Tadej Pogačar's response to the Vuelta a España question will put the peloton on edge

Tadej Pogacar has left the door wide open for a potential participation in the 2026 Vuelta a España. The Slovenian world champion from UAE Emirates-XRG has never won the Vuelta a España, although he did finish third in his first appearance in 2019—his debut in a Grand Tour. Later this year, he has a chance to complete the hat trick, and the likelihood of his participation seems very high.

Pogacar had consistently skipped the Vuelta a España since 2019, simply because he was developing so quickly. In that edition, he won three stages and the white youth jersey, and just a year later he moved on to the Tour de France. He won that race, and since 2020, he has been a fixture there. He is currently on track to secure his fifth overall victory in the Tour de France.

In 2024, he successfully completed the Giro d'Italia-Tour de France double, succeeding Marco Pantani (1998) as the winner of both Grand Tours in a single year. Last year, Pogacar had already been considering the Tour de France-Vuelta a España double, but the Tour ultimately proved so grueling that by the time he reached Paris, he simply didn’t have the energy left to tackle another Grand Tour.

In 2026, things look different. Pogacar is dominating the Tour de France, and if he faces no major obstacles, the Vuelta a España seems to have a good chance of being the Slovenian’s second appearance in the race. This year, the Vuelta a España starts in Monaco, where Pogacar has lived for years. He’s one of the faces of Monaco, as evidenced by his appearance at last year’s Monaco Criterium.

After Stage 13 of the Tour de France, Eurosport confronted Pogacar with comments made by Prince Albert of Monaco. The prince had let slip that Pogacar would, in principle, be riding the Vuelta later this year, and Pogi made no effort to deny it. “If the prince says so, there’s a good chance,” he laughed meaningfully, before walking on.

If Pogacar rides the Vuelta and wins it, he will have won all three Grand Tours. That would put him in the same league as Jacques Anquetil, Felice Gimondi, Eddy Merckx, Bernard Hinault, Alberto Contador, Vincenzo Nibali, Chris Froome, and the club’s newest member: Jonas Vingegaard. The Dane won the Giro in May, after already winning the Tour in 2022 and 2023 and the Vuelta in 2025.