Tadej Pogacar has Tour de France in his sights as he heads to altitude training camp in "tailored" programme

When Tadej Pogacar sat down with UAE Team Emirates-XRG to plot their 2026 season goals, the Slovenian plotted a 'tailored' programme to target classics and then the Tour de France. After success in Tour de Romandie earlier this month, Pogacar now heads to Sierra Nevada for an altitude training camp with full focus on the Tour.

The reigning yellow jersey winner heads to the high mountains on Friday, with major rivals such as Remco Evenepoel and Paul Seixas also at altitude training, and team sports manager Joxean Matxin Fernandez notied the Romandie 'adaptation' was a success with Tour de Suisse and then Tour de France fast approaching.

“He’s going to do altitude training starting from tomorrow [Friday] at Sierra Nevada to prepare for the Tour de Suisse and the Tour de France,” UAE Team Emirates-XRG sports manager Joxean Matxin Fernandez said in an interview with Domestique on Thursday.

In his pursuit to win all five monuments, Pogacar nailed one of the most difficult in his quest at Milano-Sanremo in March. He came up just short of adding Paris-Roubaix to complete the set but triumphed in Tour of Flanders and Liege-Bastogne-Liege to underline a successful start to the season.

“We made a programme tailored to Tadej and I think the customisation was good in the sense that he focused on one-day racing to begin with, and he ended that cycle with Romandie as an adaptation to the second cycle of his season, which is around the Tour de France."

Many noted that the 27-year-old was riding with more muscle than his usual grand tour shape, but the added weight was natural after his classics schedule. Matxin added: "Tadej came to Romandie off the back of a preparation that was designed more for the Classics, but he came in with the right mentality, and it went very well."

Although Pogacar has insinuated that winning the Tour de France is not as high on his list of priorities than before, Matxin has no doubts that Pogacar will 'dive right in' to training and arrive at Barcelona's Grand Depart on July 4 in top shape.

“He’s the best rider in the world. With Tadej, it’s easier to do things like that, because apart from being the best rider in the world, I think he’s also one of the most versatile riders in the world.

He continued: "He’s the favourite in every race he does, even in races that are very difficult for him, like Roubaix or Flanders. He steps out of his comfort zone and dives right in.”