Why is Tadej Pogacar's program (still) so limited for 2026 and when will he go searching for altitude?

Last Saturday was finally here: the announcement of the program of the world's best cyclist, Tadej Pogacar, for 2026. The Slovenian from UAE Emirates-XRG announced a somewhat atypical schedule anyway, but that can be explained by his superior - sports manager Joxean Fernandez 'Matxin'.

Pogacar made his last official appearance on Oct. 11 last year, when he managed a fifth consecutive Il Lombardia. His next appointment is also in Italy, but on March 7, 2026: Strade Bianche. In between, the Slovenian will thus have a five-month period without races.

'Tadej will also not go at altitude for the Strade,' Matxin confirmed to us. 'We choose to let him train in good weather, either in Spain or at home in Monaco. That way we will get him physically and mentally ready for a long season.' As recently as 2025, Pogacar began his year with the UAE Tour, while Strade Bianche was also his first race in 2024.

One big difference from that year 2024: back then, Pogacar rode a stage race in the spring with the Volta a Catalunya, which will not be the case in 2026. With successively Strade Bianche, Milan-Sanremo, the Tour of Flanders and Paris-Roubaix, Pogacar will ride only four races through April 26.

Whereas in 2024 that was still due to the Giro-Tour double ("a guarantee that I'm not going to ride the Giro, I'm not giving a guarantee either," Pogacar said Saturday), this year it has more to do with the strain involved in major classics. "We tried to make a plan where he gets the necessary recovery both physically and mentally, because last year we noticed that sometimes it became a bit too much," Matxin explained at the Four Points by Sheraton Hotel, overlooking the Benidorm skyline.

On the program, though: the Tour de Romandie and later the Tour de Suisse, races that the rider from Komenda has not ridden before. 'I think the program we have drawn up does show that we want to win certain races that he does not yet have on his list of honors,' the UAE Emirates-XRG Spanish staffer hinted.

As for altitude training, they are also keeping relatively quiet at UAE. 'Tadej will go on altitude before the Tour de Suisse and immediately after as well. He does return home for another four or five days before the Tour de France begins,' Matxin explains the exact schedule for the month of June.

What follows after the Tour is still uncertain. On Wednesday, the course of the Vuelta a Espana was presented in Monaco , and there they are doing everything they can to lure Pogacar - who debuted in a major tour there in 2019 - once again. Thus, the start is in the Slovenian's hometown of Monaco and features a very tough route that on paper is made for him.

Race director Javier Guíllen would have liked to welcome him last season, but then the world champion skipped. 'But he will really come along at some point, because the Vuelta is still the only big round he hasn't won. We always like to have the better riders at the start and hopefully Tadej will be there in 2026.'

At UAE - from experience - they do not want to prejudge things yet. Matxin: 'We will decide after the Tour de France and in any case it will depend on how Tadej feels about finishing the Tour. The World Championships in Montreal is normally always on his schedule, but the Vuelta before it is also still an option.'

Should the Vuelta indeed be added and the World Championships and Lombardy as well, Pogacar ends the season with around 60 race days. In 2024, he ended up with 50 race days.