\nWhen logic meets cycling\u2019s immovable calendar<\/p>\n
From a sporting perspective, Pogacar\u2019s reasoning is hard to dismiss. The Tour\u2013Vuelta double remains one of the most demanding combinations in the sport, particularly for riders who also target the World Championships. A calendar shift would, in theory, reopen the Vuelta to riders currently forced to choose.<\/p>\n
Inside UAE Team Emirates – XRG<\/a>, the proposal has been met with open minds rather than defensiveness. Team manager Joxean Fernandez Matxin admitted the idea had not occurred to him previously, but said Pogacar\u2019s explanation changed that. \u201cWhen I read Tadej\u2019s explanation, I thought there\u2019s actually something in that,\u201d he said in quotes collected by Sporza.<\/a><\/p>\n Matxin\u2019s support is rooted less in ambition than in logistics. \u201cFor example, we can never reconnoitre the Giro climbs because there is so much snow there in April,\u201d he explained, pointing to repeated experiences of stages being cancelled or neutralised due to cold or rain. From his base in Spain, the contrast is obvious. \u201cIn Spain, the weather in May is nicer than in Italy.\u201d<\/p>\n Yet logic, in cycling, has never been the only currency.<\/p>\n A sport shaped by memory, not just margins<\/p>\n Across the peloton, the response has been notably cautious. Not because the idea is radical, but because it would disturb an order that has remained largely untouched for decades.<\/p>\n Ralph Denk<\/a>, manager of Red Bull – BORA – hansgrohe<\/a>, offered a reminder that the calendar has already evolved once before. \u201cWhen I started racing 40 years ago, the Vuelta took place in April,\u201d he said, recalling a time when Spain hosted the season\u2019s first Grand Tour.<\/p>\n But Denk was equally quick to question whether exceptional weather moments justify wholesale change. \u201cTwo years ago there was that Livigno stage in the Giro when snowfall on the Umbrail Pass caused chaos,\u201d he said. \u201cBut does that happen every year? I don\u2019t think so. Last year, for example, the weather during the Giro was excellent.\u201d<\/p>\n The implication is clear: isolated problems may not be enough to outweigh the comfort of familiarity.<\/p>\n Why tradition still winsAt Lidl-Trek<\/a>, sports director Steven de Jongh<\/a> captured the underlying hesitation more directly. \u201cIn itself, I would find it logical for the Giro and the Vuelta to swap places, especially if you look at the weather,\u201d he said. \u201cBut the race is tied to tradition, so it might be too big a change.\u201d<\/p>\n That sentence, more than any other, explains why Pogacar\u2019s idea is unlikely to gain traction quickly. The Grand Tours are not just races. They are institutions, bound to broadcasters, organisers, sponsors and national identities.<\/p>\n De Jongh also pointed to a practical complication that logic alone cannot solve. The Giro and the Vuelta are run by different organisers, RCS and ASO, respectively. Even if sporting arguments align, coordination at that level would be far from straightforward.<\/p>\n A debate that outgrows its instigator<\/p>\n For Pogacar, the calendar discussion is not framed as a demand, but as an observation. Yet the response it has triggered shows how resistant cycling remains to structural change, even when proposed by its most dominant rider.<\/p>\n The irony is that Pogacar\u2019s status may work against him here. His success allows him to question the system, but it also makes it easier for the system to say no.<\/p>\n For now, the Giro\u2013Vuelta switch remains hypothetical. Not because it lacks merit, but because in a sport defined by history, changing dates may prove harder than winning races.<\/p><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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