{"id":646156,"date":"2026-05-04T01:01:11","date_gmt":"2026-05-04T01:01:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/646156\/"},"modified":"2026-05-04T01:01:11","modified_gmt":"2026-05-04T01:01:11","slug":"pogacar-riding-romandie-was-unexpected-heres-what-it-means","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/646156\/","title":{"rendered":"Poga\u010dar Riding Romandie Was Unexpected. Here\u2019s What It Means"},"content":{"rendered":"

Updated May 3, 2026 03:57PM<\/p>\n

The Tour de Romandie<\/a> seemed to many to be a surprising race for Tadej Poga\u010dar<\/a> to target.<\/p>\n

It may be a WorldTour contest but riding it for the first time in his career was so unexpected that the race organizer was forced to deny that an appearance fee was paid.<\/p>\n

\u201cAbsolutely not,\u201d race organizer Richard Chassot told Wielerflits<\/a> this week when the question of a financial incentive was raised.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey have never asked me to do that, and by the way, we also don\u2019t have the capacity for it. A long time ago, I did receive a request to pay a sum for Lance Armstrong, but we refused that.<\/p>\n

\u201cWith Poga\u010dar, it was different: we were told that he wants to win and they even want to help with our communication.\u201d<\/p>\n

Just why the biggest star in the sport decided for the first time to ride the Swiss event is a big question. That is even more relevant after several WorldTour teams decided not to take part this year.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s far from the biggest race in the sport, even if it has been won in recent seasons by Primo\u017e Rogli\u010d, Geraint Thomas and Jo\u00e3o Almeida.<\/p>\n

However according to Chassot, Poga\u010dar\u2019s participation was on the cards for quite some time.<\/p>\n

He pointed out to Wielerflits that he used to be a rider and that he knows former pro and current UAE Emirates XRG<\/a> manager Mauro Gianetti well. He also said that Gianetti told him \u201ctwo or three years ago\u201d that Poga\u010dar would one day definitely compete in the Tour de Romandie.<\/p>\n

That intention turned to a definite over the winter.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn December, a week before the announcement, Mauro called me,\u201d Chassot stated. \u201cHe said: \u2018Listen, we are at training camp, we are making the program and we are definitely coming to your Tour of Romandie. You can announce it quickly from mid-December, so that you can also work on the communication.\u201d<\/p>\n

The question remains, though: why?<\/p>\n

Switching things up
\n\"TadejTadej Poga\u010dar was cheered on at Romandie by fans from Slovenia and multiple other countries (Photo: Dario Belingheri\/Getty Images)<\/p>\n

Many pro riders follow a tried and tested route towards major goals. Once a pathway is found to victory, they often mimic the same approach in subsequent years in order to try to repeat their successes.<\/p>\n

Changing things up risks leading to unexpected outcomes and in a chaotic, unpredictable sport where controlling the controllables is a mantra and way of life, forging new trails appears risky.<\/p>\n

Poga\u010dar is different.<\/p>\n

He\u2019s shaking things up in recent years, adding Paris-Roubaix to his program and this season opting for first-ever participations in Romandie and the Tour de Suisse.<\/p>\n

The reasons for him going in new directions is becoming more clear.<\/p>\n

One aspect behind his Romandie ride is simply emotional: he told CyclingProNet on Sunday<\/a> that memories from his early years influenced his thinking.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt is a WorldTour stage race. It is what suits me and I always admired the race since I was young, seeing Primo\u017e win many times,\u201d he explained. \u201cIt was always beautiful to see it on the TV. So I wanted to come here to race, to experience it and to win.\u201d<\/p>\n

However there is another factor, one which explains his appearance and also gives an insight into his future career plans.<\/p>\n

\u2018Still a lot of big races left\u2019
\n\"Poga\u010darPoga\u010dar could be inspiring young fansat multiple different events in the future (Photo: Dario Belingheri\/Getty Images)<\/p>\n

Poga\u010dar has repeatedly said that setting absolute records in the sport is not his prime motivation. He has suggested in the past that winning more editions of the Tour de France than anyone else is not a major goal for him.<\/p>\n

Instead he has suggested that pushing himself in new directions and answering different challenges is what really drives him onwards.<\/p>\n

He returned to that theme on Sunday.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t have Itzulia, I don\u2019t have a lot of races, actually,\u201d he said when asked by CyclingProNet if he wants to win all the historic stage races.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Tour Down Under, the Tour of Poland, the Eneco Tour, how do you call it\u2026 the Tim Wellens race,\u201d he said, smiling, speaking about the event won four times by Wellens and now known as the Renewi Tour.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd then one day races also. There are still a lot of big races left.<\/p>\n

\u201cLet\u2019s go one by one and see how far we can come.\u201d<\/p>\n

The statement is important in light of what lies ahead. He\u2019s been winning since a very young age and rather than becoming bored and perhaps burning out, switching things up keeps everything fresh for Poga\u010dar.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s reflective of a growth mindset, a desire to forge new ground and to innovate.<\/p>\n

Cycling fans can take encouragement from this. Wanting to win as many different WorldTour races as possible will give Poga\u010dar motivation beyond a possible fifth or sixth Tour win.<\/p>\n

It will also ensure he turns up to a wider range of events, thus giving supporters in Australia the chance to see him target victory in the Santos Tour Down Unde<\/a>r in future years.<\/p>\n

He\u2019s competed there just one, taking eight on a stage plus 13th overall back in 2019.<\/p>\n

Organizers, too, will be delighted: as Chassot noted, Poga\u010dar\u2019s participation this year was a big boost for the race and could be useful in their bid to try to attract much needed sponsorship.<\/p>\n

Other races could well benefit too, spreading the Poga\u010dar effect all around.<\/p>\n

That approach is good for the sport, and good for the rider too.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Updated May 3, 2026 03:57PM The Tour de Romandie seemed to many to be a surprising race for…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":646157,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[445],"tags":[49,48,635,54263,82,175795,54266,240532,240533,54267],"class_list":["post-646156","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-cycling","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-cycling","tag-parent_category-road","tag-sports","tag-tag-santos-tour-down-under","tag-tag-tadej-pogacar","tag-tag-tour-de-romandie","tag-tag-uae-emirates-xrg","tag-type-article"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/646156","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=646156"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/646156\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/646157"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=646156"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=646156"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=646156"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}