From the 2024 Tour de France to the 2025 Criterium du Dauphiné, Tadej Pogacar and Jonas Vingegaard did not meet in racing a single time. But in the second half of this year that is not the case as the two will meet each other on a few occasions, and in one specific with Primoz Roglic as well. The trio headline a newly-created event in Andorra.
This will be the ‘Andorra Cycling Masters’, not a professional race but an event that has a time-trial and a criterium in the European micro-nation, which is chosen by hundreds of professionals to be their home. This event will be taking place on the 19th of October, after the end of their season and on the last days of what is the professional road cycling season in Europe.
IPG Mediabrands Entertainment CEO Alfonso García Valenzuela, who will be part of the production team for a documentary on the event, has said the following regarding the race: “For the first time, we are going to have the best cyclists in the world compete without teams, without strategies, without radios, just them and their talent and the road to see who is crowned the champion of champions”.
It is a tradition for the big stars to be invited to criteriums after the end of Grand Tour, mainly the Tour de France which famously features around two weeks of events around France and Belgium mostly. However this one is quite different taking into consideration it’s distance towards all three-week races of the season, and also taking into consideration that it is not near the place of residence for any of the big three riders.
An event for fun, but will we see a battle too? This will be taking place in Andorra where there is barely a meter of flat roads, meaning the riders will go up the mountains. Many more pro riders are set to take part in the event, including already confirmed Isaac del Toro, runner-up at the Giro d’Italia. After their cycling season is over and in a criterium format, the riders will be able to go as hard as they want before the much-deserved off-season.
Could we have a climbing battle between Tadej Pogacar, Jonas Vingegaard, Primoz Roglic, Isaac del Toro and several other of the world’s best climbers to finish off the season in style on a non-professional race?
“Holding an event of these characteristics, when it is the first time that original cycling is returned to, without teams, just the cyclist, the bicycle and the road, we think that it is a return to the essence and this will be the beginning of something great in the world of cycling,” Valenzuela concluded.
The courses
The event will consist of an 8-kilometer mountain time trial up the Collada de la Gallina, one of the most popular and difficult climbs in the area; and a 32-kilometer long criterium in Andorra-la-Vella.
Organizers David Quintana has also further boosted the event’s idea and purpose in words to Sporza, as the country’s pushes to become an even more attractive destination for pro riders and cycling tourism in general: “We want four top-level riders to race against each other without the support of their teams. This way, fans can see every year who the champion of champions really is.”