"It's time to look to the future": Tadej Pogacar's agent urges UCI to adapt changes to preserve cycling at all levels
Cycling
The end of the 2025 road season has led to the typical criteriums where cyclists perform exhibitions for the public. For example, this Sunday in Saitama one was held in which Jonas Vingegaard won. The Visma star won in front of the Japanese public. But as well as these races, there are also analyses of what happened in cycling.
In this context, Alex Carera, representative of Tadej Pogacar (among other cyclists for whom he is also an agent), has outlined his ideas via his Instagram account for improving in competition. A message to the UCI? Here's what he started by pointing out:
"The time has come to act, and it must be done quickly. Some sponsors are expected to pull out in 2025, albeit for different reasons. What should we do? There is no single solution, but I have two ideas to generate interest in the Pro Teams."
"These teams are the basis of professional cycling. We need to create a specific calendar for this category (to ensure visibility for sponsors) and establish a maximum number of 1.1 and 2.1 races in which World Tour teams can participate," explained Alex Carera.
"These changes will ensure more equitable victories, generate excitement and make the UCI team classification more accurate (as well as accommodate the U23 structures), as each team will participate in the same number of races throughout the year."
Tadej Pogacar is represented by Alex Carera
Carera is clear about the future of cycling
"Successful Pro Teams will become future World Tour teams, as has already happened with Alpecin-Deceuninck, Uno-X Mobility and Arkéa - B&B Hotels, or with important teams like Q36.5 Pro Cycling Team and Tudor Pro Cycling Team. Cycling is a unique sport, but it must look to the future," said Tadej Pogacar's agent, very clear about the situation with the three-year period coming to an end.
With this, Carera refers to actions such as the merger between Lotto and Intermarché or the situation of Israel - Premier Tech, which will no longer be called that way after disassociating itself from the country and losing Premier Tech's sponsorship.
It comes along with a painful realization that while the amount of WorldTour teams (18) hasn't changed for many years, the number of ProTeams has dropped considerably over the past decade. While in 2018, there were 27 teams at the Pro-level, in 2026, there will be only 16 and the best continental teams such as ATT Investments, Terengganu Cycling or Li Ning Star openly admit that promoting to Pro category brings no benefit to them.
Ondrej ZhasilCycling Journalist
Ondřej Zhasil is a cycling journalist at CyclingUpToDate and has been part of the team since 2023. He is based in Ostrava, the third-largest city in the Czech Republic, and covers professional cycling across the main UCI competitions, including the Tour de France, the Giro d’Italia, and La Vuelta a España. A key focus of his work is startlist analysis and pre-race coverage, where he examines team selections, rider line-ups, and tactical scenarios ahead of major events.
Alongside WorldTour coverage, Ondřej has developed specific expertise in junior cycling and in racing across East Asia, including competitions in China and Japan. He also maintains a broad working knowledge of other disciplines and levels, including cyclocross, while continuing to expand his understanding of mountain bike racing.
Ondřej holds a bachelor’s degree in Mathematics and Physics, which supports his analytical, data-driven approach to performance and race analysis. In his reporting, he regularly uses ProCyclingStats for results, statistics, and historical context. He places strong emphasis on careful sourcing, editorial accuracy, and updating articles promptly when new, verified information becomes available.
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- and another no-news article around the ‚2 tokyo jogging rounds‘ headline, this time spiced with some days old ‚news‘ that the LA and japan vacation trips come during or after the tdf route release. i am getting more and more annoyed by this time-stealing no-news crap. but who am i to complain? nobody forces me to come back for more ‚news‘ day after day …Ketterechts02-11-2026
- It would likely be a very steep section of 4.1 km, not changing the average gradient considerably, with the climb remaining 10.1 km at 11.8%. It would reach 20% on the gravel. It would start 1.6 km in, and finish with 4.2 km left to climb (before the short final descent)
Rafionain-Glas02-11-2026 - Welcome to the off-season.
santiagobenites02-11-2026 - guillaume martin is wuite a surprise as a gc rider.Ketterechts02-11-2026
- Who cares what Bruyneel thinks. He and his best mate Lance, the biggest fraud in the history of sport, have no place commenting on anything but how to lie and cheat!whit2pet02-11-2026
- Eeesh!Lozza02-11-2026
- bravo! a rider likes jonas needs motivation and he needs to believe in being able to reach goals. he - like anybody else in the world - doesn't believe that he can win the tdf with pogi present. and what's it worth for when pogi is not there? second class victory only. he has checked all three grand tours, so what is left if not retire? the classics! go for it, jonas!Ketterechts02-11-2026
- i am sure that under the pretext of medical examination a lot worse has happened when they were under.abstractengineer02-11-2026
- dude, Lemond never even was in the same race as Armstrong. He throws all these aspersions on other American riders who might usurp his throne as the greatest ever American racer. He doesn't say a single thing about (foreign) dopers who he actually raced against. Biggest douchebag move ever. I used to revere that guy, now I despise him. His actions are so weird.fatsupermodel02-11-2026
- This is just stupid, You do what you are good at not what you are weak at. He has no results to speak of when he participated. Even Froome, Conatdor had very little. With Pogi there he wont win none of the classics. he is already 30+ with a few years left at the top. It takes years to get good at classics. Is that really worth the effort???abstractengineer02-11-2026
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