Monday's announcement that Tadej Pogačar will be racing the Vuelta a España this August for the first time in seven years surprised virtually nobody.
For one thing, there were the rumours that the UAE Team Emirates-XRG racer had been spotted doing recons of the Vuelta's ultra-hard final week whilst at altitude camp in Granada and for another, the certainty that his 2026 race program was deliberately designed to have a much less demanding first half of the season.
