Tadej Pogačar’s Giro d’Italia debut will have to wait for at least another year. Race director Mauro Vegni already conceded as much when he unveiled the 2023 route in Milan last month and now Pogačar has confirmed that his Grand Tour focus will be squarely on the Tour de France next year.
“I still don’t know when I’ll manage to compete for the maglia rosa,” Pogačar told La Gazzetta dello Sport. “It’s a race that I really like, it intrigues me, but circumstances have pushed me to give priority to the Tour de France. After my second place of this year, my objective is to recapture the Tour.”
After winning the Tour on his debut in 2020 and repeating the feat the following summer, Pogačar was favoured to notch up his hat-trick last July only to be outmanoeuvred by Jonas Vingegaard and Jumbo-Visma on the Col du Granon.
Either side of that Tour setback, of course, Pogačar was as consistent as ever across the season, from his dominance at Strade Bianche and Tirreno-Adriatico in March to his second successive Il Lombardia victory in October.
“I’d be happy to have a similar level of performance to my last seasons, when I managed to win important races,” Pogačar said. “Of course, the objective is to go again for the Tour, but it won’t be easy.”
Pogačar has yet to confirm his full race programme for next season, though after being crowned Slovenian cyclist of the year last week, he had suggested that it would be similar in outline to his 2022 schedule.
“Italy won’t be missing from the calendar,” said Pogačar, who identified Milan-San Remo among the races he aims to conquer before he calls time on his career, along with the Tour of Flanders and the World Championships, which in 2023 takes place in Glasgow in an earlier, August date.
“In my heart, there’s the desire to make up for my fourth place this year at the Tour of Flanders. San Remo is another one because I haven’t managed to win it yet and finally there’s the World Championships: it’s a race I’m really missing and in 2023 it will be a nice challenge, with the novelty that the rainbow jersey is up for grabs in the summer.”
