Report from Italy hints at certain Tour-Vuelta double for Tadej Pogacar in 2025

The off-season is proving to be very interesting. 2025 is getting closer and closer, and the rumors about the grand tours that Tadej Pogacar will race next year are still swirling, with another direct statement hinting at what may end up happening.

The UAE Team Emirates star will go 100% to the Tour de France if nothing unusual happens, what is not known is whether he will add the Giro d'Italia, the Vuelta a España, or even a Grand Tour hat-trick to his 2025 calendar. The Vuelta had been highly rumoured - being the only Grand Tour left to win, and having won the Giro this year - however it is said that RCS is working hard to bring back the World Champion next year.

However, from Italy, via RAI RadioCorsa, it is confirmed that Pogacar has already made a decision: he will race the Tour de France and the Vuelta a España! Thus, he will not be defending his title in the Corsa Rosa, whereas the same cannot be confirmed for Jonas Vingegaard, Primoz Roglic or Remco Evenepoel yet. The route will be revealed in early January, but teams will have information about it beforehand. 

Already this week team manager Joxean Matxín hinted at that specific double: "We would like it, and obviously he will ride it at some point. Tour-Vuelta is a possible idea for 2025, a thought on high, but we are still evaluating different options, there is no conclusion or decision."

It seems that, if the rumors are true, the decision has been made, or will be in a few weeks when the team has it's training camp in Benidorm, Eastern Spain. Winning the final Grand Tour of the season would see him have a victory in all three Grand Tours, an achievement that is still missing from his luxurious palmarès.

Regarding Milano-Sanremo and Paris-Roubaix, the two monuments he has yet to win and which obsess the Slovenian, in principle Pogacar will try again in the first one in 2025. He came closest to victory in the last edition, losing in the final sprint to Jasper Philipsen and Michael Matthews after attacking the Poggio di Sanremo - as was the case in 2023 as well.

As for Paris-Roubaix, that goal is set more for the long term and a participation next year is virtually excluded. If Pogacar finally participates in La Vuelta, wins it, and also does the same in San Remo, "The Hell of the North" will be the last great cycling race he will have left to cross off his already historic palmarès.