Contador believes that Pogacar can aspire to win Giro, Tour and La Vuelta in 2024

Alberto Contador assures that Tadej Pogacar will try to win La Vuelta if he comes out victorious from the Giro and the Tour. The Slovenian would thus entrust himself to an unprecedented feat that would elevate him as the first cyclist to achieve the treble in a single season. It remains to be seen whether Pogacar would modify a calendar that seems especially tight with the Olympic event in Paris.

Contador bets that Pogacar could conquer the Three Grand Tours in 2024

Cycling - sport in general - demands from those who practice it professionally large doses of overcoming, work or ambition and, although it is often said that statistics are there to be broken, winning Giro-Tour-Vuelta in the same year sounds complicated even for a superclass like Pogacar. It is a feat that no one in history has been able to achieve; big words that would put the Slovenian on a pedestal that no one has stepped on.

Truth be told, there are cyclists who never had the opportunity to win this treble. La Vuelta was born in 1935 and, after an intermittent start, it began to be disputed regularly from 1955. Even so, it was necessary to wait until the decade of 1970-80 for the race to enjoy recognition to attract a greater number of top-level cyclists, spurred on by the change of dates in 1995.

In an interview given to La Gazzetta dello Sport, Alberto Contador stated: "You know what? If Tadej Pogacar wins the Giro and the Tour, he will also go for La Vuelta and try an unprecedented triple victory! I'm sure of it". The Madrid rider is confident that Pogacar will try it, although to know it is necessary to meet two high-level requirements: that he takes the victory in the Tour and the Giro.

Only seven cyclists have achieved in the same year the double Giro-Tour - the last one was Pantani in 1998 -, while the Tour-Vuelta has been achieved by three - the last one, Froome in 2017 - and another three have conquered the Giro-Vuelta - the last one, Contador himself in 2008 -.

The Madrid rider explained that the key for Pogacar to achieve the treble is to "have a really strong team around him in the Giro and a really strong team in the Tour. Does the UAE have the ability to do it? Yes".

In addition, he reinforces the Slovenian's chances due to his age - 25 years old -, something that in his opinion "changes things" when comparing it with his own attempt to achieve Giro-Tour in 2015 - at 32 years old -. In addition, he assures that the main challenge "will not be the race itself", but a Jonas Vingegaard whom he describes as "incredibly regular" and as a cyclist who "plans everything down to the last detail".

However, Pogacar - who this week has been known to continue being the highest paid cyclist in the world - announced his intentions for this season less than a month ago. Beyond the Giro and the Tour, the main objectives he had set were the Olympics and the World Championship.

If the theory proposed by Contador were to be fulfilled - for this he should first win the two grand tours in which he has confirmed his presence -, it is unknown whether he would give up any commitment or if he would bet on an all in that would further load the calendar.

Pogacar would sweat more than expected in a hypothetical summer in which he would face the Tour (29/06-21/07), the Olympic Games (03/08), La Vuelta (17/08-08/09) and the World Championship (29/09). In addition, he would accumulate the wear and tear of a start of the year marked by the spring races, the Giro (04/05-26/05) and that would close with Il Lombardia (12/10).

Pogacar is a cyclist who has broken the mold and is called to mark an era in cycling. Time will tell how far he is capable of going, although achieving the Giro-Tour-Vuelta treble in the same year would set an unparalleled precedent.

Despite the passion inherent in these speculations, it is necessary to wait and see how he performs in the first two grand tours of the year and observe how he faces the rest of the season in case of winning them.