"It was a more personal decision of him" - Slovenia national team coach claims Pogacar European Championships decision was personal
Cycling
Slovenia's national team coach has confirmed Tadej Pogacar's push to ride the European Championships, and that it was ultimately a personal decision by the five-time Tour de France winner to not ride the race as he continues his recovery from injuries after a heavy crash at the Vuelta a Espana.
With the UAE Team Emirates - XRG calling time on his season after a broken collarbone, broken vertebrae and concussion, a swift recovery after surgery grew into speculation that Pogacar could return for his home championships - a race he had long targeted before his crash.
Reports even confirmed that the 28-year-old pushed hard for approval to ride the race, returning to outdoor training last week and requesting medical clearance from the doctor who performed his surgery.
Ultimately, UAE pulled the plug on Pogacar's bid for a sensational return. But according to his national team, the propsect was very real over the past week.
"Yeah, we all know that today he had a real desire to raise this race, but unfortunately he cannot," Uroš Murn told CyclingProNet at the start.
Pogacar's personal decision
"Yes, it was [Pogacar's possibility of returning from injury, Ed.]. I think it was the right decision for him. Even if we missed him here in the team, but I think he made the right decision."
Wide-ranging reports indicate that UAE did not allow Pogacar to ride, pointing to the dangers of interrupting his recovery with long-term goals in mind. However, when asked, Murn claimed that it became more of a personal decision for the two-time world champion.
Murn confirmed: "I think it was a more personal decision of him."
The show goes on for Slovenia despite the absence of their star man. Filling his boots is Primoz Roglic, who rode extremely well in Montreal at the front-end of racing. He carries that form into a home championships. However, keeping his cards close to his chest, Murn confirmed there are other options there for the team - including Vuelta breakthrough Jakob Omrzel.
Slovenia have Roglic and other options
"You know, it's really an honour to be here, like the Slovenian national team, to race European Championships in your own country, and we are really proud of that.
"I think we have a really good team here. We know that Primož is in really good shape, and we will hope for our best, but we will see. We have also other cards, but I will prefer not to tell you, because all the news are right away in other teams."
With five ascents of the circuit's tough climb - averaging over ten percent for two kilometres - he thinks the race will be won in or around that. He expects Belgium to control the race for favourite Remco Evenepoel.
"We are expecting that these five-time climbs will be the decision-makers, so we are focused there, and also after the climb, which is an important sector of the race.
"I think, of course, they [Belgium, Ed.] are the main favourite, I think they will control the race, and we will adapt to that."
Gavin QuinnCycling Journalist
Gavin Quinn is a cycling journalist and ultra-distance cyclist with a BA in Journalism from Dublin City University. Formerly the Press & Communications Officer for Cycling Ireland, Gavin has worked inside the national team at the World Championships and has reported for the Irish Mirror, Mirror UK, and The42.
His expertise is backed by elite-level access, having interviewed stars like Sam Bennett and Ben Healy, as well as immense personal endurance. In 2025, he completed a 12,000km solo cycle from Ireland to Vietnam, following a 4,600km tour across Europe. From the cobbles of Paris-Roubaix to the gradients of the Tourmalet, Gavin’s writing focuses on the "romance and brutality" of the sport. Having visited 50+ countries, he brings a global, cultural perspective to his coverage of the pro peloton for CyclingUpToDate.
claps 0visitors 0
Just in
Popular news
Latest comments
- Could be worse, like Visma. Staff, riders and coaches all leaving mid contract. Visma is in free fall look in TDF how irrelevant they are now..vuelta and small races only place they can compete if the bset dont arrive these days its sad.miguel04-10-2026
- Thats just factually wrong. (also if we just remove the best rider on a certain team is a fictual thing to say in the first place and shows how delulu and far off reality ur take is, doesnt work klike that UAE bread and made pogacra into best ever his domestiques beat other captains for fun in montreal and wc - cant have fictioon in the debate if you wanne be taken serious thats not how reality works) Take away pogacar and uae still far ahead on UCI points...look montreal other teams captains cant win vs UAE domestiques haha in both montrela and WC its crazy - the rest simply got some job do tod. RBH and Lidl are closest tho as of now. Besides if you look further Visma isnt top 3. Roster of RBH and Lidl way better. In fact visma boss out saying they struggle and cant keep up financially and it show. They have no climbers on the team no top 10 in TDF even when jonas is out says it all, also jonas was isolated non stop when other team wasnt, its really easy to get Visma is falling apart and not a top 3 team anymore. Dude staff and riders are fleeing away from visma and quit mid contract...something is off.miguel04-10-2026
- The mental slap he got in Kigali will remain with him for a long time and it’s not that he was having that bad a day seeing how few riders were faster. Seems a lot of people like to push stuff under carpets, and as we seem to always have to connect everything to America these days (isn’t MAGAA better in retrospect? Make America Get Attention Again) isn’t it funny how fast people stopped discussing the assasination, it’s almost as if it’s been normalised.Jumpyjohn04-10-2026
- Thomas is killing this team......
Senna196004-10-2026 - Thank you, almost as if someone reads my posts ;-) The trouble with cycling news is people focus more on form than content. I know there isn’t always much but sometimes the missing is quite interesting and important to understand the scene.Jumpyjohn04-10-2026
- I couldn't find the race broadcast anywhere so highlights will have to do. I have watched, several times, the rider send-off for Nairo Quintana, and I still haven't made it through without getting choked up. It's a beautiful tradition in a beautiful sport. Nairo was a champion and a gentleman. I'll miss him.megasmacky04-10-2026
- Jawohl Herr Doktor Professor! So, you include a bunch leaving, a bunch of Austrians, hypothesise poaching someone away from another more German team (I wonder how well that will go down), forget to mention or put into comparisn with how many Italians or Danes are on the team and you call this proof of being a German team? By that measure I now proclaim Uno-X to be Danish and can understand why Trump thinks Greenland should be his, or if not, American. They probably don’t even use German as a first language. Maybe in 3-4 years if this is their aim but considering how many times this team has already changed « «nationality » in the past, let’s wait and see. I expected some serious or official information as to why Germany was chosen not why somebody feels there’s some relation, I already saw that with one of the sponsors. PS please don’t make me check how many white guys are listed in the football team. Sorry for the harschness but if you’re observant and not too sensitive (and today it’s best not to be) you’ll see some hidden humour in this.Jumpyjohn04-10-2026
- They have Patrick Konrad, Lennard Kämna, Tim Torn Teutenberg (leaving for Soudal), Max Walscheid (retiring). Felix Gall, Gregor Mühlberger, Georg Zimmermann are all incoming aswell as Grischa Niermann. They've got Benedikt Benz and Louis Leidart in the Devo squad. I don't think they'll pull off the Lipowitz heist but they are certainly a very German team
Rafionain-Glas04-10-2026 - Piganzoli's win today, with a strong assist from Jorgensen, is just more weight against your claim. They still have one of the two best GC riders in the world, one of the 2 best classics riders, and one of the top sprinters...plus elite domestiques and a development squad as deep as any. Take away Tadej Pogacar and Visma is still as strong as any team in the world.MidnightRider04-10-2026
- That's your copy and paste response LOL ! Your mommy should take away your keyboard CLOWN !frieders304-10-2026
Loading
Write a comment