UAE and Pogačar will talk about a possible Vuelta a España start. “I will talk with Tadej, and we’ll decide,” Pogačar said.

UAE Team Emirates has stated that they will soon be talking to Tadej Pogačar about his possible participation in the Vuelta a España next year in order to clear up the last big question mark about his 2025 schedule.

Many people think that the 2025 Vuelta route, which includes ten summit finishes, the climb of the famous Angliru, and the almost equally difficult Bola del Mundo 24 hours before the finish in Madrid, will appeal to the Slovenian.

People believe that PogaÍar will return to the Vuelta a España after a six-year absence. On Thursday, team manager Joxean Fernández Matxin told AS that PogaÍar is eager to take part again to try and add the only Grand Tour that is missing from his resume.

Although he hasn’t said for sure, Pogaëar is still considering doing what he did in 2024, which was winning both the Giro and the Tour de France. Though the delayed Giro presentation isn’t happening until January 13, there are rumors that he could get a clear answer to his Giro-Vuelta problem much sooner.

Athlete Matxin told AS, “It’s a race route with a real Vuelta feel.” “Those ten summit finishes include two time trials, five or six really mountainous stages, and several others.” A time trial will happen right after a transfer,” which means a flight from Grenoble, France, back to Girona, Catalonia, after stage 4.

Angliru and Farrapona ascents the next day were already known to the public, but the organizers of the Vuelta managed to keep the stage 20 ascent of the Bola del Mundo, a monster 2,200-meter climb just outside of Madrid, a secret until the day of the presentation. However, the full route has now been released, UAE will be able to make a more firm decision on the most important part of Pogaëar’s 2025 race schedule that is still missing.

“During my stay at the hotel, I will talk to Tadej and we will decide.” What we already know for sure is that any race he runs will be amazing, and the rest of the team has a pretty good idea of what he will race.

“The Vuelta is a race in which he will participate, sooner or later, because we want to try to be sure that he has the Vuelta in his palmares.”

“We believe he will appear,” said Javier Guillén, who is in charge of the race. Actually, PogaÍar has only been to the Vuelta once, in 2019. That year, he finished third overall, won three stages, and won the Best Young Rider competition in his first Grand Tour.

In addition to being challenging, 2025 Vuelta climbs like the Angliru, Farrapona, and Bola del Mundo might be especially appealing to Pogaíar because they are all places where one of his cycling heroes, Alberto Contador, has won stages or, in the case of the Bola del Mundo, won the whole race and won his second Vuelta a España title in 2012. This stage 11 climb in Bilbao, including the Alto del Pike Bidea and the Alto del Vivero, will probably remind him of his early race against Visma-Lease A Bike’s Jonas Vingegaard on the same hills on the first day of the 2023 Tour de France.

When it comes to racing, UAE, who won the teams classification at the 2024 Vuelta by 33 minutes, will benefit from having a 20-kilometer team time trial in the first week of the race, with or without PogaÍar. Aside from the 20% “goat-track” summit finishes that the Vuelta usually uses, almost all of the final climbs in 2025 are much longer and more “classic,” the kind of climbs that a mountain expert like PogaÍar can use to get a big lead over his competitors.

And based on his priorities, the fact that the 2025 Vuelta is just as hard as any other edition could make PogaÍar’s choice of the Spanish Grand Tour less appealing than it seems at first. PogaÍar also wants to win the World Championships in 2025, as noted by L’Équipe on Friday. However, the Vuelta course is so difficult that he might be too tired to fully compete for a second rainbow jersey when the race is over.

The Slovenian will have to be ready to go right away if he wants to compete in the Vuelta. The first week alone includes a final climb to the top of Limone Piemonte on stage 2, two very difficult stages in the Pyrenees, and a final climb to the top of Valderazcay. Additionally, it is true that some Vuelta routes were much easier in the third week, most notably the one Remco Evenepoel won in 2022. However, this year the Vuelta’s biggest challenges don’t end until the second-to-last day at La Bola del Mundo.

After the Giro presentation on January 13 at the latest, and maybe even much earlier, Pogaëar is likely to make a firm choice about his Vuelta-Habitat dilemma.