ANALYSIS | Tadej Pogacar tuns 27: What does he still have to accomplish?

September 21, 2025, carries double meaning for Tadej Pogacar. The Slovenian celebrates his 27th birthday today, while at the same time preparing to race the world championships time trial in Rwanda. It is a jersey that has so far eluded him, which is rare considering just how much he has won in his career so far. The day is a reminder of both his remarkable career to date and the few remaining prizes still within reach. But can he take another step towards completing cycling today?

Pogacar has built one of the most complete records modern cycling has seen. With UAE Team Emirates – XRG, he has already secured four victories at the Tour de France, amassing 21 stage wins, four white jerseys, and three mountains classifications along the way. In 2024 he expanded his grand tour success to the Giro d’Italia, where he added the mountains classification and six stage victories to the pink jersey. His first breakthrough on the grand tour stage came back in 2019, when he reached the podium at the Vuelta a España, taking the white jersey and three stages. Those results, alongside countless other wins, underline that he is undoubtedly the greatest GC racer of his generation.

But what makes Pogacar so special is that he isn’t just a GC racer. No, he can race at the top of the classics too.

He has twice conquered the Tour of Flanders, won Liège-Bastogne-Liège three times, and claimed Il Lombardia on four occasions. Strade Bianche, a race that suits his aggressive, attacking style, has also fallen to him three times. Add to that the fact he is the reigning world champion in the road race, with every chance of defending the title in Rwanda next week, and it becomes clear why he has held the number one UCI ranking since 2021.

Pogacar’s list of unclaimed prizes will be the key races he will target in the years to come. The Vuelta a España overall title continues to escape him, though many believe it is only a matter of deciding to compete at the race before he adds it to his collection. Milano-Sanremo has seen him come close on several occasions, including podium finishes, and the Slovenian has said it is the race he wants to win the most.

Paris–Roubaix, the “Hell of the North,” is another glaring absence, though his debut this year almost ended in victory as he finished second after crashing in the closing kilometres. And then there is the world championship time trial, the very race he faces today in Kigali, where he must overcome Remco Evenepoel, the two-time defending champion, if he is to wear the rainbow stripes in both disciplines.

Pogacar’s career has also been defined by two legendary, and entirely different, rivalries. In grand tours, his ongoing battles with Jonas Vingegaard has been as good as any GC rivalry, producing duels that have already become part of cycling’s modern history. In the classics, Mathieu van der Poel has often been the obstacle standing between him and victory. Their head-to-head contests, whether on the cobbles of Flanders, the velodrome of Roubaix, or the finishing straight of Sanremo, have elevated both riders and set new standards for what the best must achieve to win.

At 27, Pogacar is already more decorated than the vast majority of riders manage in an entire career. Yet his remaining goals offer fresh motivation. The Vuelta seems inevitable once he targets it with full focus. Milan–Sanremo requires patience and the perfect blend of positioning and luck, while Paris–Roubaix, though brutal, already looks within his grasp after his near miss. The time trial rainbow jersey, however, would be the perfect gift on his birthday, cementing his place not just as the world’s best climber and classics rider, but also as the most complete time trialist.