Tadej Pogačar Could Have Won the Vuelta a España Years Ago. So Why Return Now?

Tadej Pogačar is finally returning to the Vuelta a España after seven years away, but the bigger question is why the most dominant rider of this generation waited so long.

Since bursting onto the scene with three stage wins and a podium finish in 2019, Pogačar has won five Tours de France, conquered the Giro d’Italia, and reshaped modern cycling.

Yet La Vuelta remained unfinished business and there was a sense he could have won the race whenever he showed up. So why wait so long?

Behind-the-scenes talks last week to confirm his return revealed that Pogačar and UAE Emirates-XRG had left the door open for the Spanish grand tour all season.

But his Vuelta comeback doesn’t come without risks. The Vuelta ends in Granada on September 13, leaving Pogačar just two weeks to recover before the world championships in Montréal.

Mathieu van der Poel, Remco Evenepoel, and Wout van Aert — the only riders who have truly beaten Pogačar mano a mano in the sport’s biggest one-day races — are all building toward a September peak in Montréal.

For Pogačar, the chance to complete the grand tour sweep is worth the gamble.

He could always race the Vuelta later in his career, but he may never again arrive in Spain this healthy or this dominant.

Here are the factors that finally convinced the world’s best rider that 2026 was the moment to come back to La Vuelta and the race where it all started.

Why 2026 was finally the right time

The biggest reason is that the Vuelta was already in the back of everyone’s mind coming into 2026.

Pogačar almost raced the Spanish grand tour in 2025, but scrapped the idea after leaving the Tour exhausted and nursing a sore knee.

This year is completely different.

His 2026 racing calendar was light even by Pogacar standards, who’s steadily swapped out quantity for quality over the past few years. King Pog has won every race he’s started this season apart from Paris-Roubaix, where he finished second.

After Jonas Vingegaard crashed out of the Tour, Pogačar had no real rival at the Tour. He could play super-domestique to teammate Isaac del Toro and enjoy the big show of the Tour.

Pogačar was laughing at the finish, celebrating with mechanics and soigneurs, leading chants with Mexican fans, and looking far more relaxed than during the recent pressure-cooker Tours.

And for the first time in years, the Vuelta timing actually works.

After ending the Tour without having to go too deep or suffering any sort of injury or major illness, he was already back on the bike for his Pogi Challenge event over the weekend.

He might include a short stint at altitude to fine-tune his Vuelta preparation, and without Vingegaard, Remco Evenepoel, or another major GC rival lining up at the Vuelta, the road to victory is a little less crowded.

Inside the UAE bus, there’s quiet confidence that Pogačar can still reload for the world championships in Montréal and chase another Lombardia title in October if he wants to.

The Vuelta wasn’t just tacked on. It was part of the plan from the beginning of the season.

The strongest version of Pogačar yet

There’s another reason this feels like the perfect moment — this is Peak Pogačar.

UAE boss Joxean Fernández Matxín said the Slovenian has reached a new level in 2026.

“This is the best version of Pogačar we’ve seen,” he told Velo. “Maybe he can continue to improve, but it won’t be the same big steps we’ve seen the last few years.”

Pogačar turns 28 just eight days after the Vuelta finishes in Granada, an age considered the sweet spot for elite endurance athletes.

Even with the Vuelta, Pogačar’s workload will climb to only about sixty race days, almost identical to the schedule he handled during his dominant Giro-Tour double in 2024.

And that’s only about 10 more race days than in 2025 or 2023, so it’s not a dramatic difference.

The feeling was, why wait any longer?

Why UAE kept Pogačar away from the Vuelta

Since that 2019 breakout, UAE resisted the temptation to over-race Pogačar.

The team’s philosophy has always been to protect the golden goose.

UAE isn’t like most teams when it comes to managing grand tours, and the team operates on the tenet that the Tour de France is no place for rookies.

Even Pogačar had to earn his Tour stripes. As a skinny 20-year-old in 2019, he was sent to Spain instead, where he promptly detonated the race with three stage wins and a stunning podium finish. His Tour blowout would come a year later.

