"I also don’t see myself going on for much longer" - Tadej Pogacar believes 2028 will be the year where he may start considering retirement

Finally, Tadej Pogacar can have a sigh of relief and give a genuine smile after conquering his fourth Tour de France edition. After 2020, 2021 and 2024, the Slovenian now won the 2025 edition. He can still win a lot in the sport and has talked about his emotions following another yellow jersey being added to his palmarès, as well as thoughts on potentially retiring from the sport in the coming years.

Pogacar won four stages, the overall and mountains classification, but today he was going after even more success. "In the end I found myself in front even though I didn't really have the energy to motivate myself to race today. I was happy they neutralized the times in GC so it was more relaxed to race and you just had to have good legs to be in front," the yellow jersey said in a post-race interivew. "I found myself in front, tried to race, but yeah hats off to Wout he was incredibly strong and it was a really nice race today".

He was dropped by Wout van Aert and couldn't win the stage, crossing the line in fourth place, but that didn't affect his modd in the end. He gets to climb the podium of the Tour in the top step for a fourth time, and second consecutive. "Speechless to win four Tours de France, six times consecutive on the podium, this one feels specially amazing and I'm super proud that I can wear this yellow jersey".

Asked when the race was won, he points out a few key moments: "I think it all started with how we started to ride with the team, we had great atmosphere, great team, great spirit. We went fighting from day one and then after stage 5 and Mur-de-Bretagne I knew I had good legs to compete for the victory and we just kept on fighting. In the second week it was the decisive moment, where we took more advantage and we went more comfortably into the third week".

On the mythical rivalry with Jonas Vingegaard, in which both riders have finished first and second for the fifth year in a row at the Grand Boucle, Pogacar described: "We just talked in the afternoon after we started the race, we talked in the neutral a bit how much it's changed in the last five years of us racing against each other. We raised the level of one another, we push ourselves to the limit and try to beat each other and I must say that battling against Jonas was a tough experience but must say to him respect and a big congratulations for his fight and incredible race".

A fatigued Pogacar can now celebrate and finally go on some much deserved vacation after achieving the biggest win he could at the Tour de France. "Now is time to celebrate, everybody thinks different how to celebrate, I want to celebrate with peace this week and have nice weather, not like here now and just to enjoy some quiet days at home," he finished with a smile".

In an interview to L'Équipe, the Slovenian was asked about retirement. The question comes in the line of thought that has developed over the past few days with Pogacar showing a few negative emotions and even boredom, 'counting kilometers until Paris' and overall not being the usual bright character in interviews and podium celebrations. "I don’t think I’ll stop right away, but I also don’t see myself going on for much longer. The Los Angeles Olympics (in 2028, ed.) are one of my goals, which are three years from now. After that, I might start thinking about retirement — we’ll see".