Tadej Pogačar hasn’t raced yet in 2026, but that will change on Saturday at Strade Bianche. The UAE Team Emirates–XRG world champion has given us no real race reference for his form — yet on Wednesday, Strava suddenly delivered another sign of “super legs.”
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Pogačar made headlines multiple times over the winter thanks to eye-watering Strava records, whether achieved with or without the help of teammates. UAE boss Joxean Fernández ‘Matxin’ has already hinted he expects an even better Pogačar in 2026, and previous Strava uploads with power numbers only fuelled that feeling.
So the big question may not be whether Pogačar can win Strade Bianche again — it’s whether the rainbow jersey can finally win Milan–Sanremo in 2026. He has tried so many times, but La Primavera is still missing from his palmarès.
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UAE turn it into a bigger project every year, and while the tactics didn’t always line up perfectly before 2025, last year gave us one of the best editions in modern memory: Pogačar went all-in on both the Cipressa and the Poggio, but still couldn’t drop Mathieu van der Poel.
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Van der Poel won Milan-Sanremo for a second time in 2025, Pogacar is still waiting to win.
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Pogačar six seconds faster on the Cipressa?
With another showdown between the two looming, the big question is: what will Pogačar do? The simplest answer is: go even harder, and finally try to break Van der Poel. A hidden effort on Strava suggests that might be possible.
Pogačar didn’t upload his training ride from Tuesday, 3 March, but Strava segment data is still stored. An attentive observer noticed that, on Tuesday, Pogačar improved his personal best on the Cipressa by six seconds.
In 2025, Van der Poel and Pogačar stormed up the Cipressa in 8:57. The Slovenian is said to have ridden 8:51 on Tuesday — an average speed of 37.8 km/h on a climb of 5.6 km at 4.2%. Van der Poel… are you ready?
Bram van der Ploeg (35) is the proud founder of In de Leiderstrui, IDL Pro Cycling's parent site, launched in 2018. Finally, he could create stories about the sport he had followed since childhood. He is the editor-in-chief on paper, but prefers to be with his recorder next to a rider, a team bus, or in the mud at a cyclocross race. Every year, from February to the end of May, Bram follows the entire Italian cycling season, from the Trofeo Laigueglia to the Giro d'Italia, with the grand finale in October in Lombardy. During that time, he lives in Tuscany, where he has since come to call Italy his 'home'.
Wow, wow, wow 🤯 Tadej Pogačar just 18 days before Milano Sanremo has beaten the famous Cipressa record from the Milano Sanremo 2025 race.
So now he rode the 5,6 km with average gradient 4,2% with an average speed of 37,8 km/h.
HE IS READY 😤
Velofacts
@velofacts
Someone pointed out to me that Pogi has a new PR on the Cipressa