Why hasn't Pogacar debuted yet in the 2026 season?

We are already in the second month of the 2026 cycling season, the races are getting more competitive, and there are only a handful of cyclists who have not yet pinned on their numbers. Among them is Tadej Pogacar, who has made some modifications to his calendar. His director, Josean Fernández 'Matxin', explained why.

New Stimuli for Tadej Pogacar in the 2026 Season

These days, the UAE Tour is taking place, the flagship race for the UAE Team Emirates-XRG. It is a race where Tadej Pogacar, who counts his participations by victories, has been missed. His director, Matxin, revealed the reasons for delaying the Slovenian's season start in an interview with Diario As.

In mid-December, during one of the pre-season training camps in Alicante, Tadej Pogacar advanced his calendar up to the Tour de France. A race program where the most striking aspect is that Pogacar will not make an appearance until the Strade Bianche, the start of a first block focused on the classics that will culminate in Liège-Bastogne-Liège, with stops at Milan-San Remo, Tour of Flanders, and Paris-Roubaix. After that, on the way to the Tour, Pogacar has added the Tour de Romandie and the Tour de Suisse, races that are not yet in his palmarès.

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Matxin explained that having such a versatile cyclist as Tadej Pogacar makes it possible for him to compete in a very varied number of events. The idea is to seek new stimuli and avoid becoming complacent with the same calendar. Additionally, this allows the directors of UAE Team Emirates-XRG to give opportunities to other cyclists on the team, like Isaac del Toro, who is currently fighting to win the UAE Tour.

Matxin also spoke about the classics, races that require Tadej Pogacar to step out of his comfort zone and where there is no magic recipe that the Slovenian can apply to, for example, achieve San Remo and Roubaix, the two major gaps in his palmarès. The unpredictable factors that often condition these races and having to face rivals like Van der Poel add uncertainty to whether Pogacar can win when it would be easier for him to focus solely on stage races, his natural terrain.

Regarding the doubts about waiting until the last minute to confirm Pogacar's calendar and whether he will tackle any more grand tours in 2026, Matxin was emphatic. They do not want to condition their rivals' calendars or have them avoid the Slovenian cyclist, as has clearly happened in the past year. In any case, the program up to the Tour de France seems well defined, and the question arises again about what will happen after the Tour.

On this matter, Matxin spoke about the psychological demands of preparing for the Tour, almost without stepping foot at home since May. Including La Vuelta in the program means adding more training camps and extending the activity period after the Tour for several more months. In any case, La Vuelta remains among the pending objectives, and out of respect for the event, he will participate when he is truly prepared to win it.