Christmas present from Tadej Pogacar: The Slovenian nukes Coll de Rates record!

Unlike regular humans, December is a very busy period for professional cyclists. While fans are shivering in cold and would rather not even go outside, our heroes train in the cold to arrive to the season in their very best shape. That's no different for Tadej Pogacar who is currently on a training camp in Spain with his UAE Team Emirates - XRG teammates and this afternoon, he set a new record on the mythical Coll de Rates.

On Friday, the Slovenian clocked a 220-kilometer training ride in the Costa Blanca. Accompanied by riders like Nils Politt, Pavel Sivakov, new American teammate Kevin Vermaerke and several others. Pogacar travelled at an average speed of nearly 37 kilometers per hour, taking just a touch above 6 hours to complete his session. But none of that was the impressive aspect of Pogacar's ride.

The Coll de Rates is a famous training climb near Calpe where amateur cyclists can compare themselves to pros. And at the top of the ranking stands Tadej Pogacar. At the end of 2024, he took the crown with a time of 12:21, beating INEOS talent Peter Oxenberg's time by 17 seconds.

But that wasn't enough for the Slovenian who returned to the 6.4-kilometer climb at 5.5% and pushed the new record under 12 minutes with a staggering time of 11:57, flying through the segment at 32.2 kph. It's a clear message to his challengers, mainly Jonas Vingegaard, that they won't have an easy time beating Pogacar again in 2026.

Most likely this was done with the aid of some of his teammates, as has been done before, but it certainly makes it no less impressive. The World Champion has recently talked about his schedule and goals for the upcoming season during his training camp in Benidorm, as did many of his teammates including Isaac del Toro and João Almeida.