Sean Kelly believes best of Tadej Pogacar could still be yet to come: "When you get to 26 to 30, you’re coming into your best years as a cyclist"

After a blockbuster season in 2024, Tadej Pogacar firmly cemented himself as the star rider in the current peloton, winning a pair of Grand Tours, two Monuments and a first ever Rainbow Jersey among other successes, can the Slovenian leader of UAE Team Emirates still improve further?

According to Irish cycling legend Sean Kelly, the 26-year-old Pogacar may only just be reaching his peak years and as such, could yet get even better in the coming years. "He doesn't seem to feel the pressure at all," Kelly notes in conversation with Cycling Weekly. "He just gets on with his business. He's at the age now where he's coming into his prime and has shown this year that he's in his best years. When you get to 26 to 30, you’re coming into your best years as a cyclist."

But after such an incredible year, just how can Pogacar improve in 2025? "The Tour and Vuelta [double] could be the one next year. But the team won’t want him doing too many races too early. The problem is, whatever the race, he wants to win," Kelly assesses. "No matter what it is, he just wants to win. That's just the type of racer he is."

In particular, one performance in particular of Pogacar's stood out to Kelly this year. The Rainbow Jersey victory in Zurich sealed by an incredible 100km attack. "Well, I’ll put my hand up," recalls the Irish former Vuelta a Espana champion. "I said maybe he's getting a bit too bold now and doing it that bit too early so he might just pay for this one. But then three hours later, we saw that there was no question he was in control."

"What can you do against that? There's nothing," Kelly concludes. "People have tried, but after a kilometre there was just a huge explosion and they have blown up. Riders have said that they made a mistake in trying to follow him – they know they're not going to be able to match it when he goes."