fighters is, for example, Briton Adam Yates, who has already finished fourth overall in the Tour de France and won the Deutschland Tour. Moreover, he is an excellent climber and a pacesetter to boot. Simply the ideal fighter and “secret weapon” for the Tour de France.

Pogačar is a team rider

“If during the Giro or the Tour de France it was decided to ride another rider other than me to victory, like Adam Yates, I would not hesitate to become his first domestique. That’s clear, the interests of the team are above all for me. Someone from our stable must win,” Pogačar is clear.

But Adam Yates is certainly not the only rider who can win key races in this stable. The thirty-four-year-old Pole Rafael Majka, who previously raced with Peter Sagan at BORA – Hansgrohe, is a good fit for the mountains.

Twenty-five-year-old Portuguese rider João Pedro Gonçalves Almeida, who has already won a stage at the Giro d’Italia, could also be in contention for a Tour de France or Giro d’Italia victory. Another member of the team is also interesting – thirty-two-year-old Belgian Tim Wellens, who has won two stages in the Tour de France and two stages in the Vuelta.

Meanwhile, the UAE Emirates team has two other very capable cyclists in the mix – twenty-five-year-old Swiss Marc Hisi, who has won two fairly well-contested stage races, including the Tour de Luxembourg, and the great twenty-nine-year-old talent from Cologne, Germany, Nils Polito.

But one thing is clear, the UAE Team Emirates stable is definitely not pushing Pogačar to win all three of the big stage races. On the contrary, they are pushing for him to win the French Tour and the Giro d’Italia. The Vuelta is actually a backup option if the first two big events don’t work out.

Source: Cyclingnews, UAE Team Emirates