UAE Team Emirates-XRG management has made it clear that, while they are well aware that Tadej Pogačar's top stage racing rivals are constantly raising their games, their confidence in the Slovenian star to handle all challenges, including the fast-looming Critérium du Dauphiné and Tour de France, remains more than intact, too.
Pogačar is set to cross swords with both Remco Evenepoel (Soudal-QuickStep) and Jonas Vingegaard (Visma-Lease a Bike) in the upcoming Dauphiné, widely viewed as the dress rehearsal for the Tour, which starts on Sunday.
It will be the first time Pogačar has competed against Vingegaard and Evenepoel in a stage race since the Tour last year, and also marks his return to competition after conquering Liège-Bastogne-Liège for a third time back in late April. He last took part in the Dauphiné back in 2020, finishing fourth overall prior to winning the Tour that year, his first of three titles.
Fresh from their remarkable triumph in the Giro d'Italia with Simon Yates against UAE's young racer Isaac del Toro, Visma-Lease a Bike have been keen to show they are ready to take the fight to Pogačar in June as well.
But as UAE's sports director Hauptman, often in the lead team car when the Slovenian races, told national TV channel RTVSlo, UAE are more than happy to meet that challenge – and all others, too.
"We are sticking to our plan, which we believe is the right one. We are definitely aware that Vingegaard and Evenepoel will be at the highest level in the Tour, but we will be too," Hauptman said.
"We are not afraid of Vingegaard, we are not afraid of anyone."
Regarding the Critérium du Dauphiné, Pogačar has only raced the key warm-up race for the Tour de France once before, back in 2020.
After last year, where Pogačar crushed the field in the Giro d'Italia but then rested up afterwards for the whole of June, Hauptman said that as a point of reference for this July, the Critérium will be vital.
"The Dauphiné will be a real test for the Tour de France with the same organiser and similar competition," he argued to RTVSlo.
"Tadej will definitely be at a top level there, we are used to him being in top shape all season. We will see where we are, and then add the finishing touches with his altitude training camp."
Pogačar has already been training at altitude in Sierra Nevada, and will go directly to the Dauphiné from the Spanish ski station, Hauptman said. He will go to altitude again, but in the Alps, after the Dauphiné ends on June 15. From there, it will be onto the Tour de France start on July 5 in Lille.
"Every three-week race is brutal, but the biggest difference is created by the riders themselves. In the Tour, in particular, the competition is at its highest, and the pressure is massive," Hauptman observed about Pogačar's biggest stage racing target of the year.
Apart from the usual high temperatures of summer, "The first week in northern France could be very nervous, and we'll have to be very careful. Having a strong team to handle all those stages will be important."
The 2025 Tour will also return to the Col de La Loze, where in 2023, Pogačar, already on the back foot to Vingegaard after the previous day's time trial at Combloux, definitively lost the overall.
Then there is also the ascent of the Mont Ventoux, where Vingegaard dropped Pogačar in the 2021 Tour close to the summit, in what turned out to be the first indication that the Dane could one day beat the Slovenian in the high mountains, as he did in both 2022 and 2023.
"There are quite a few climbs where Tadej has not yet won, including the Col de la Loze," Hauptman pointed out. "That will definitely be extra motivation for him."