That’s in sharp contrast to Paul Seixas, who was thrown into the Tour furnace at the ripe age of 19 in his first WorldTour season with Decathlon CMA CGM.

UAE also likes to limit younger stars to one grand tour per season. In terms of work load, burn out, and career longevity, UAE is thinking more longterm than some teams.

In fact, this season will mark only the second time in Pogačar’s career in which he’s tackled more than one grand tour. The other, of course, was 2024 with the Giro-Tour double, when he was already 25.

UAE also likes to share the spoils among its fleet of stars. If Pogačar races, everyone knows they’re working for him.

Every year since 2020, he’s pulled the plug on heavy racing after winning the Tour.

The last major gap in Pogačar’s palmarès

Even King Pog still has a few kingdoms left to conquer.

His Vuelta debut was the moment cycling realized it had a budding superstar on its hands, but it’s one of the very few WorldTour races Pogačar has started and failed to win.

Once he knocks off La Vuelta, expect him to return to the Tour Down Under, Paris-Roubaix, and Itzulia Basque Country — the other major WorldTour blank spots on his trophy shelf.

And he likes to mix things up as well. Pogačar expanded his trophy collection this spring by winning the Tour de Romandie and the Tour de Suisse.

This is also about completing the circle and return to the grand tour that started it all.

Of course, the Vuelta could wait another year, or even five. But it’s better to check off that box sooner than later.

What a Vuelta victory would mean for history

The Vuelta is the last missing jewel in Pogačar’s grand tour crown.

He already owns five yellow jerseys and one pink jersey, so add the Vuelta, and he would become just the ninth male rider in history to complete cycling’s grand tour trilogy.

Victory in Spain would also place him alongside legends such as Jacques Anquetil, Bernard Hinault, and Chris Froome as the only male riders ever to win the Tour-Vuelta double in the same season.

An even bigger milestone waits in Canada.

Since the Vuelta moved to late summer in 1995, only Remco Evenepoel has won the Spanish grand tour and the world championships in succession, pulling off the double in 2022.

Merckx, Freddy Maertens, and Hinault all won the Vuelta and worlds in the same season, but only when the Vuelta was raced in April.

And Pog could create a club of one.

No man in cycling history has ever won the Tour de France, the Vuelta a España, and the rainbow jersey in the same season. Not even Merckx.

Why the 2026 Vuelta route suits Pogačar perfectly

Vuelta organizers practically rolled out the red carpet in hopes of luring the biggest star in cycling back to Spain.

The race quite literally starts at his doorstep. With the opening 9.4km time trial inside the principality of Monaco, Pogačar can literally pedal to the start from his home.

A few extra nights in his own bed can make a world of difference for Pogačar, who likes to enjoy as much down time as possible.

The rest of the Vuelta route is a Pog dream come true, with a brutal 58,000 meters of climbing and seven summit finishes.

The 2026 Vuelta route couldn’t be more Pog friendly even if he designed it himself.

The biggest gamble in Pogačar’s Vuelta return

For all the upside of racing the Vuelta, there’s still the big question of much will be left in the tank for Montréal.

That’s why some were still surprised when he committed to the Vuelta. The world championships in Montréal are just fourteen days after the race ends in Granada.

Even for Pogačar, that’s a quick turnaround. The demands of Canada are world championship worthy, with 3,800 vertical meters and 12 laps on the explosive final circuit.

Several big names see Montréal as their best chance at the rainbow jersey in awhile, so riders like Evenepoel, Van Aert, and Van der Poel are building towards a September peak for the worlds.

Only Van Aert is racing the Vuelta, but he’s not targeting the GC, so he can use the Spanish grand tour to hunt stages and taper his form toward Canada.

Other big names, like Seixas, will head straight to Canada for the WorldTour races, with GP Montréal also set for September 13. They’ll have two weeks to train and prepare in Canada without the stress of recovering from another grand tour or traveling at the last-minute.

If Pogačar can survive the Vuelta and still win in Montréal, he would equal Peter Sagan’s record of three consecutive world titles.

So what’s more important, the Vuelta or the worlds? Pogačar is betting he doesn’t have to choose.