Pogacar plays down chances of being in mix for Stage 13 win<\/p>\n
Video credit: TNT Sports<\/p>\n
Pogacar<\/a> has not raced the Vuelta<\/a> in seven years – his only appearance in the iconic race to date.<\/p>\n The Slovenian, then aged 20, finished third after taking three stage wins and won the white jersey as the best young rider for his breakthrough performance.<\/p>\n Despite an impressive debut, Pogacar has not returned. Instead, he has remained focused on the Tour de France, where he has raced seven times and won four general classification titles.<\/p>\n Two years ago he added the Giro d’Italia to his resume, and Contador has told Eurosport Spain that he believes it is time for the 27-year-old to give the Vuelta another crack.<\/p>\n “I would understand him racing it given the limited number of days of competition he’s had,” he explained.<\/p>\n “They’ve been very intense – Strade Bianche, the Monuments, Romandie, Switzerland, and the Tour – but I think he could perfectly well do the Vuelta and then the World Championships. <\/p>\n “Especially since [the Vuelta is] a race he doesn’t yet have in his palmares, and it’s unlikely he’ll have such a light racing schedule again. <\/p>\n “In his situation, I would do the Vuelta, the World Championships, and Lombardy. I think it’s perfectly compatible; any given day of Tadej’s home training load is more demanding than a stage in a Grand Tour.”<\/p>\n Pogacar won the Tour de France last year, but it came at a cost, as the Slovenian was left mentally and physically exhausted.<\/p>\n So far at this year’s race, Pogacar has won three stages and leads the general ranking.<\/p>\n Contador has admitted that Pogacar’s chances of riding the Vuelta will depend largely on how the Tour de France unfolds.<\/p>\n “UAE has to assess this, especially on a personal level,” he said. <\/p>\n “Physically, he looks like he’ll finish the Tour in perfect condition, but last year he finished with little desire to ride, a bit disillusioned.<\/p>\n “It will depend on how the Tour unfolds and everything else. When you wear the yellow jersey, especially for more than a year, you end up completely burned out.”<\/p>\n Add TNT Sports as a preferred source here<\/a> to enjoy more content like this.Watch and stream the cycling season, including the Tour de France, live on TNT Sports and HBO Max.<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Pogacar plays down chances of being in mix for Stage 13 win Video credit: TNT Sports Pogacar has…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":697572,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[37],"tags":[4985,101,56,54,55,231743],"class_list":["post-697571","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-cycling","tag-cycling","tag-sports","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom","tag-vuelta-a-espana-2026"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/697571","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=697571"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/697571\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/697572"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=697571"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=697571"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=697571"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}