There were no significant surprises when Tadej Pogačar revealed his 2026 race season – the Tour de France will once more take centre stage in the middle of the season, while the Spring Classics – most notably the Tour of Flanders and Paris-Roubaix – make up part of his first set of objectives.
However, for now, the second half of the calendar remains blank for the Slovenian superstar, who has come to dominate cycling for the past six years.
The defence of his rainbow jersey at the World Championships in Canada is likely to be a target. It's also possible he could head to the Vuelta a España in August in an attempt to complete his set of Grand Tour victories, and add to his four Tour wins and Giro d’Italia titles.
Only seven male riders have won all three Grand Tours, with Eddy Merckx, Bernard Hinault, Felice Gimondi, Jacques Anquetil, Alberto Contador, Vincenzo Nibali and Chris Froome etched into the history books as Grand Tour hat-trick winners.
However, Pogačar is not a man obsessed with records and accolades – at least that’s the impression he attempts to exude. So what will 2026 hold for the best rider of his generation?
Daniel Benson is a pro-cycling veteran, having covered 14 editions of the Tour de France as editor-in-chief of Cyclingnews and Velo, and now runs his own Substack newsletter.
‘Six Tour de France wins are highly likely’
At his press conference at UAE Team Emirates-XRG’s media day in Benidorm, Pogačar was asked whether he would rather take a fifth Tour win next summer or a maiden victory in either Paris-Roubaix or Milan-San Remo. The rider opted for the latter, proving that equalling the record for five Tour wins is not his favoured aim for next season.
His management and sponsors would likely disagree over the priority of his objectives, but there’s a genuineness to what he wants to achieve before he finally hangs up his wheels.
Pogačar doesn’t want to be the next Merckx – he probably doesn’t see the legendary Belgian as someone he needs to eclipse – he just wants to win the races that motivate him.
The ongoing debate over the last couple of years has been whether Pogačar is the greatest male rider of all time, or whether that mantle still belongs to Merckx.
For the record, the 80-year-old Belgian – who probably isn’t going to add to his palmares any time soon – won 279 pro races, including five Tours, five Giros, a Vuelta, three road world titles and seven Milan-San Remos, with an Hour Record thrown in for good measure.
In terms of pure numbers, the chances of Pogačar catching Merckx are slim. The Slovenian sits on 108 wins in total and has yet to triumph in Milan-San Remo or Paris-Roubaix – or take to the boards and attempt to break the Hour Record.
However, win rates and tallies only tell one side of the story when it comes to eventually deciding who will be considered the GOAT.
Pogacar, of course, has time on his side, and he also has the luxury of being able to decide much of his own destiny.
He is, of course, paid to target and win the Tour de France. But if he reaches a status of six wins, which is highly likely in the next two years, given his recent complete domination, he may shift his focus entirely to filling the small but critical gaps that remain on his palmares.
He won’t win seven editions of San Remo like Merckx, but adding one or maybe two titles is conceivable, while eclipsing Merckx’s Tour record would undoubtedly put the young Slovenian in a league of his own. A Vuelta win is a strong possibility if he turns up, although four more Giro wins feel like a stretch.
‘The most likely constant is that Pogačar continues to win’
It should be noted that relevancy is also a factor in all of this. When you see Pogačar dismantle an entire peloton, week in, week out, with jaw-dropping ease, it eclipses the grainy footage we see of Merckx and his generation.
It’s somewhat challenging to compare generations, too. Merckx dominated at a time when only a handful of nations took the sport seriously or had athletes who could travel to mainland Europe to race at the highest level.
Pro cycling isn’t as open as it could or should be, but improvements have been made in terms of the internationalism of the peloton, and in that sense, the sport is more competitive than ever.
The debate over who is the greatest is complex and nuanced, but over the next few years, the most likely constant is that Pogačar continues to win.
At the UAE media day in Spain, I caught a word with the Slovenian's sports manager, Matxin Fernandez.
He discussed setting new goals for his star rider, but dismissed the idea of Pogačar trying to become the first rider since the 1930s to lead the Tour de France from start to finish.
But he did talk about Pogačar and his team aiming for 100 wins in 2026. They fell agonisingly close in 2025, winning 97 times.
“Last year the target was to try and win one race more than the previous year, and for next year it’s the same. It’s complicated. We have our limits, but why not?” he said.
“Five years ago, it was the sprinters who were winning a lot of the races, but in the new cycling, it’s another type of cycling, and we’ve had a good adaptation,” he added.
As for Pogačar, the seasons continue to tick by, and with them his dreams expand, and his aims take flight.
Perhaps 2026 will see him win all five Monuments in one season, a feat no rider has ever achieved. The Slovenian made the podium in all of them in 2025, and if he manages such a feat as victory in San Remo, Flanders, Roubaix, Liege-Bastogne-Liege and Il Lombardia, perhaps the debate on who is the GOAT will be put to bed.
Either way, we’ll all keep talking about it, but Pogačar won’t care – he’ll just keep winning.
