Tadej Pogacar: "Maybe the fact that I had to prepare for the Tour of Flanders and the Ardennes classics this year cost me the Tour"
Cycling
Tadej Pogacar had the unfortunate luck of finishing second at the Tour de France two years in a row. In both he suffered from one bad day which saw him lose a lot of time to Jonas Vingegaard, however he believes that his focus and crash in the spring classics cost him the legs he needed in France.
“Maybe the fact that I had to prepare for the Tour of Flanders and the Ardennes classics this year cost me the Tour. It's not an ideal combination, but I love racing and taking on new challenges," Pogacar said in an interview with FloBikes. "I would find it difficult to only focus on the month of July, while I know that I can also perform well in the first and last part of the season.”
Pogacar is a rider that displays tremendous passion for cycling and has over the past few years changed his calendar often to look for new races and goals - often succeeding. His meteoric rise in the cobbled classics, culminating at the Tour of Flanders this year, saw him grow as a leading figure for the classics as well as the Grand Tours. His incredibly versatility and talent also sees him able to fight for wins all year round all over the world.
However at Liège-Bastogne-Liège he took a rare but hard crash and suffered a wrist fracture. This kept him off the road for several weeks, whilst Vingegaard prepared for the Tour de France in what looked to be ideal conditions. “That certainly didn't help. If you have to train on rollers for six weeks, you are not ready for three weeks of climbing and sprinting. You already have to do a lot in the two months after Liège and then there was that wrist injury. It was just too much. I didn't have the necessary foundation.”
Whilst the two looked almost evenly matched throughout the first two weeks of the Tour, in the third Vingegaard kicked it up a notch that no-one could match, first dealing a huge blow in the individual time-trial, but then Pogacar completely cracked at the Col de la Loze. He recovered to still finish on the World Championships and win Il Lombardia, but he seeks to evolve further.
“That is what I feel, but it is also reflected in my values. For example, I now have more experience, but I can always learn more. My body can still improve a lot in the coming years, although this is becoming increasingly difficult to achieve," he admits. "Now it's all in the details and work ethic.”
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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.
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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)...
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- disagreed. in this year's tdf he was unable to ride away from the young guns in the stages before his crash. there were several riders at least close to, if not on, his level in the second week: seixas, remco, del toro, lipo. next year jonas is a year older and the younger riders gained a year of experience and strength. if you then try to skip part of the high altitude training ... i doubt that jonas will make the podium at tdf 27. for sure he is not the favourite for runner up. he will be in the mix, yes. but not THE favourite for 2nd place.Ketterechts15-11-2026
- That means you're Austrian, like Arnold Schwarzenegger. He was born close to Gradc, very close to Maribor. We used to do a lot of shopping in Gradc in the 70's and 80's, when Slovenia was still a part of communist Yugoslavia. Today we have good relationships with the Austrians. Many Slovenians are working there.PogiSloFans15-11-2026
- headline criticism agreed. but otherwise he certainly has a point. you can negotiate extra perks if you are way above he rest ... however, these times have long gone ...Ketterechts15-11-2026
- WTF is Pogi's hater Zonneveld talking about??? He was against Pogi waving to Slovenian fans from an organisation car as fans caught a glimpse of Pogi at the European Championships in Slovenia. The S.O.B. couldn't resist poking fun at his attention-grabbing appearance. What Zonneveld says has no relevance.PogiSloFans15-11-2026
- ❤️Lozza15-11-2026
- The greatest ever is a crazy claim. But in discussions about sport in our local media, among people with no particular interest in cycling, he has been the first person they've thought of when giving examples of exceptional athletes.Hills3315-11-2026
- Urska may be less keen on a cafe if keeping it afloat will fall to her, so maybe just a nice dream!Hills3315-11-2026
- Raise thine hand if the money you have made for retirement slips away on poor investments.Most of us will outlive our financial comforts because we don't have the financial acumen to ensure a comfortable lifelong retirement and that is a statistical fact not my opinion.Many millionaires have pissed their money away or had it taken away by so called conniving "financial advisors".The world of wealth is a dangerous place that most of us will never experience nor appreciate.
Brucegel15-11-2026 - You are interested in Pogi for one reason only, you feel like you are somehow related because you share some vague geographical identity. Other than that you have very little interest in cycling as all your posts show, if it can’t be connected to Pogi you have nothing to post. That said, recent activity here shows we are attracting quite a crowd from his region.Jumpyjohn15-11-2026
- From knowing past cycling stars with shops I can only say, think it through. Not only is it mundane after a while but it really doesn’t take you out of the limelight, in the end you’ll be trying to stay away from the place yourself whilst all your fans keep coming for you.Jumpyjohn15-11-2026
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Monument Winners 2023 🚴♂️🏛️⭐️ Mathieu van der Poel 🇳🇱 MSR & P-R Tadej Pogačar 🇸🇮 RVV & LOM Remco Evenepoel 🇧🇪 LBL
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