PARIS (AP) — Four-time Tour de France champion Tadej Pogačar has decided against taking part in the Spanish Vuelta next month as he recovers after winning cycling’s biggest race.
“After such a demanding Tour, we decided it was best to take a break,” Pogačar said. “The Vuelta is of course a race I would dearly love to return to. I have fantastic memories there from 2019 (finishing third), but now the body is telling me to rest.”
The Slovenian rider from the UAE Team Emirates-XRG was not included in the eight-man squad for the Vuelta, which will start on Aug. 23. The team will be led by Portuguese rider João Almeida — who retired from the Tour earlier this month after fracturing a rib — and Spain’s Juan Ayuso.
After doing the Giro d’Italia and Tour double last year, Pogačar had planned to ride both the Tour and the Vuelta this summer.
“The idea this year was for Tadej to return to the Vuelta, but the season has been a long one for him,” the team’s sports manager Matxin Fernández said. “We spoke and agreed that the best thing for him now is to take a good rest and build up to his final season goals.”
It has already been a long season for Pogačar, a versatile rider known for his unsatiable appetite for victory. In addition to his Tour title, he also won the Critérium du Dauphiné, Liège-Bastogne-Liège, the Flèche Wallonne and Strade Bianche this year.
On the way to his fourth Tour title, Pogačar won four stages to take his Tour tally to 21, and 30 at major races, including six at the Giro d’Italia and three at the Vuelta. Only four riders have won the Tour de France five times: Belgian Eddy Merckx, Spaniard Miguel Induráin and Frenchmen Jacques Anquetil and Bernard Hinault.
Pogačar will take a break until September. He is planning to compete in North America at the Grand Prix Cycliste de Québec and Grand Prix Cycliste de Montréal.
“I’m excited to go back to Canada. The races are tough but beautiful, and they fit my style well,” said Pogačar, who also wants to defend his world champion title later this year in Kigali, Rwanda. “I’ll be aiming to be back racing well again for that part of the season and for the world championships especially.”
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