{"id":199324,"date":"2025-08-11T07:17:47","date_gmt":"2025-08-11T07:17:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.welovecycling.com\/wide\/?p=199324"},"modified":"2025-08-11T07:17:47","modified_gmt":"2025-08-11T07:17:47","slug":"i-have-to-enjoy-the-moment-pogacar-targets-hilly-european-championships-while-counting-down-to-retirement","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.welovecycling.com\/wide\/2025\/08\/11\/i-have-to-enjoy-the-moment-pogacar-targets-hilly-european-championships-while-counting-down-to-retirement\/","title":{"rendered":"“I have to enjoy the moment:” Poga\u010dar Targets Hilly European Championships While Counting Down to Retirement"},"content":{"rendered":"

Tadej Poga\u010dar has outlined his programme for the closing months of the 2025 season, revealing that he intends to ride the hilly European Championships and acknowledging that he is \u201calready counting the years until retirement.\u201d While he remains at the top of the sport, the Slovenian insists he wants to \u201cenjoy the moment\u201d and is mindful that his dominance will not last forever.<\/strong><\/p>\n

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The four-time Tour de France winner spoke to the media in Komenda during a special criterium staged by his hometown and the cycling clubs where he first trained. Greeted by a huge crowd, he crossed the line ahead of Luka Mezgec and Matteo Trentin.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m happy to be home again, to see friends, neighbours and family,\u201d he told reporters as he reflected on both his immediate targets and the longer-term future.<\/p>\n

Poga\u010dar is signed with UAE Team Emirates-XRG until 2030, but in a recent interview with L\u2019Equipe<\/em> hinted that the 2028 Los Angeles Olympic Games could mark the point where he begins to seriously consider retirement. Since stepping into the WorldTour in 2019 at the age of 20, he has claimed four Tours and over a hundred other wins.<\/a> Only the Vuelta a Espa\u00f1a, Milan-San Remo, and Paris-Roubaix remain on his list of big goals before he steps away from racing.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt may seem funny to most people that I\u2019m already counting down to retirement, but the fact is that a sports career isn\u2019t very long,\u201d he said before the race in Komenda. \u201cI started winning quite early and everything has been going strong ever since. Every year we train harder and faster, so I look forward to my future with pleasure.<\/p>\n

\u201cOn the one hand, I know that my sports career will not be long, but on the other hand, I am aware that I can enjoy the level I am at now for a few more years. However, I expect that this level will drop at some point and that there will be no more victories in the season than now and that there will be a bad year at some point.<\/p>\n

\u201cI am prepared for everything that is coming, so I am all the more aware that I have to enjoy the moment. I have to be prepared to stop, say thank you and say goodbye to racing at the highest level.\u201d<\/p>\n

Following his latest Tour de France<\/a> triumph \u2014 a race made even more challenging by illness in the final week \u2014 Poga\u010dar took time off at his home in Montecarlo. He stayed away from social media, went on some easy training rides, and even met Tour de France Femmes avec Zwift champion Pauline Ferrand-Pr\u00e9vot on the road.<\/p>\n

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Zobrazit p\u0159\u00edsp\u011bvek na Instagramu<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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P\u0159\u00edsp\u011bvek sd\u00edlen\u00fd Pauline FERRAND-PREVOT (@paulineferrandprevot)<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/blockquote>\n