Pogačar reveals what caused his crash at La Vuelta and outlines his three major goals for 2027

Tadej Pogačar has an outstanding account with La Vuelta and wants to settle it in 2027. The Slovenian has confirmed that the Spanish round is among his major objectives for the upcoming season, alongside the Tour de France and the World Championship. An ambitious program with which he aims to leave behind the serious accident that forced him to end his 2026 campaign early.

Pogačar is already thinking about returning to La Vuelta in 2027 and reveals his three major objectives for the upcoming season

La Vuelta remains the only grand tour missing from Pogačar's palmarès. This year he had an excellent opportunity to conquer it, but a fall in the eighth stage, while wearing the red leader's jersey, ended his aspirations and left him out of competition for the rest of the season.

Now, almost two months after that accident, the UAE Team Emirates-XRG rider has begun to talk about his future. He did so this Sunday during a charity event held in Slovenia, where he acknowledged that his intention is to compete in La Vuelta again in 2027, although personally he would prefer to return to the Giro d'Italia.

"I would like to compete in the World Championship again, combined with the Tour and La Vuelta, which did not go as I expected this year. Although I would prefer to race the Giro, I will have to complete La Vuelta at some point. I think that will be the objective for next year," Pogačar explained in statements reported by the Slovenian newspaper Delo.

A World Championship that could complicate his return to La Vuelta

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Pogačar's choice presents a significant difficulty. The 2027 calendar places the Road World Championship immediately before La Vuelta, leaving very little recovery time between the two competitions.

The Slovenian would attempt to conquer his sixth Tour de France in July and, just over a month later, compete in the World Championship in the French Haute-Savoie. The men's road race will take place on August 29 in Sallanches, on a particularly mountainous route.

Just six days later, on September 4, La Vuelta will begin, which will last until the 26th. These dates would force Pogačar to link the effort of the World Championship with three weeks of competition.

For now, the rider has expressed his preferences, but his final program will still need to be finalized with the team. The combination of the three races would mean concentrating a good part of his main objectives for the season between July and September.

Pogačar confirms what really caused his fall in La Vuelta

During his meeting with the media, Pogačar also clarified one of the most discussed aspects of his accident. After weeks of speculation about the possibility that he had hit a camera or some object detached from a motorcycle, the Slovenian was emphatic.

"It was a big stone. Everything else is fake news", he stated, according to the Slovenian agency STA.

Pogačar suffered a fracture and dislocation of his left clavicle, a fracture of a cervical vertebra, and a concussion. The injuries forced him to stay off the bike for five weeks and prevented him from defending his world title in Montreal, competing in the European Championship in Slovenia, and participating in Il Lombardia.

The rider acknowledged that he considered participating in the European Championship, but ultimately ruled out returning so soon due to the risk of suffering another fall.

He is currently training regularly and has begun his preparation for 2027 about a month earlier than usual. Before returning to official competition, he plans to participate on November 29 in the BeKing charity criterium in Monaco.

Pogačar will thus close a 2026 that, despite its troubled ending, has allowed him to conquer his fifth Tour de France and add the Milan-San Remo to his palmarès. Now, his next big challenge could take him back to the Spanish roads where he ended his season.