Pogacar to defend Tour de France and world title on ambitious 2025 program / Photo: JOSE JORDAN - AFP
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Pogacar to defend Tour de France and world title on ambitious 2025 program
Tadej Pogacar insisted on Tuesday he would not ease off after a record-breaking 2024, declaring he was hungry for more success with a plethora of one-day classics and two Grand Tours on the 2025 menu.
The 26-year-old Slovenian dominated the 2024 season winning two one-day monuments, the Italian Giro, the Tour de France and the world title on his way to 25 wins in total for the year.
He will get his 2025 season underway at the UAE Tour. He will race the Strade Bianche, Milan-San Remo, the E3 Grand Prix, Gent-Wevelgem and the Tour of Flanders before the Ardennes classics.
One race off the agenda is the Paris-Roubaix, suited to heftier riders due to its harsh old cobbled mining roads.
"I wanted to get back on the cobbles and I'll do it again in the future. I'm saving Paris-Roubaix for later. But I love racing the classics." he said in Benidrom, Spain, on Tuesday.
"After the Giro-Tour thing this season, I'd like to do the Tour-Vuelta, or even the Giro-Vuelta. But the Tour is the Tour, and it will still be my priority next year, along with the Worlds," he confirmed.
As well as the Tour de France, which will run from July 5-27, Pogacar will choose between the Giro and Vuelta once the routes have been revealed.
If he foregoes the Giro (May 9-June 1) in favour of the Vuelta (August 23-September 14), the Slovenian will take part in the Criterium du Dauphine (June 8-15) in preparation for the Tour de France.
"What's certain is that he won't be doing the three big Tours next year," Team UAE sports director Joxean Fernandez Matxin said.
Pogacar is also due to defend his title at the World Championships, which will be in Rwanda in September, on a very demanding course in Kigali.
"I'd like to race all three Tours one day but there are 30 riders in the team you know, and I can't race everything," Pogacar said.
He should then end his season on October 11 at the Tour of Lombardy, the last Monument of the year, where he will be aiming for a fifth consecutive success.
"Last year was an exceptional year for me. I had a great time. Everything went super smoothly, I managed to be in great shape in every race," said Pogacar who at only 26 years old, feels "still young" and believes he can "progress", particularly on the "small details".
T.Ward--AMWN