"Pogacar... the only thing that's going to stop him winning is a crash" - Vuelta a Burgos reveals UAE's main rivals for La Vuelta
CyclingMonday, 10 August 2026 at 21:30
This past week in the world of cycling has seen the men's peloton take on the Tour de Pologne and the Vuelta a Burgos. The latter saw most of the Vuelta a España contenders go head to head. On the CyclingUpToDate Podcast, Rúben Silva and Kieran Wood have talked about the two races and if they have influenced Tadej Pogacar's chances at La Vuelta.
The Spanish five-day race saw Matthew Brennan dominate the sprints whilst in the fight for the overall classification, there were three different winners: Oscar Onley, Felix Gall and Giulio Pellizzari.
In the final overall classification however, it was the Decathlon CMA CGM Team rider who went on to take his first ever career overall win. "You think Felix Gall, who's going to be going for GC at the Vuelta. I was actually quite surprised to hear that this is his first ever GC win of his career, considering he's a relatively experienced sort of pedigree rider now in terms of the GC," Wood said.
After finishing second at the Giro d'Italia earlier this year, the Austrian continues to deliver in a season where he has seemingly taken a step up. He is a clear candidate for the podium at the Vuelta soon, whilst without Pogacar he would be a strong favourite for the overall win.
Rúben Silva looked at the bigger picture of a Decathlon that is evolving: "If they manage to keep both Gall and Seixas in the team, 2027 it feels like a year where they can do a lot. They can do even more at the Tour maybe". As it stands, there are strong rumours that Gall and his right-hand man Gregor Mühlberger will be moving to Lidl-Trek next season.
The race also saw the return of Oscar Onley, injured at the Tour Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes and forced to miss the Tour de France. The Netcompany INEOS rider took a stage win and came very close from winning the overall classification.
Carlos Rodríguez was removed from the Tour de France lineup despite being healthy and in form, unlike several of the chosen riders, but his form in Burgos was in no way promising of a GC tilt. But with Onley, the team can hope again.
"His form looks to be on point. It seems like the British team has good ground to stand on to aim for the overall classification once again".
"It's much needed as well for INEOS because I think much of it made about the fact their Tour was a bit of a disaster," Wood put it. "But Onley as well he's not really hit the form due to injuries injuries and other reasons like that ,but he's not really hit the form like many would have hoped for him to the sign of INEOS so this is potentially good signs with like you said the Vuelta coming up".
Tadej Pogacar sees his Vuelta domestiques crash
In Burgos Jay Vine did not stand out due to the several crashes he suffered during the race - on top of the many he's had already this season. Pablo Torres instead emerged as the team's top climber, although far from the top.
"Looking at sort of UAE more as a whole towards the Vuelta with Almeida in difficulty, Jay Vine crashing as well and I think half was it half the team around Almeida went out as well (in Pologne, ed.)..."
"So yeah Pogacar is pretty much down to the bare bones at UAE. Obviously it's still a strong team comparatively, but it's not the ideal lineup you would have wanted going into the Grand Tour I think".
The Slovenian has, over the past few days, followed the Tour de France Femmes in support of his partner Urska Zigart. But the duo have argued that Pogacar's level is in such a way superior to that of his competition in Spain, that it will probably not be an obstacle in his way.
"I have an opinion that may not be shared by a lot of people but I fear that UAE make a little bit of a risk by having Jay Vine race with Pogacar," Silva argued. "I believe because he's very inclined to crash and in Burgos - we just went through it - I believe it happened two times I think that in both summit finishes Vine crashed in both of them and he unfortunately has a history of going down".
The Portuguese writer worries that UAE, who have been affected by mass crashes this year, faces a risk by having the Australian in the team's lineup alongside Pogacar. Whilst at the Giro he suffered a concussion and fractured elbow in the team's mass crash, at the Tour Down Under he fractured his scaphoid after colliding with a kangaroo.
"That includes the big moments as well and I do wonder if UAE have something in mind for Vine because it feels like he may be a little bit of a risk to the rest of the collective".
Wood believes that this is specially risky because Pogacar's biggest competition may be himself:
"Yeah because especially because you sort of think now that with Pogacar the only thing that's going to stop him winning is a crash regardless of what team he has around him he's just so good but it's likely going to be a crash that denies him the win".
Tadej Pogacar will be the main favourite for the Vuelta a España
Marco Brenner a surprise win in Poland
Over at the Tour de Pologne, the World Tour peloton resumed stage-racing at the top level following the Tour de France. But the winners were not part of cycling's first division, but the Swiss ProTeam Tudor.
"It is interesting because in my mind he is a a bit of a climber, not so much of a puncher, but he just looked so strong like throughout the whole hilly section of the of the race," Silva analyzed. The German rider was consistent throughout the race's hilly stages whilst he was the best out of the Top4 in the decisive time trial.
"He looked so strong and I have no idea what he could do in the time trial, but it feels like a coming of age for a rider that is only 23. It's easy to believe that he's older because this is already his fifth year at the top level. He jumped into the World Tour in 2021 and I remember very vividly that Brenner was one of the riders one of the first riders that came from juniors directly to the world Tour after Evenepoel".
"At the time there weren't really that many riders (moving directly from junior to elite, ed.) and I remember Brenner going pro with DSM at the time and thinking 'he's going to be one of those that's going to be close to Evenepoel' because it just seems like he had everything down for him and along the years it just seems like he disappeared a little bit. But now he's he's finally come up and this was a seriously impressive win".
Rúben SilvaEditor-in-Chief
A founding contributor to CyclingUpToDate since its launch in January 2022, Ruben Silva has played a central role in shaping the site’s editorial direction and long-term growth. Before joining the project, he built his experience through independent blogging at Echelons Hub and by producing race previews for Ciclismo Internacional, developing a strong analytical voice rooted in daily engagement with professional cycling.
Beyond editorial work, he has been closely involved in the expansion and coordination of CyclingUpToDate’s wider network, helping establish and support sister platforms across multiple languages. This includes ongoing collaboration with CiclismoAlDia (Spanish), CiclismoAtual (Portuguese), WielrennenUpToDate (Dutch), and RadsportAktuell (German), contributing to a shared editorial vision and consistent international coverage.
He also helps oversee editorial governance across the network, setting standards for accuracy and consistency and coordinating updates or corrections when needed.
Originally from the Porto metropolitan area in Portugal, he holds a bachelor’s degree in Geography. His path into cycling journalism was shaped not through formal media training, but through independent reporting, community engagement, and sustained on-the-ground involvement in the sport.
Over the course of his career, he has conducted approximately 100 interviews across road cycling and cyclocross, ranging from one-to-one conversations and online formats to press conferences and on-site pre- and post-race coverage. His interviews include leading riders, team managers, and prominent figures within cycling media: Tadej Pogacar, Jonas Vingegaard, Mathieu van der Poel, Primoz Roglic, Wout van Aert, Joao Almeida and Tom Pidcock; managers like Patrick Lefevere and Joxean Matxin; and YouTube personality Bryan Kennedy (BKXC)...
Within 18 months of launch, he helped grow CyclingUpToDate’s English-language platform into one of the most-read cycling news websites, built entirely from the ground up. As both a professional journalist and lifelong cycling enthusiast, his focus remains on delivering accurate, timely, and well-contextualized coverage.
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