Defending hefty Tour lead ‘wasn’t a lot enjoyable’ for Pogaautomotive

“We are used to attacks happening 80km or 50km from the finish line, so now anything that involves waiting until the end seems boring. Why? Because these same riders are the ones who have made us watch races from kilometre zero and they’ve got us used to it.”

Prior to racing the Critérium du Dauphiné in June, Pogačar steered that getting ready for and driving the Tour de France was slightly much less stimulating than racing the Classics. 

“The Tour of Flanders is probably more exciting, because you have to be in the right place at the right time, rather than waiting for someone to attack you, as happened on the last mountain stage of the Tour. At La Plagne, we saw a somewhat more boring stage, but that’s because it’s not the race leader who has to attack. And that’s not a criticism,” Matxin mentioned.

“What need had Tadej to attack from distance at La Plagne like he had Hautacam? He had four stage wins, the overall victory, and perhaps the lack of competitiveness bored us all a little.”

Speaking to L’Équipe on the ultimate weekend of the Tour, Pogačar indicated that he would return to Paris-Roubaix in 2026 after inserting second to Mathieu van der Poel on his debut final April. Matxin agreed that tweaking Pogačar’s programme from yr to yr was key to maintaining him motivated and he didn’t rule out the prospect that the four-time Tour winner would possibly choose to forgo La Grande Boucle sooner or later.

“Anything is conceivable. Everything has its moment,” Matxin mentioned. “Last year, as soon as the Tour ended, everyone was saying he should go to La Vuelta and make history by trying to win the three Grand Tours in one year. Then he won the World Championship and no one remembered that.”