![\"Tadej](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/cf02c3149d23a21f47160e8745d7bd09.jpeg\")
<\/p>\nFour days is all it took for Tadej Poga\u010dar to end the Vuelta a Espa\u00f1a as a meaningful contest, the Slovenian great once again riding away from the peloton to win solo and establish a massive lead over the rest of the field.<\/p>\n
It has been 32 years since Tony Rominger led a grand tour from start to finish when he won the 1994 Vuelta.<\/p>\n
But with yet another thrilling display of daring, Poga\u010dar put himself in pole position to emulate the Swiss rider and become just the ninth man to lead a three-week race from start to finish.<\/p>\n
Superlatives have long been superfluous when writing about this Slovenian superstar.<\/p>\n
Things that should not be possible are made to look routine.\u00a0<\/p>\n
When he hits the front of a race as the road goes into the mountains, the rest of the pack knows that their only chance is to ride at their own tempo.<\/p>\n
Any attempt to fly too close to this generation’s greatest star will surely send their hopes of finishing the race crashing to the ground, like Icarus.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
As soon as Tadej Poga\u010dar is in this position, that’s likely to be the last the peloton sees of him. (Getty Images: Tim de Waele)<\/p>\n
Poga\u010dar took off with just over 50 kilometres remaining of the 104.8km circuit around Andorra la Vella to claim yet another dominant victory.<\/p>\n
Decathlon CMA CGM put the power down at the bottom of the Collada de Beixalis climb, the second mountain of the day, and ripped the peloton to shreds.<\/p>\n
Australian Jay Vine led the charge in support for the Slovenian’s UAE Emirates XRG team, but with the pace already high, Poga\u010dar upped his rate to burst clear.<\/p>\n
Decathlon’s Austrian leader Felix Gall tried to match Poga\u010dar’s pace in the initial throes of his attack.<\/p>\n
However, the Austrian, as so many riders have discovered before him, could barely hold the double-world champion’s wheel and quickly dropped off before being joined by the rest of the favourites.<\/p>\n
“The pace was already super fast on the throttle right from the base [of the climb],” Poga\u010dar told media after the race.\u00a0<\/p>\n
“When Jay let me pass him on Decathlon’s wheel, I knew: ‘OK, I don’t want to get isolated from all those general classification contenders, because otherwise they’ll all gang up on me.’<\/p>\n
“I tried to attack on the climb. When I saw that I could open up a gap, I just hoped I could hold on until the finish. It worked out.\u00a0<\/p>\n
“It was really tough, but it’s a wonderful feeling.”<\/p>\n
![\"Tadej](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/9c3b2fb4f5b2fdf4458a8fefe2d2a09f.jpeg\")
<\/p>\n
Tadej Poga\u010dar is irresistable. (Getty Images: Alexander Hassenstein)<\/p>\n
Poga\u010dar’s lead extended to over 3 minutes at one stage before he rolled home to win by 2 minutes and 39 seconds from Jarno Widar, with Gall third.<\/p>\n
The 50km attack was his longest in a grand tour, bettering the 43km solo victory he launched in the Pyrenees last month at the Tour de France<\/a>.<\/p>\n It is another remarkable performance from the Slovenian to add to the extraordinary wins that have become so normal it is expected of him.<\/p>\n