Tadej Pogacar

Slovenian Tadej Pogačar burst onto the professional cycling scene in 2019 after signing to UAE Team Emirates for his first pro season. A winner of the Tour de l'Avenir in 2018, Pogačar further proved his promise for the future by winning the Volta ao Algarve and Tour of California, then taking three stages at the Vuelta a España and third overall in his first Grand Tour.

In one of the most stunning upsets in Tour de France history, Pogačar snatched the overall victory of the 2020 Tour de France from Primož Roglič on the individual time trial to La Planche des Belles Filles, delivering a stunning performance in his debut race. He won the overall classification, three stages, plus the best young rider and mountains classifications.

Pogačar repeated that performance in 2021, dominating the Tour de France with three stage wins and three classifications in a season where he also won Tirreno-Adriatico, the UAE Tour, Liège–Bastogne–Liège, an Olympic bronze medal and Il Lombardia.

In 2022, Pogačar started the season with a repeat victory in the UAE Tour, then won Strade Bianche with a stunning 50km solo attack. A repeat at Tirreno-Adriatico followed ahead of top-five results in Milan-San Remo and the Tour of Flanders before he refocused on the Tour de France. Pogačar took the lead of the 2022 Tour de France on stage 6 to Longwy but lost the lead to Jonas Vingegaard on stage 11 where he uncharacteristically struggled and lost his lead and an additional 2:22. He fought through in the final week to finish second overall.

In 2023, Pogačar returned to the Spring Classics and put in a stunning performance to win the Tour of Flanders, dropping Mathieu van der Poel on the Oude Kwaremont and soloing in for the win. He'd go on to win the Amstel Gold Race and La Flèche Wallonne before a crash at Liège-Bastogne-Liège left him with a broken wrist and battling for fitness ahead of the Tour de France. In July, he was unable to match Vingegaard for the second year in a row, finishing in second place, a full 7:29 behind the Dane.

Later in the season, he took his third straight win at Il Lombardia and also made the podium at the UCI Road World Championships, having made the winning move with Van der Poel and Mads Pedersen before dropping away as the Dutchman attacked to victory.

Pogačar's 2024 season surpassed anything the cycling world has seen since the days of Eddy Merckx. After starting with a win in Strade Bianche, he dominated the Volta a Catalunya, winning two mountain stages before soloing away for 59km to win stage 6 and then claiming his fourth stage and the overall on the final day. In April, he won Liège-Bastogne-Liège for the second time before starting his debut Giro d'Italia in May. In Italy, he dominated from stage 2, taking the pink jersey at the Santuario di Oropa and holding the lead to the end, winning by almost 10 minutes in Rome after adding another five stage wins to his tally.

His streak of dominance continued at the Tour de France, where he led the race for all but one day from stage 2 onwards, winning another six stages including three in a row to close out the race. After dominating the closing time trial in Nice, he stood on the podium over six minutes up on Vingegaard to claim the first Giro-Tour double since Marco Pantani in 1998.

He rounded out the most dominant season in recent history with a win at the GP de Montréal, a debut world title in Switzerland with a 100km attack, and then two more wins at the Giro dell'Emilia and Il Lombardia (with another 48km attack), ending his year with 25 wins in 58 race days.

He kicked off his 2025 season with three more wins, taking two stages and the overall at the UAE Tour, his third title at his team's home race before winning Strade Bianche, The Tour of Flanders, Flèche Wallonne, Liège-Bastogne-Liège, the Dauphiné, and then his fourth Tour de France. A second world title and a record fifth Il Lombardia followed.

In 2026, Pogačar finally won Milan-San Remo in a sprint over Tom Pidcock. He won a third Tour of Flanders and Strade Bianche for the fourth time but missed out on Paris-Roubaix at the hands of Wout van Aert. He won Tour of Romandie and Tour de Suisse.

Key results

🥇Tour de France overall winner (2020, 2021, 2024, 2025)
🥇Tour de France stages (21)
🥇 UCI Road World Championships (2024, 2025)
🥇Giro d'Italia (2024)
🥇Giro d'Italia stages (6)
🥇Liège-Bastogne-Liège (2021, 2024, 2025, 2026)
🥇Tour of Flanders (2023, 2025, 2026)
🥇Il Lombardia (2021, 2022, 2023, 2024, 2025)
🥇Paris-Nice (2023)
🥇Tirreno-Adriatico overall winner (2021, 2022)
🥇Amstel Gold Race (2023)
🥇La Flèche Wallonne (2023, 2025)
🥇Strade Bianche (2022, 2024, 2025, 2026)

Other victories

UAE Tour (2021, 2022, 2025)

Volta a Catalunya (2024)

Vuelta a Andalucía (2023)

Volta a la Comunitat Valenciana (2020)

3x stages & best young rider, Vuelta a España (2019)

Tour of California (2019)
Volta ao Algarve (2019

Giro dell'Emilia (2024)

GP Montréal (2022, 2024)

Jaén Paraiso Interior (2023)
Tre Valli Varesine (2022)
Tour of Slovenia (2022)