"I helped Tadej win the world champion’s jersey twice" – Unsung Pogacar ally from Slovenia’s golden era announces retirement

For more than a decade, he has been part of the engine room of modern Slovenian cycling. Not the rider on the posters, not the one lifting most of the trophies, but one of the men who helped make a golden generation function. Now, after fourteen seasons in the professional peloton, Luka Mezgec has confirmed that 2026 will be his final year as a rider.

The 37-year-old says he is approaching this season differently because he already sees it as the end.

“In my head, this is the last season, and that makes it easier to train. I’m even more motivated. When it’s hard, when it’s extremely hot or cold, I say to myself: ‘Hold on, this is the last time,’” he said in an interview with Slovenian broadcaster Siol.

That mindset also shapes where he wants to stop. Mezgec has made it clear that his farewell should happen at home, at the European Championships in Slovenia in early October. “My only condition about the programme was that I have no more races after the European Championships, so that I can finish my career at home. Yes, the European Championships in Slovenia will be my last race.”

Mezgec’s name may not dominate headlines, but his career tells the story of a rider who stayed relevant through adaptability. He became the first Slovenian to win a stage at the Giro d’Italia in 2014, a breakthrough moment both for him and for Slovenian cycling on the Grand Tour stage.

Since 2016, he has remained with the same organisation through all its identity changes, from Orica and Mitchelton-Scott to BikeExchange and now Team Jayco AlUla. That kind of continuity is rare in the modern peloton, and it mirrors the way Mezgec himself has ridden. Reliable, versatile and usually where he was supposed to be when the road flattened, and speed mattered.

Over the years, he has balanced chasing his own results with a key role as a lead-out and positioning rider, trusted in chaotic finales and valued for his experience in one-day races and sprint stages alike.

His role in the wider Slovenian story is something he clearly values. He does not see himself as a bystander to the Pogacar era, but as someone who helped shape it. “I’m very grateful that I race in the time when Pogi races, and that I can watch one of the greatest in history with my own eyes,” he said.

More than that, he points to moments where he was directly involved. “I’m also grateful and happy that I was there and helped him win the world champion’s jersey, and twice. Not everyone gets such an opportunity.”

That places Mezgec firmly inside what he calls the biggest rise Slovenian cycling has ever seen. “I consider myself lucky to have been among the protagonists of the biggest rise of Slovenian cycling. It doesn’t get better than that, even in sport in general.”

Retirement is not being forced on him by a lack of motivation. In fact, Mezgec says it is easier to push himself knowing the end is close. But he believes there is a right moment to stop. “I always say: you have to stop while you still enjoy it and before the sport starts to disgust you.”

He also sees the sport changing in ways that make very long careers harder to sustain. “Now, if you’re not at 100 per cent every day, 365 days a year, you immediately drop out of rhythm, and you’re no longer there. And that’s not a good feeling.” Looking at younger riders, he added, “If you have to be constantly at 100 per cent, the body and the head simply can’t cope.”

That perspective helps explain why fourteen seasons feels like enough.

Although he is stopping as a rider, Mezgec does not see this as a goodbye to cycling itself. He now talks openly about moving into a sporting director role, something he once dismissed. “When I signed my first contract in 2013, I said to myself: ‘What a miserable job to be a sports director. Always away, driving a car. That’s something I’ll never be.’ Well, here we are.”

He now believes his experience, especially in sprints and classics, can be useful in the team car. “I know where the race will break, where you have to be in a sprint, how the wind blows, what’s happening in the bunch. If you don’t experience that, you’ll never really know what’s going on, and you won’t be able to advise your riders properly.”

For now, though, the focus is on finishing well. Mezgec is not chasing a fairy-tale ending for himself. “Honestly, nothing special in terms of results. I’ve had a nice career and nice achievements. The only thing I don’t want is a crash or injury.”

If his final memory is not of his own sprint but of another Pogacar masterpiece, he seems perfectly comfortable with that. “For me, it will be completely enough if I’m there and if Pogi wins my last race.”