Pogacar to skip Vuelta, focus on one-day races

As the dust settles on a memorable Tour de France, Tadej Pogačar will look to his next challenges for the later part of the season.

Pogacar will return to competition in Spain at the Clasica San Sebastian this week but will skip the final Grand Tour of the season, the Vuelta a Espana, his team UAE Emirates said on Tuesday.

Pogacar narrowly missed winning a third successive Tour de France title, coming second to Jumbo—Visma’s Jonas Vingegaard in cycling’s biggest race, which finished on Sunday.

UAE Emirates manager Joxean Fernandez Matxin on Sunday told Spain’s AS that the team’s plan was to have Pogacar compete at the Vuelta, but added that he would have to sit down with the Slovenian rider and “see how he feels after the Tour.”

“The 23-year old will be in action as soon as next weekend for the San Sebastian Classic in the Basque Country, before taking a break and building up towards a block of one-day races starting with the GP Plouay in France before building up towards the World Championships and Il Lombardia where his won in 2021,” UAE Emirates said in a statement on Tuesday.

UAE Emirates added that Pogacar had his sights set on competing at September’s UCI Road World Championship in Australia and Il Lombardia in Italy.

Following the Il Lombardía, Pogačar and his fellow riders and members of UAE Team Emirates will be jetting into the UAE for one final warm-weather training camp before the curtain falls on the 2022 season.

The Vuelta a Espana begins in Utrecht on Aug. 19.

Full programme:

July 30: San Sebastián Classic

August 28: August GP Plouay

September 9: GP Quebec

September 11: GP Montreal

September 25: World Championships

October 1: Giro Dell’Emilia

October 4: Tre Valli Varesine

October 8: Il Lombardía