Why Pogacar passed on racing for Visma, skips the Vuelta... and might have hit his peak

Tadej Pogacar in the jersey of Visma | Lease a Bike. It's unimaginable in 2024. However, the Dutch team once had a chance to sign the now-dominant Slovenian. According to sports director Merijn Zeeman, Pogacar now strings together victories for UAE-Team Emirates because UAE boss Joxean Matxin and his team got to him first.

"I remember trying to sign him as a promising rider, but he had already signed with UAE," Zeeman reveals in an interview with NOS. "He's Slovenian, and we heard he was a special talent. I asked Primoz (Roglic, ed.) who he was and if we could get in touch. This was in 2018, when he was already on our radar."

In the following years, it of course became impossible to make another attempt to sign Pogacar. "You just know talents like that stay put, and we had Primoz and now Jonas (Vingegaard, ed.), so you focus on the riders you have. That went well," says Zeeman, who will leave cycling in October for a new adventure with Dutch football club AZ, with a sense of understatement.

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Pogacar develops into cyclingsuperstar at UAE Team Emirates

Still, Visma | Lease a Bike must have watched this Tour de France with healthy jealousy, observing Pogacar's dominance. The dominance that Vingegaard had in 2022 and 2023 now belonged to the Slovenian. Matxin, who, along with Mauro Gianetti, has been setting the course at UAE for years, couldn't be happier. "I've never seen a rider like Tadej before, and we should all enjoy it. He's making history, and besides being a great pro, he's perfect when he speaks. You can only have admiration and respect for him, and he reciprocates that. He's very grateful," the Spaniard told AS.

It was Pogacar's personality that, after a tough 2023, led to enormous strides heading into 2024. "I've worked with Tadej for years and felt his need and desire to improve on all levels. If you improve 0.5 percent in work ethic, perseverance, personality and precision, you're quickly talking about 5 percent overall growth. Tadej always wants to improve — in aerodynamics, posture comfort, flexibility, explosiveness, recovery, nutrition... He's someone who seeks perfection. He's the best cyclist in the world and works to get even better. This year, he did everything perfectly."

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No Vuelta a España for Pogacar

Can he get even better? Matxin doubts it. "I don't know if it's physiologically possible. He's reaching perfection in every aspect right now. At some point, you have to be satisfied with the level you have. We also look for challenges, alternatives and motivation in the calendar. This year, it was the Giro-Tour double. He's now old enough to ride two Grand Tours a year, but we always look ahead. If he were to ride the Vuelta too, he'd end up racing four Grand Tours in one year, which would take its toll. It can't be that he makes history this year and isn't competitive next year."