The four-time Tour de France winner spoke to the media in Komenda during a special criterium staged by his hometown and the cycling clubs where he first trained. Greeted by a huge crowd, he crossed the line ahead of Luka Mezgec and Matteo Trentin.

“I’m happy to be home again, to see friends, neighbours and family,” he told reporters as he reflected on both his immediate targets and the longer-term future.

Pogačar is signed with UAE Team Emirates-XRG until 2030, but in a recent interview with L’Equipe hinted that the 2028 Los Angeles Olympic Games could mark the point where he begins to seriously consider retirement. Since stepping into the WorldTour in 2019 at the age of 20, he has claimed four Tours and over a hundred other wins. Only the Vuelta a España, Milan-San Remo, and Paris-Roubaix remain on his list of big goals before he steps away from racing.

“It may seem funny to most people that I’m already counting down to retirement, but the fact is that a sports career isn’t very long,” he said before the race in Komenda. “I started winning quite early and everything has been going strong ever since. Every year we train harder and faster, so I look forward to my future with pleasure.

“On the one hand, I know that my sports career will not be long, but on the other hand, I am aware that I can enjoy the level I am at now for a few more years. However, I expect that this level will drop at some point and that there will be no more victories in the season than now and that there will be a bad year at some point.

“I am prepared for everything that is coming, so I am all the more aware that I have to enjoy the moment. I have to be prepared to stop, say thank you and say goodbye to racing at the highest level.”

Following his latest Tour de France triumph — a race made even more challenging by illness in the final week — Pogačar took time off at his home in Montecarlo. He stayed away from social media, went on some easy training rides, and even met Tour de France Femmes avec Zwift champion Pauline Ferrand-Prévot on the road.

“I managed to rest a little, I have a difficult Tour behind me and everyone can have a bad day,” he explained when asked whether he felt better than in the closing days of the Tour. “Of course, we can’t expect that I will be glowing with happiness for all 21 stages. There were also difficult days. The Tour was really difficult, one of the hardest I’ve ridden, which can be confirmed by everyone who fought for the overall classification.

“Now, two weeks after the end of the Tour, I have rested, reset myself, so we are now moving forward normally.”

Looking ahead, Pogačar confirmed that the 2026 Tour de France will remain central to his ambitions as he aims to match the all-time record of five overall wins. “I will probably return to the Tour, in principle it is the biggest race and I don’t think the team will leave me at home…” he said with a smile.

While rival Jonas Vingegaard prepares for the Vuelta, Pogačar will follow a different plan after a demanding spring and summer. His comeback race will be the Grand Prix Cycliste de Québec, followed by Montréal, before defending his rainbow jersey at the World Championships in Rwanda. One week later, he will head to southern France for the European Championships on 5 October.

“We know that Montréal suits me better but that doesn’t mean that I won’t try to win in Québec as well,” he said. “This year they changed the course a bit, it’s even easier now, but the goal is harder, so we will try to win there as well. It’s not necessarily me, we have a few other competitors who could suit this goal, especially Jhonathan Narvaez.

“According to the information we have, it’ll be a European Championship for ‘climbers’ this year, so I will probably be there. It is similar to one of the spring races that Juan Ayuso won this year. But this European Championship probably means that I will not be able to go to any other Italian Classics except Lombardia.”

With just a handful of one-day races left before the season wraps up, Pogačar intends to make the most of his form — and, in his own words, enjoy the moment.