Today is Tadej Pogacar's 26th birthday and he is in the midst of preparing for one of the few goals he has ahead of him in his already incredible career: the World Championships. He has the opportunity next week to win one of the few big events he hasn't yet in pro cycling; but it is possible to look back at the past 5 years and acknowledge some of the Slovenian's main victories.
1. His presentation in top ranks was a win in Cortals d'Encamp at the 2019 Vuelta a España ahead of Nairo Quintana and Primoz Roglic.
2. Warns Primoz Roglic on the ninth stage of the 2020 Tour de France by beating him on the sprint in Laruns.
3. Takes a surprise win over Roglic on the Planche des Belles Filles time-trial to secure his first Tour de France in 2020.
4. He amazes everyone by winning the sprint against Julian Alaphilippe and Alejandro Valverde in the 2021 Liège-Bastogne-Liège, thus winning his first Monument.
5. He wins his second Tour de France (2021) ahead of what will become his great rival, Jonas Vingegaard.
6. He wins his second Monument, Il Lombardia 2021, winning the final sprint over Fausto Masnada.
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7. Starts 2022 with authority by winning the Strade Bianche (his first) ahead of Alejandro Valverde.
8. Warns in Spring 2022: Fifth in Milano-Sanremo and fourth at the Tour of Flanders (his first cobbled monument).
9. Second in the 2022 Tour after Jumbo-Visma's beastly tactic: takes 3 stage wins.
10. Second victory at Il Lombardia, third Monument of his career in 2022.
11. Starts the year winning the Jaén Paraíso Interior 2023 with a tremendous exhibition.
12. Destroys Jonas Vingegaard in Paris-Nice 2023, taking three stage wins and the yellow jersey in the process.
13. Spring 2023 Merckx style: 4th Sanremo, 3rd at E3, 1st Tour of Flanders (fourth Monument), 1st Amstel, 1st Flèche and crash in Liège.
14. Arrives unprepared at the Tour de France 2023, can't beat Vingegaard, but finishes second and takes 2 stages.
15. Wins Il Lombardia again in 2023: fifth Monument.
16. He starts the year again with a sterrato sweep, winning his second Strade Bianche in 2024.
17. He gets his second Liège-Bastogne-Liège in 2024: sixth Monument.
18. At the Santuario di Oropa he obtains his first stage victory in the Giro d'Italia.
19. He wins the Giro d'Italia 2024 alongside six stage wins.
20. Wins his third Tour de France and another 6 stages; becoming the first rider since Marco Pantani in 1998 to do the double.
21. Wins the Montréal GP 2024 with a scary exhibition before the World Championships in Zurich.
22. Reaches the 26th birthday with a total of 85 pro wins already.
23. In 2024, Pogacar has taken 12 Grand Tour stage wins. That is 28% of all stages in the two Grand Tours he raced.
24. With races such as the World Championships, Il Lombardia and others still remaining; Pogacar has won already 22 World Tour races this year. This is more than any other pro team.
25. Pogacar currently has 11.393 points in the UCI Rankings. This is more than double of his closest competitor Remco Evenepoel.
26. Pogacar is the pro rider with the highest salary in the peloton currently, estimated to be around €6 million per season, with a contract running until 2027 with UAE Team Emirates.
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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- He is boring
leedorney08-11-2026 - To Twoje przemyślenia te bla, bla :)
Dariusz08-11-2026 - Uwielbiam patrzeć, jak wyjeżdża na czoło peletonu i zaczyna się rzeź...Dariusz08-11-2026
- Yeah, unreal.
parisbound0008-11-2026 - there needs to be space in life for pointless comments!Ketterechts08-11-2026
- That is a very lazy way of putting it but so far on this website it seems like everyone is happy to look at everything lazily, even things that annoy them intensely. All they want to do is state their feeling and position but ask most to analyse a problem or come up with solutions or improvements and you’re stunned by silence. Nobody even really knows how this all happens. It’s very simple and quick to just say the UCI did it but I bet you they didn’t, I bet you not more than 2 people were involved, more likely just 1. The UCI may be ultimately responsible but it is not their decision, this is about hierarchy, power and delegation. The fact that protest is possible also means it isn’t over and that MORE people could get involved for a thorough review which could throw up anything. It is highly likely it was a sole commissar who decided and has that power in a first round. Therein might lie the problem the UCI has to consider, is it acceptable to give so much authority to one single person when it is quite possible for them to have a natural bias or be too easily susceptible to imposed bias. Who is to say an individual in this position isn’t susceptible to collaboration with outside players with interests in the results, nations, families, teams, betting companies, etc. On the one hand we have sports where these problems have been worked on way more to reduce such problems, on the other hand we have sports with far stricter and more draconian rules not even concerning safety or obstruction that nobody really questions like false starts or stepping out of lane or zones in athletics. If cycling hastowork on itself, it would be good if protagonists (all kinds) would start doing a little more than just moaning over outcomes.Jumpyjohn08-11-2026
- Yes, so why not make comments less pointless?Jumpyjohn08-11-2026
- What a race! I didn't expect Vanthourenhout to collapse like that, and Wyseure did take the fight to Nys, but there was no doubt at the end. I also wonder what Aubin Sparfel would be capable of were he to race in the elites now. In the U23 ranks he is making good work of Giel Lejeune, who himself is among the better riders in the elites, and a top 10 contender in the big races (3rd at Kleebergcross, 8th at Berencross and 5th at Heerderstrand). In the French Cup, Sparfel is significantly better than Romain Debord (8th at Koppenbergcross and 10th at the Euros) and Rémi Lelandais (12th at Koppenbergcross and 19th at the Euros).
Rafionain-Glas08-11-2026 - There really was nothing in it. Schreiber was so much faster, and Brand was fighting to stay in the wheel in the sprint. Schreiber did move a bit, but to say she closed the door doesn't make sense because Brand couldn't enter it anyway, abd she wasn't impeded.Rafionain-Glas08-11-2026
- He should have been allowed to go to Movistar. Right now both arent a good fit for each other and are just wasting each other's time and effortabstractengineer08-11-2026
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