"He could win the climbers jersey, the points jersey... he could win the whole lot" - Tadej Pogacar set for Giro d'Italia domination predicts Christian Vande Velde
Cycling
With Tadej Pogacar starting his Giro d'Italia debut tomorrow, the UAE Team Emirates leader is widely expected to claim the Maglia Rosa and according to ex-pro turned NBC analyst, Christian Vande Velde, Pogacar could completely dominate.
"Look, there's a good possibility he could win like eight stages," the 47-year-old American, who rode the Giro d'Italia six times during his own career, previews via the 'Beyond the Podium' podcast for NBC Sports Cycling. "There's a very high probability! He could win the climbers jersey, the points jersey... he could win the whole lot! It's going to be fun to watch."
Pogacar himself contested such claims of dominance in his pre-race press conference, calling out analysts for their disrespectful comments in regards to the rest of the riders in the race. “That's shit, and not nice. It is not respectful to the other riders. It's not all just about me and UAE Emirates," slammed the Slovenian.
Nevertheless, Vande Velde insists the race is all about Pogacar. "It's not as hard of a race. I believe I read there is 11,000 less metres of climbing than last year," he assesses, something that could actually help Pogacar in his quest for a Giro d'Italia/Tour de France. "A lot easier on the body as well."
Kieran WoodDeputy Editor-in-Chief
Kieran Wood is a sports journalist based in Wales and has been active in journalism since 2022. He regularly contributes to DartsNews.com and CyclingUpToDate.com, where he covers professional cycling and darts. In cycling, his work includes liveblogs from major races, including the Tour de France, the Giro d’Italia, and La Vuelta a España, alongside race reports and analysis. He has also conducted interviews with professional riders.
His reporting spans the full racing calendar, from one-day classics to stage races, with a focus on accurate, real-time coverage and clear contextual analysis. For statistics, results, and historical context, he regularly uses resources such as ProCyclingStats. To support reporting on rider activity and training context where relevant, he also references Strava.
In his work, Kieran places strong emphasis on careful sourcing, editorial accuracy, and updating articles as new, verified information becomes available.
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- Who’s gifting grand tours at UAE? Defo not Pogi! Stage wins maybe.Lozza13-11-2026
- Sepp Kuss Vuelta 2023.Lozza13-11-2026
- they have no expertise with classics, they have no leaders in classics. the classics is dominated by the few Fuori Classe riders where other riders are left with scraps. the Hiring , the salaries dont make sense at all. Same problem as Man Utd. over paid players, egos, very little performanceabstractengineer13-11-2026
- Contract year means you gotta win, at least collect UCI points, helping be damnedabstractengineer13-11-2026
- Arensman is their best rider and he is paid very less in comparisonabstractengineer13-11-2026
- I'm not trying to argue with you but if you didn't see Del Toro struggling in the Tour I'll pay for some glasses for you lol. He struggled so much that Tadej missed winning stage 15, Tadej also dropped the pace along some stages to help Del Toro hold onto the podium. Now he may have been sick, that is a possibility, but he definitely struggled. You have a nice weekend as well brother.awp13-11-2026
- Im not copmaring him to jonas palmares...but current level of power and again like you even pointed out 19sec difference and on other ocassions del toro dropping him. Its evidently their close and based on both their different trajectory its self explanatory...where we are next year.And Del Toro didnt struggle if getting a podium in his first TDF at 22 year old is struggling you sure dont know how to be objective haha. But have a good weekend this is so dumb to discuss as its not even a discussin in reality as facts speak for themselves of what were actually speaking of - and self explanatory.miguel13-11-2026
- fingers crossed. my son has a poster of wout and mathieu battling each other at the beach at ostend up in his room. would be great to see them again there!Ketterechts13-11-2026
- This Giro is very strange in it's circular route. If you were to have stage starting in Trieste and ending atop Monte Zoncolan (end stage 20) you'd get a stage only 145 km long
Rafionain-Glas13-11-2026 - When Thomas gets the bullet from INEOS he can get a job as a comedian.
Senna196013-11-2026
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"Look, there's a good possibility he could win like eight stages" #GirodItalia How many do you think Tadej Pogacar will win at the Giro d'Italia?
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