"They want to get me a little, but they only add oil to the fire” - Tadej Pogacar responds to 2025 Tour de France revisiting his past problem climbs

In 2025, the Tour de France seems to be going on a journey to all of the places that Tadej Pogacar has shown rare signs of weakness in the past. The Col de la Loze, Hautacam and Mont Ventoux are all on the profiles, potentially given the likes of Jonas Vingegaard hope of stopping the UAE Team Emirates leader next summer.

After the route's announcement, Dutch ex-pro turned cycling pundit Thijs Zonneveld believed it was a move done strategically by Tour de France organisers in reaction to Pogacar's dominance in 2024. "They have thought about the Anti-Pogi-Tour: a course that suits him as little as possible," Zonneveld told Algemeen Dagblad.

In comments to Siol, Pogacar himself has given his assessment about the potential of an 'Anti-Pogi-Tour'. “For me, every route of the Tour is more or less the same,” he explains. “You can’t fly to the moon, you have to stay in France and climb all the mountain passes that are on the route. The style of the race is more than the same every year, so you have to be prepared for anything."

He does however, note the return of the Col de la Loze, Hautacam and Mont Ventoux, some of the trials of his past Tour de France disappointments. “Perhaps the organizers for next year really included those three ascents where I did not excel at the previous versions and they want to get me a little again, but with it they only additionally add oil to the fire,” Pogacar warns fiercely.

“Every year there is speculation about for whom the route is assembled and for whom it is most perfect,” he continues. “But I look more at the fact that the Grand Tour lasts 21 days and for me it is just like any other. You can’t ‘speed up’ the course other than to offer something for the sprinters, then it’s next to the time trial and some mountain stages. There are difficult and slightly less demanding stages on the schedule, more or less stressful, and you have no choice but to be completely focused and in shape for three weeks. What the route is like doesn’t mean much to me, but I still like to get to know it sooner and get a preview of the climbs that lie ahead.”