Tadej Poga\u010dar might not race again in 2026, but cycling\u2019s dominant superstar is not going anywhere soon.<\/p>\n
UAE Emirates-XRG confirmed Saturday that Poga\u010dar extended his contract through 2032, adding two more seasons to a deal that already ranked among the longest and most lucrative in professional cycling.<\/p>\n
Financial details were not disclosed. Poga\u010dar is already believed to be the highest-paid rider in the peloton, reportedly earning close to $9 million per season.<\/p>\n
\u201cFrom the beginning, this team has felt like home for me. We have grown together over the years and shared some incredible moments, so I\u2019m very happy to extend my contract until 2032,\u201d Poga\u010dar said.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere is still a lot I want to achieve in this sport and I believe this is the right place to do it. I\u2019m very grateful for the trust the team has shown in me and excited about what we can continue to build together.\u201d<\/p>\n
The extension also comes after Poga\u010dar appeared to rediscover his joy for racing in 2026, one year after ending his campaign complaining of burnout and mental fatigue.<\/p>\n
The announcement came on the same day UAE confirmed Poga\u010dar will not race again this season following his heavy crash at the Vuelta a Espa\u00f1a.<\/p>\n
UAE said it will not place a timetable on his return, allowing Poga\u010dar to concentrate fully on his recovery.<\/p>\n
Contract keeps Poga\u010dar at UAE through age 34<\/h2>\n
The extension means cycling\u2019s modern GOAT could keep punishing rivals and delighting fans until he\u2019s 34, and push his relationship with UAE through 14 seasons.<\/p>\n
Pogi\u2019s current deal is already makes him cycling\u2019s best-paid rider at a base salary estimated at \u20ac8 million (close to $9 million) per season.<\/p>\n
That means the six seasons from 2027 through 2032 could be worth at least \u20ac48 million before bonuses if the base pay remains the same.<\/p>\n
La Gazzetta dello Sport<\/em> revealed that Poga\u010dar earned another \u20ac1 million for his fifth Tour victory and is poised to collect \u20ac500,000 for finishing 2026 as world No. 1. Winning La Vuelta and world title would have seen an additional \u20ac500,000 and \u20ac250,000, respectively.<\/p>\n Poga\u010dar\u2019s growing personal sponsorship empire adds millions more per season.<\/p>\n Details of a bonus structure or salary were not made public.<\/p>\n Poga\u010dar says there\u2019s still plenty of milestones to chase to keep things interesting.<\/p>\n UAE signed the Slovenian ahead of the 2019 season, and stunned Primo\u017e Rogli\u010d to win his first Tour de France in 2020 to launch the Poga\u010dar era.<\/p>\n Pogi<\/em> has since won five yellow jerseys, two world road titles, one Giro d\u2019Italia, and 13 monuments, climbing to second behind Eddy Merckx on the all-time monument list.<\/p>\n His victory at Milan-San Remo this spring left Paris-Roubaix as the only monument missing from his palmar\u00e8s<\/em>. The Vuelta also remains unfinished business, so those two races now stand out as the most tantalizing targets in King Pog\u2019s career.<\/p>\n Poga\u010dar\u2019s extension comes after UAE penned a longterm deal to keep Isaac del Toro on the payroll as well through 2031.<\/p>\n \u201cTadej has been central to the journey and development of this team, and we are extremely proud that this relationship will continue through 2032,\u201d team principal and CEO Mauro Gianetti said.<\/p>\n That\u2019s great news for fans of the charismatic Slovenian who is shattering some of cycling\u2019s most sacred records and having fun doing it.<\/p>\n Bad news, perhaps, for the rivals are growing exasperated at trying to find a way to beat him.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n [analyse_source url=”https:\/\/velo.outsideonline.com\/news\/tadej-pogacar-will-race-into-his-mid-30s-after-blockbuster-contract-extension\/”]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" [analyse_image type=”featured” src=”https:\/\/velo-cdn.outsideonline.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/pogacar-new-contract.jpg”] Andrew Hood Published September 5, 2026 05:29AM Tadej Poga\u010dar might not race again in 2026, but cycling\u2019s dominant superstar is not going anywhere soon. UAE Emirates-XRG confirmed Saturday that Poga\u010dar extended his contract through 2032, adding two more seasons to a deal that already ranked among the longest and most lucrative in […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[226,71],"class_list":["post-2131298","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-politics","tag-crawlmanager","tag-velo-outsideonline-com"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2131298","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2131298"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2131298\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2131298"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2131298"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2131298"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}Still some unfinished business<\/h2>\n