Pogacar could be burned out: "I would be satisfied with what I have achieved"

During the last week of the 2025 Tour de France, we have not seen the smiling and mischievous Tadej Pogacar who is thinking about his next cycling prank, but rather one who climbed the podium with a long face, almost with dark circles. A Tadej who, in the race, once he enjoyed a tremendous lead after the Pyrenees, simply dedicated himself to marking his rivals and letting the days pass until Paris. Rivers of ink have been written these days about what is happening to the Slovenian and how he will continue his season.

The rest of Tadej Pogacar's 2025 calendar up in the air after the 2025 Tour de France

Both UAE Team Emirates-XRG and Tadej Pogacar himself had been expressing during the last week of the Tour de France how the accumulated fatigue had left him with just enough energy "To be honest, I was a little tired last week".

Something unusual in the leader of a race and even less so in a Martian like Tadej Pogacar who has shown himself to be human throughout these last days of the Tour de France. However, there is no need to look for paranormal explanations for this but simply to look at how this Tour de France has been contested, in which the record for the average speed of the race has been broken. "I have been attacked from the first day" explained the Slovenian, which has forced both him and his team to make an enormous effort against the aggressive tactics of Visma-Lease a Bike.

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This has meant that, although at the beginning of the Tour de France it was practically certain that Tadej Pogacar would be at the start, it is now completely uncertain whether we will see the cyclist from UAE Team Emirates-XRG wearing another race number for the rest of the season. "Sometimes I wonder, 'What the hell am I doing here?'. These three weeks are very long. It's a long road to Paris. I'm also getting tired and longing for the end. I just want to go home so I can do other things with my life. But it is what it is. So I better enjoy it to the fullest every day," Pogacar explained a few days ago.

With this scenario, his participation in the Vuelta a España seems to be fading and at the moment nothing seems clear according to his statements "It is not my goal to win five Tours, and right now I have no clear objectives. Maybe the World Championship this year, maybe Lombardia, but no other clear objectives. I will enjoy the moment and then think about my next goals very soon".

For the time being, as reported by the team, they will allow several days to pass so that Tadej Pogacar can recover from the tremendous physical and mental demands of this Tour de France before starting to think about the rest of the 2025 season. This contrasts with his rival Jonas Vingegaard who yesterday, after the end of the Tour de France, definitively confirmed his already announced presence at the start of the Vuelta a España.

In any case, Pogacar's attitude during the last day in Paris, once again showing that energy and ambition that he is known for, in a tremendously challenging route when his rivals in the classification chose to limit themselves to completing the stage after the times were neutralized for the general classification before the start of the final three laps, gives hope that Tadej Pogacar will return, once he rests for a few days, to have that hunger that drives him to continue making history in cycling. Whatever happens, the Slovenian is clear: "if I were burned out, I am at a point in my career where I can be proud of everything I have achieved".