Paula Blasi sets no limits: “I want to be a Tadej Pogacar; I won’t even rule out Paris-Roubaix”

The 2026 season is proving to be Paula Blasi’s definitive breakthrough. The UAE Team ADQ rider has stacked top-tier results that place her among the leading names in international women’s cycling. Yet far from easing off after her successes, the Catalan remains as ambitious as ever and is already thinking about how to keep progressing into next year.

Winner this year of Amstel Gold Race, La Vuelta Femenina and the Tour des Pyrénées, and with standout rides in several of the calendar’s most prestigious races, Blasi tells EFE she still has ample room to improve and many goals ahead, even daring to aim at becoming the Tadej Pogacar of women’s cycling.

“I swear I’m absolutely ravenous. I still have plenty of targets this year, but I want to start again in January because I know I can do better.”

Few riders would find reasons to ask for more after a campaign like the Spaniard’s. Beyond her three headline victories, Blasi also stepped onto the podium in high-prestige races such as the Tour Down Under and La Flèche Wallonne, where she finished third; and took fifth at Liège–Bastogne–Liège.

Her next appointment is the Volta a Catalunya, from the 19th to 21st June. The race carries special meaning as it unfolds on home roads, and she personally made the case to her team to be there.

“The team told me: ‘It’s not a WorldTour race, go to Switzerland.’ I begged them, I didn’t care, even if it clashed with the Tour de France.”

The rider acknowledges that her rise has also changed how the peloton sees her. Results have shifted her status from prospect to marked contender.

“I love seeing myself up there against them, but I need to earn that confidence to say: ‘Maybe I can fight.’ Always keep respect, but stop idealising them so much — they’re rivals.”

Despite the haul of recent months, Blasi says she is still adapting to the highest level of the professional ranks.

“I still see myself a bit like a ‘chick’, not so much because of my age, but because I haven’t been in the peloton that long. It feels strange when someone like Demi says hello. These are things I haven’t normalised yet, and I don’t know if I will.”

The Spaniard admits that lining up with some of the sport’s biggest names remains special, though she is steadily learning to race on equal terms with riders she watched from afar for years.

Given Blasi’s form this season, an inevitable talking point is a possible start at the Tour de France Femmes, scheduled from the 1st to 8th of August.

She prefers caution and stresses that, beyond individual results, team-structure decisions also come into play.

“There’s a part the public doesn’t always see, which is the team side. The road puts you in your place, but the structure is set and it’s a bit difficult to go from not even being on the Tour roster to suddenly saying: ‘I’m the leader.’ I’m not scared — I like pressure. If I can be there, I will, and we’ll see.”

What is clear is that her performance has already exceeded pre-season expectations.

“The day before La Vuelta they told me: ‘Paula, there’s no pressure, we know your goal is to win in three or four years.’ But inside I was thinking: ‘I want to win it now.’”

After taking the under-23 European title and the category’s world bronze in 2025, Blasi does not hide her interest in the major championships at elite level.

Even so, she prefers to take a measured view and assess how her form evolves over the coming months.

“But we have to see what shape I’m in, how the season unfolds, and take it step by step.”

Her debut in the Spanish stage race could not have ended better, taking the overall win, but the experience also brought key lessons.

“In a Grand Tour, the easy part is the legs. On the first days I was chatting with everyone. On day three I felt great in the legs, but I had no energy. The way I finished on Angliru, I could just as easily not have started, because I was already unwell.”

Although she didn’t win a stage, she came very close at Les Praeres and on the Angliru, where she finished second.

“I’ve never been so happy to reach the finish.”

“I had the red jersey in my head, and I was afraid I wouldn’t make it to the top. So I played it safe. I figured it’s not always good to win everything at the first attempt.”

Before conquering the Vuelta, Blasi had already shown top form in the Ardennes classics. Among those results, victory at the Amstel Gold Race marked a turning point in her season.

“Since Amstel, everything has flowed. It gave me confidence. The team treats you differently, your roles change. I needed to see they were starting to trust me.”

Even so, she admits that Liège–Bastogne–Liège left a slight feeling of a missed opportunity.

“The day after Flèche we did three and a half hours of training with very hard intervals. If I’d rested the day after Flèche, I think I could have fought for the podium. But I have no regrets, because my goal was the Vuelta. Next year I’ll approach it differently.”

Blasi has proved competitive in very different scenarios and doesn’t want to limit herself to one race type. She won’t rule out broadening her targets in future, following a philosophy similar to her teammate Tadej Pogacar.

“I want to be a Pogacar. I think every cyclist would say that. Given how the calendar is structured, I think you can do a bit of everything, so I won’t even rule out Paris–Roubaix.”

However, the Spaniard insists that the impact of her results hasn’t changed who she is or her relationship with those who have been with her since before she reached the elite.

“I’m still the same Paula, I still have my close people. Those people, when not even my brother knew who I was, were already supporting me. That circle that you know loves you for being Paula, not for being Paula the cyclist.”

A statement that neatly sums up the moment the Catalan rider is living: one of the breakout stars of women’s cycling today, with undimmed ambition and her eyes set on everything still to come.