Tadej Pogacar likely to give up Vuelta spot to teammate: "My only clear goals are the World Championships and Il Lombardia"

Pogacar already said that he was ready for some rest. “Now it's time to celebrate. Everyone does that in their own way, but I prefer to take it easy. I hope for good weather and a few quiet days at home,” said the Slovenian, who also ended his podium speech with a wink. “Maybe I'll be back!”

During the press conference, he set the tone. “Please don't ask me any difficult questions, just short, soft questions,” he said. “To be honest, I was pretty tired the whole last week. But I'm not going to talk about what went wrong now: I just want to enjoy this moment in Paris.”

Then he was asked a difficult question: Does he ever feel like he could be at risk of burnout? "At this point in my career, I can stop if that happens to me. No, seriously: burnout is a common occurrence in many sports. Both mentally and physically. As a cyclist, you train a lot, maybe sometimes too obsessively."

“We always strive for more, so sometimes you see severe fatigue setting in during the season. Meanwhile, the team wants you to keep racing, so you keep going in circles. And then, suddenly, it's October, you have your vacation, and in December, you start all over again. Burnouts happen, and it could happen to me too.”

Pogacar also discussed his relationship with Visma | Lease a Bike and Jonas Vingegaard. “I think Jonas has opened up a bit more. We already saw that in the Critérium du Dauphiné, where we... I won't say we had nice conversations, because that sounds strange, but we did have conversations. I have to say that I think he's a great guy and I enjoy competing against him.”

"In Paris, during the neutralization, we also talked about how we've been fighting together for five years to win the Tour and push each other to a higher level," said Pogacar. "That's a privilege for both of us." Will they meet again in the Vuelta? "I'm not thinking about that yet. I just want to enjoy the moment, and then we can discuss other races. I don't have any clear goals at the moment, except for the World Championships and the Tour of Lombardy this fall."

According to Spanish sports newspaper AS, Pogacar will indeed not be competing in the Vuelta a España. He is expected to announce his program for the rest of the year on Wednesday, but in Spain, they have already heard that Juan Ayuso will be taking his place alongside co-leader João Almeida.