{"id":300143,"date":"2025-11-22T18:28:08","date_gmt":"2025-11-22T18:28:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/300143\/"},"modified":"2025-11-22T18:28:08","modified_gmt":"2025-11-22T18:28:08","slug":"tadej-pogacar-gives-retirement-update-as-he-targets-later-2026-season-start","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/300143\/","title":{"rendered":"Tadej Poga\u010dar gives retirement update as he targets later 2026 season start"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Tadej Poga\u010dar has put an end to speculation about his future, saying he never considered retiring early or cutting his contract short. Speaking to Italian journalist Ciro Scognamiglio of <a href=\"https:\/\/www.gazzetta.it\/Ciclismo\/22-11-2025\/pogacar-sanremo-e-roubaix-meglio-del-record-di-tour.shtml\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">La Gazzetta dello Sport<\/a>, he said the idea he might leave the sport in 2028 \u201cnever existed.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>He made it clear he intends to stay with UAE Team Emirates\u2013XRG until his current deal expires in 2030. The team, he added, keeps improving and \u201cfeels like a family.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The four-time Tour de France winner admitted he was mentally worn out after a long, but, very, very, impressive season. But after a stretch of R&amp;R in Mallorca, he said his motivation has reset.<\/p>\n<p>Pogi is now preparing for a 2026 campaign that may begin later than usual. It sounds like Strade Bianche in March emerging as the likely season opener. Despite rumours, an appearance at the Tour Down Under seems unlikely.<\/p>\n<p>His spring ambitions are centred on the two Monuments he hasn\u2019t won: Milano\u2013Sanremo and Paris\u2013Roubaix. He said winning one of those classics carries far more weight than simply showing up expecting a result.<\/p>\n<p>Asked about Remco Evenepoel\u2019s move to Red Bull\u2013BORA\u2013hansgrohe, Poga\u010dar didn\u2019t hide his unease. The transfer, he said, \u201ccould be good for Remco,\u201d and the possibility the Belgian superstar improves further \u201cscares me, because he\u2019s already so strong.\u201d Still, he expects Evenepoel to thrive in his new environment.<\/p>\n<p>Despite the pressure, Poga\u010dar said balance remains his priority: \u201cMaybe I can\u2019t do better on the bike, but in daily life I can. The meaning of life is to be happy and to do good for others.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Meanwhile, Evenepoel is gearing up for a year where he hopes to dethrone the seemingly unbeatable Pogi. The double Olympic champion said, \u201cIt\u2019s up to my new coach to find a solution.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The trick, it seems, is matching his initial incredible burst.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cPoga\u010dar can sustain an acceleration longer than anyone else. For several minutes, he can push twenty, thirty, even forty watts above the rest, then it settles back to a more \u2018normal\u2019 level,\u201d Red Bull\u2013BORA\u2013hansgrohe\u2019s Sven Vanthourenhout, <a href=\"https:\/\/cyclingmagazine.ca\/sections\/news\/museeuw-urges-evenepoel-to-chase-the-monuments\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">said<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Tadej Poga\u010dar has put an end to speculation about his future, saying he never considered retiring early or&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":255692,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[445],"tags":[49,48,635,128988,58563,82,1422],"class_list":["post-300143","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-cycling","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-cycling","tag-milano-sanremo","tag-paris-roubaix","tag-sports","tag-tadej-pogacar"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/300143","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=300143"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/300143\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/255692"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=300143"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=300143"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=300143"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}