Full attention will turn to Tadej Pogačar this Saturday as he makes his 2026 season debut at Strade Bianche, the first of five one-day Classics he will take on this Spring.
It's the first year of his illustrious career that he won't be racing at a stage race until as late as April, with UAE Team Emirates-XRG allowing him to streamline his calendar and cherry-pick the races he wants in order to keep his motivation high through variation and, hopefully, his fatigue low.
Motivation became a point of discussion surrounding the sport's top rider throughout the latter half of last season after he visibly grew tired towards the end of the Tour de France – though it has since been revealed that he was nursing knee pain – and questions of when he would retire began to crop up.
Latest Videos From
Pogačar dismissed any suggestions he would leave cycling earlier than the expiry of his current contract with UAE, which lasts until 2030, but every time he comments on his race programme, it's Milan-San Remo and Paris-Roubaix – two races he hasn't won yet – which he continues to highlight as he tries to keep himself hungry.
"He's ready to come back. He's motivated to come back. He's also really trained seriously, this guy, and he's good, he's ready," UAE Team Emirates-XRG team principal and CEO Mauro Gianetti told Cyclingnews in Abu Dhabi at the end of the UAE Tour.
"2025 was an incredible season for him, for the team, and Tadej is now in such a big dimension, and sometimes he's fatigued. Also, to be Tadej Pogačar, not only during the races, but being Tadej Pogačar is not easy.
"This is why we decided, together with him, to take a soft spring, to start slow and to start with Strade Bianche. From there, he'll do a program just of one-day Classics and no stage races until the Tour de Romandie [starting on April 28], because the season will be long and to be Tadej is a big responsibility, which also needs to be considered."
His team have already confirmed that motivation will be the only thing required to keep him scoring such remarkable results, as he's done through his career, with team Head of Performance Jeroen Swart telling L'Equipe that "he's really at his peak. The question now is how long we can keep him at this level, and it's no longer a question of age, but mainly of motivation."
Gianetti only echoed these words as he explained how new races, such as Romandie and the Tour de Suisse – where he hasn't raced or won in the past – are what really keep him on track ahead of the main goals.
"He's a visionary. He wants to win. But he also wants to discover something, for example, this year, he changed the program, doing the Classics, Tour de Romandie and then Tour de Suisse," added Gianetti.
"He's never done that before and he wants to take the challenge to see something different, and not every year repeat the same and the same, of course. Now, the main goal remains the Tour de France, but around this, to change and try to do something different is the most important."
The team's Sports Manager, Matxin Joxean Fernandez, laid down an ominous warning as he spoke to Marca in February, saying that with Pogačar's maturity and experience, "this year he's going to progress even further."
Despite his obvious quiet confidence, Gianetti wasn't quite so bullish when talking about his star rider, noting how the level of the peloton is rising in almost all areas, especially with the juniors coming through to the WorldTour – perhaps best shown by 19-year-old Paul Seixas (Decathlon CMA CGM), who is one of the riders expected to challenge Pogačar on Saturday.
"I think all of the riders in general are progressing a lot year by year now, because the numbers we were seeing five, six years ago, they are not the same," Gianetti said.
"We are now following some young riders, 18, 19 and 20-year-olds, and they are incredible. Some have numbers like Tadej five years ago, but how are they going to go? We'll see, but it is a progression, and this is why we are trying to progress everyone on our team, Tadej too."
Get unlimited access to our unrivalled 2026 Spring Classics coverage with a Cyclingnews subscription. We'll bring you breaking news, reports, and analysis from some of the biggest races on the calendar, including Milan-San Remo, Paris-Roubaix and the Tour of Flanders. Find out more.
