Building on an impressive classics campaign, concluded on Sunday with a fourth success in Liège-Bastogne-Liège, Tadej Pogacar turns from Tuesday on the roads of Romandie towards his summer goal, a fifth success in the Tour de France.
The Slovenian ogre still has only five days of racing in 2026, with four victories (Strade Bianche, San Remo, Tour of Flanders, Liège!) and a second place (Paris-Roubaix behind Wout Van Aert).
Between his altitude courses in May and June, the idea is to keep up with the competition in Switzerland, on the Tours of Romandie (from April 28 to May 3) and Switzerland (from June 17 to 21). The rhythm but also the taste of success.
Resisting the Seixas phenomenon
“I don’t ride much, so when I ride, it’s with the idea of winning,” confirmed the double world champion on Sunday evening in the Liège press room where he appeared more determined than ever after being titillated in the Doyenne of classics by the French phenomenon Paul Seixas (2ᵉ), eight years his junior.
“Paul motivates everyone to continue to progress. We will continue to work hard to try to beat him over the next few years and win as much as possible… until he destroys us all,” the glutton of the UAE team went so far as to say.
At 27, “Pogi” is not satisfied but suddenly wants to be in a hurry – “Paul is only 19 and I’m starting to get old” -, and the impressive spring of the young wolf of the Decathlon CMA CGM team will keep him on his toes. Perhaps as early as this summer, since Seixas could well play his first Grande Boucle at the end of which Pogacar intends to join the group of five-time winners Anquetil-Merckx-Hinault-Indurain.
In French-speaking Switzerland, the Slovenian will find ideal terrain to exploit his puncher-climber qualities. After a short (3.2 km) prologue on Tuesday, the following five stages all have a hilly profile including the climbs of the 1D category of Ovronnaz (8.9 km at 9.8%) on Wednesday and Jaunpass (8.1 km at 8.3%) on Saturday, awaiting the final arrival at the summit of Leysin (14.3 km at 6%) on Sunday.
15 teams at the start
The Tour de Romandie field, stuck between the classics and the Giro (from May 8 to 31), is reduced (only 15 teams), four World Tour teams having decided not to make the trip.
But the poster remains attractive with the cumbersome presence in Pogacar’s wheels of the Red Bull-BORA-Hansgrohe riders, Florian Lipowitz (3rd in the last Tour de France) and Primoz Roglic.
The Briton Oscar Onley (4th in the 2025 Tour) is also an outsider like Lenny Martinez. The Frenchman, 5th in Paris-Nice and 2nd in the recent and demanding Tour of Catalonia, even skipped Liège-Bastogne-Liège on Sunday to better prepare for the Tour de Romandie, which he has made a real objective.
