‘If I get bored I won’t last too long’: Pogačar’s future in cycling

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It’s like the 2024 Tour de France all over again. Tadej Pogačar will square off against Jonas Vingegaard and Remco Evenepoel at the Critérium du Dauphiné, starting Sunday, and is keen to see how he compares.

However that curiosity and his customary drive to dominate is tempered a little by an element of the unknown: training has been going great, but he hasn’t competed since Liège-Bastogne-Liège.

He wants to win, but he keeps telling himself he doesn’t need to win.

He might, but it’s no disaster if he doesn’t.

“The competition here is amazing,” he told a range of journalists, including Velo, in an online press conference Saturday.

“It’s almost same as Tour de France for the GC, and with some hard stages, and time trial. I have to remind myself that I’m coming from a big training block and that we are tapering more for the Tour de France.

“If something goes wrong that I don’t win this race, I need to let go of this pressure.”

Pogačar is certainly facing a weight of expectation. That happens when you are as relentlessly successful as he is, when you have won seven times out of 14 days of racing thus far, and when you have the rainbow jersey of reigning world champion stretched across your back.

As much as Vingegaard and Evenepoel are incredible riders, the weight of recent success is in Pogačar’s favor. And so, for some, anything other than a big result will be jarring.

He underlines that he needs to not think that way.

“All the pressure is on me,” he accepted. “I have to let it go this time and try to enjoy the race. To see how the legs are turning, and try to be of course as good as possible. To try to win.

“But a lot of times we saw that Dauphiné is not a true indicator where you will finish at Tour de France.

“So let’s kick it off tomorrow with a good start. I hope everything goes smoothly. I hope we have some great battles on the climbs and in the time trial.

“We will see what happen with not too much stress, not too much pressure.”

‘We will see soon if the legs are good’

Pogačar was in sublime form this spring (Photo: Chris Auld/Velo)

Pogačar seemed relaxed in the conference, his baseball cap turned backwards and one of his rainbow-enhanced Colnagos on display behind him. He perhaps wasn’t coming out with as many quips as usual and his face was more often serious than smiling, but he insisted all was going as planned.

“More or less this year was a similar plan to 2023, but then I broke my hand and I could not train like I wanted,” he said, referring to his disrupted schedule of two years ago.

“So this is the first time for me coming out of proper classics season and restarting different training.

“I was in Sierra Nevada quite early doing good training [sessions], real quality training.”

Those sessions included plenty of climbing and also TT work. The periods at altitude will also boost his level. And while he said he would have liked even more time there keep building, he’s feeling good about where he is at right now, and where he is headed with a view to the Tour.

“So far, I think the lead in training to Dauphiné was good. In Dauphiné we get some speed in the legs,” he said. “And then we see what we can improve, if there’s some room for improvement, or [if we need to] just to relax after the Dauphiné.

“Maybe after Dauphiné one day more on TT bike than planned or something, or one more day of certain intervals.

“But more or less, I think I’m on the right way. We will see quite soon if the numbers and the legs are good.”

Of course riders don’t have to wait until race day to understand how they are going. Power meters and other tools can track performance away from competition, and give a much greater insight than years past in terms of what is happening during periods of preparation.

Still, racing is different, with in-bunch time demanding mental attention and physical explosiveness. It often helps to really hone form.

But going off what he knows, he’s pleased with where he is at and also where he has been over the past six months.

“At the moment, the numbers in training for me are good in December, in February, April, all year round,” he said, when asked specifically what the data shows. “They are quite good.

“Maybe in November, they are not the best, but yeah, I’m pretty happy with the numbers.”

Pogačar’s tone of voice and demeanor suggested that ‘pretty happy’ means ‘very satisfied,’ which bodes well for the Tour. Vingegaard and Evenepoel are also talking up their current numbers and that sets the scene for a big July.

It also whets the appetite for what is to come in the days ahead.

‘I’m taking a totally different approach’

Pogačar had an unorthadox approach this spring for a Tour de France champion (Photo: Chris Auld/Velo)

One of the most interesting things about Pogačar is his need to keep shaking things up. Grand tour-winning riders often follow a tried and trusted formula, doing the same buildup year-in, year-out in a bid to reach July in the best possible form.

Pogačar is different. He takes chances, gambles a little. Never mind that the Giro-Tour double hadn’t been achieved in 25 years, and that many considered it impossible in the modern era. He rode both, he won both.

And when warned that Paris-Roubaix is a dangerous race, he competed anyway this year, and very nearly won.

He also took in a full classics program this season, unlike some of the specialists such as Mathieu van der Poel.

The Dauphiné too is a bit of experimentation. Pogačar has only done the race once before, finishing fourth back in 2020. But rather than taking a template and repeating it year on year, he said on Saturday that he needs variety.

Indeed he suggested his ongoing presence in the sport depends on it.

“I have to get rid of that mentality that I need to win this race,” he said, when asked by Velo if there was a risk in his doing only one stage race thus far in 2025, and instead taking part in multiple single day events.

“I didn’t race a one week race since the UAE Tour, and that’s a completely different race as well. So yeah, [I’m taking] a totally different approach than last year.

“But what’s the reason behind it? Because I just want to experience new things. Not to be bored and always doing the same thing. Because probably [with that] I wouldn’t last long.

“That’s the main reason, I think, why I change the program here and there.”

Surely it takes a lot of courage to try a different approach to many other GC riders?

“Yeah. I think change is good anyway,” he replied.

“So at least for me, I think changes here and there can benefit you in in a good way. For sure.

“In my case, I gain a lot of experience to ride in the bunch or to have different speed, to understand the race differently, because I race all kind of terrains in races.

“So it’s not just one week races, going from Paris-Nice to Catalunya to Basque to Dauphiné or Swiss. It’s just I think those kind of races are more or less always the same outcome.

“With the Classics it is always a little bit more interesting, in my opinion.”

Rating chief rival Jonas Vingegaard

Vingegaard is hoping to return to the form he had in the 2023 Tour de France. (Photo: Bernard Papon/Pool/AFP via Getty Images)

One of the most fascinating things about this year’s Dauphiné should be the clash between himself and Jonas Vingegaard.

The Dane beat Pogačar in both the 2022 and 2023 editions of the Tour de France, outclassing him both times, but had a disrupted buildup last year due to injury.

He fell again this season, suffering a concussion in Paris-Nice. He hasn’t raced since. However his fans can take encouragement from recent statements, with Visma-Lease a Bike team boss Richard Plugge talking up his chances, saying he is a better three week rider than his rival, and that he is stronger than in the past.

His coach Tim Heemskerk also suggested he is ahead of where he has been in recent years.

“I am really looking forward to it,” Pogačar said about the upcoming battle. “He looks in good shape, from what I saw. So I think we can expect that he will be at a super good level.

“He had a tough spring, but I think he will be super good.”

Of course there are many other riders in the race, something Pogačar emphasized.

“Also I cannot forget about the others. It’s not just a focus on Jonas, but on the other contenders too,

“I’m really looking forward to race against him and Remco, for example, and to see how it goes.

“It’s going to be fun to watch on the TV and, I hope, also fun to race if there’s good legs.”