"I don't know if it's even worth answering that question," was Tadej Pogačar's categorical reply when asked if he thought he could win the Vuelta a España without too much effort this August. "It's going to be a very tough race."
Speaking just hours before the race, which saw him emerge as a Grand Tour star in 2019 when he finished third overall, claimed three stages and the white jersey, Pogačar's keenly anticipated return to the Vuelta a España will now see him fight for the only three-week stage race still missing from his palmares.
Widely considered the greatest rider in the world, perhaps even of all time, the UAE Team Emirates-XRG rider has just racked up his fifth Tour de France win in seven editions and is considered the stand-out favourite in the Spanish Grand Tour. However, he was almost scathing when asked if he thought that the Vuelta would be an easy event to win in comparison.
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"I don't know if it's even worth answering that question," he said. "Here there is a very stacked competition, why say much tougher in the Tour, because here you also have amazing talents on the startline. It's going to be a very tough race, it's going to be a hard one. Everybody that is here, I expect them to be in top shape and there are some very, very good riders here. It's never easy."
Pogačar also pushed back at the idea that - as was almost possible in the Giro d'Italia in 2024 - he could lead the Vuelta from beginning to end. For one thing, he viewed the opening very short time trial as more one for the specialists, given its very technical format. For another, he wanted to wait until the first big mountain stages to have a chance to gauge his form, and for a third, with the Worlds, Europeans and Il Lombardia on the menu after the Vuelta, he did not want to, as he put it, "end the race destroyed."
"I will have to see my shape in the first few stages and always thinking about the three big races afterwards," he said. "I shouldn't end this race completely destroyed. I need to race smart and then see in the first few stages how we approach it."
That didn't take away from his overriding goal, which was to win all three Grand Tours, he confirmed, and that necessarily means he will do his utmost to finish the Vuelta wearing la roja in Granada on the evening of September 13.
"It's been quite a short time after the Tour de France to come here, but I had enough time to recover, and this starts close to my home," Pogačar said.
"So I'm looking forward to it, it is one missing goal from my career, so I will give my best to try and win.
"For me to win all three Grand Tours has been a big goal and dream for a few years now. So it's going to be important to be good here at the Vuelta."
Pogačar recognised that the fact that the Vuelta was his first ever Grand Tour had often made him want to do it sooner in his career, but his team - never in favour of having their younger riders do two Grand Tours in a single year - did not encourage that until he was older.
"For sure I have nice memories of the Vuelta, I was a young kid back there, but now there's a completely different approach to any race. So it almost feels like my first Vuelta again.
"I would sit down in December [with the team] and see if there was the potential [chance to race], and everybody would push back the Vuelta before the Tour. But in my mind I wanted to come and start here in Monaco. I can't skip the Tour, but this year was the time."
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