I talk about bike racing with my friend Pierce. He watches more closely than I do, so I learn things, but also, he loves a hot take. So, when I asked him who he thought would win the upcoming Vuelta a España, I wasn’t totally surprised when he said, “Tadej, obviously.”
He and I both know that Tadej Pogačar isn’t racing the Vuelta. Except maybe he will.
The Slovenian, who is by all measures the top cyclist in the men’s game, has already won the Giro and Tour, doing a double last accomplished in 1998 by Marco Pantani. Draw what conclusions you will.
The idea that one person could win all three Grand Tours in a season is so preposterous that the common conception of doing the “triple crown” in the cycling is understood to mean, winning two Grand Tours AND the World Championship. Only two men have ever done it, Eddie Merckx and Stephen Roche, and one woman, Annamiek van Vleuten. Miguel Indurain did the double and finished second in the World Championships in 1993, but you can see that only the giants of the sport have ever come close.
At just 25 years old, Tadej Pogačar is already a giant of the sport. He’s won four Grand Tours (3 TdF, 1 Giro). He’s won six monuments and a slew of other premier events. And notably, he did NOT race in the Olympics in Paris last week. This is akin to taking a brief power nap before returning to maximum productivity.
The other thing to know about Pogačar is that he is massively ambitious, and he races for a team of equal ambition (and budget). If he decided to race the Vuelta, do you think anyone at UAE Emirates would tell him to cool his jets?
And so, Tadej Pogačar will win the 2024 Vuelta a España, if he wants to, like your older brother leaning forward to take the last piece of pizza, saying “Does anyone want this?” as it disappears into his mouth. And when it happens, remember you read it here first, but only because Pierce said it would be so.