"La Vuelta is on my calendar" - Tadej Pogacar finally admits Vuelta a España return

In what was perhaps the most uneventful day of the Tour de France so far in terms of overall classification contention, Tadej Pogacar was asked in a post-race press conference about the Vuelta a España and for the first time he has admitted that it's in his calendar.

"La Vuelta is on my calendar and I should be able to go, but I have to consider whether I want to spend another month away from home," Pogacar said in words shared with Marca. The Tour-Vuelta combo is a possibility that was likely already decided back in December at the team's training camp, and throughout the year several UAE Team Emirates - XRG riders had said that was the plan if everything went well.

However this is only something that will be fully decided after the Tour and depending on how the Tour goes. That's the big reason why until this week no-one within the team would 100% confirm that it's the plan, until the team management did so a few days ago in an interview. Pogacar now has no reason to deny that this could be happening, and a battle with Jonas Vingegaard could take place in both Grand Tours.

On stage 8, the yellow jersey and UAE didn't have to spend unnecessary energy. "It was a much more relaxing stage than the previous ones. I would have liked there to be a few more straight roads, as we passed through many villages, which made the race hectic and sometimes stressful. Regardless, it was a good day to recover from all the effort already put in. João [Almeida] is a warrior, you could see him struggling all day, especially during the accelerations, but he held on and didn't give up. He has the true spirit of a champion."

There were no comments on the stage finale but instead his teammates and his partner who is competing at the Giro Donne: "During the stage, I asked my team car about my girlfriend Urska and her performance at the Giro d'Italia Women. I'm always nervous on the bike when she's racing, and it's great to hear from her. When she has a good race, I'm super happy".