"He can enter into history": Matxin points to Pogacar's 2026 calendar

In an interview with Eurosport, Josean Fernandez 'Matxin' reviewed a new stellar season for Tadej Pogacar while pointing out where things will go in 2026, a campaign in which once again the Tour de France and the Montreal World Championships will be unavoidable events for a Pogacar who increasingly finds it more difficult to surpass his previous season.

Achieving the fifth Tour de France, Tadej Pogacar's number 1 goal in 2026

Tour de France, three monuments, his second World Championship, "This year he has won less, but it is also true that they have been much more selective races and of higher quality" explained Matxin, director of Tadej Pogacar at UAE Team Emirates-XRG when asked if this just concluded 2025 season had been better or worse than the incredible 2024 campaign.

The director of the Emirati team hinted in an interview at what Tadej Pogacar's objectives will be in 2026, where the bar, if he wants to continue improving, will be tremendously high for the Slovenian. However, Matxin is clear "next year he could enter the history of the winners of five Tour de France and that is the path to follow" making it clear that all training will once again be focused on achieving maximum performance in July at the French tour.

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This is how Matxin responded when asked about the great achievements in Tadej Pogacar's record: Milan-San Remo and Paris-Roubaix, events on which the Basque coach did not comment, although it is a situation that reminds us of last spring when speculations about Pogacar's participation in the Hell of the North were maintained almost until the last minute.

Tadej Pogacar's next major goal in the 2026 calendar will be the World Championships where he will also have a date with history since, if achieved, it would be his third title which would place him in the record of maximum world titles won by a cyclist alongside names like Peter Sagan, Óscar Freire, Rik van Steenbergen, Alfredo Binda and, of course, the unreachable Eddy Merckx.

A comparison with Eddy Merckx that Matxin affirms is not a topic that obsesses them from the point of view that they are completely different eras and cycling, and that the important thing about Tadej Pogacar is not only what he wins but how he wins it, it is pure spectacle, living history of cycling. We should be proud to be able to say "I have seen how Tadej Pogacar won races".

Returning to the Montreal World Championships, an event that follows the route of the Grand Prix Montreal that Pogacar knows well how to win, the most direct implication that this event will once again be a priority is that, once again, it is most likely that the Vuelta a España will be sacrificed "It is an objective that we would like at some point but in the current calendar, if you want to do the Tour, Vuelta, and World Championships, it means being away from home for four months and in top form" clarified Matxin.

With these general lines, Tadej Pogacar's 2026 season should closely resemble the just concluded one in terms of the events that will have his presence, always pending the decision that both he and the team choose for the spring, whether to focus on one-week races, go all out for the spring classics seeking to check off San Remo and Roubaix from the list, or something mixed like in 2024 where he tackled the Volta a Catalunya in his preparation for the Giro d'Italia.