Pogačar makes us wait a bit longer for Vuelta decision, but Pedersen has a surprise in store

Yes, the Tour de France has only just ended. But it really won’t be long before the Vuelta a España gets underway. The Tour of Spain starts in less than four weeks, but the question is: who will be at the starting line? The organisers are eager to land Tadej Pogačar, but the brand-new 5-time Tour winner remains noncommittal.

Pogacar clinched his fifth Tour victory this Sunday, with five stage wins. However, he has never won the Vuelta: he finished third in his only appearance in 2019. The last Grand Tour of the year is certainly still on his wish list. In any case, the organizers are doing everything they can to entice him: the race starts in his hometown of Monaco, and race director Javier Guillen comments on the world champion’s possible participation just about every month.

But whether he’ll be there remains to be seen. He has his sights set on a third consecutive world title. After victories in Zurich and Kigali, the next one must come in Montreal, Canada. With the time difference in mind, the Slovenian rider from UAE Team Emirates-XRG wants to prepare well for the race. The final week of the Vuelta overlaps with the GP Québec and GP Montréal, providing the perfect preparation.

So will Pogacar go for those races, or will he choose the Vuelta after all? “If the Vuelta were to start tomorrow, I’d probably say no,” he said during the press conference following the 21st stage of the Tour de France. “But I still have a few weeks to make a decision.” So we won’t be getting much more out of the star, and we’ll just have to wait and see.

This won’t make the Vuelta organisers too happy, but at least they can count on a “yes” from another, surprising star. Reportedly, Felix Gall (Decathlon CMA CGM), João Almeida (UAE Team Emirates-XRG), Wout van Aert (Visma | Lease a Bike), and Primoz Roglic (Red Bull-BORA-hansgrohe) are already set to compete, but Guillen is now also receiving confirmations from Lidl-Trek.

Thibau Nys was already on the provisional start list, but the Tour organizers have confirmed that the top riders from the German team will also be competing. In the studio of Denmark’s TV2 Sport, green jersey winner Mads Pedersen says that after three weeks of grueling racing, he has also added the Vuelta to his schedule. He will ride the Tour of Spain alongside Mattias Skjelmose, who finished sixth overall in Paris.

This would be Pedersen’s third time competing in the Vuelta. In his previous two editions, he won the points jersey and has already claimed a total of four stage victories. Skelmose has also enjoyed success in Spain: the climber has only competed once, but in 2024 he finished fifth in the general classification—his best performance to date in a Grand Tour. Will he be aiming for the podium this time?