Cycling-Pogacar to skip Vuelta a Espana after 'demanding' Tour de France

(Reuters) - Tadej Pogacar will skip the Vuelta a Espana in order to rest after winning a fourth Tour de France title, the Slovenian said.

The 26-year-old UAE Team Emirates XRG rider sealed his Tour de France title on Sunday, July 27, after three weeks of dominance, but said fatigue had crept in during the final days. His previous Tour de France titles came in 2020, 2021 and 2024.

Pogacar will return to action at the one-day races in Quebec and Montreal in September before shifting focus to the UCI Road World Championships in Rwanda, where he is the defending champion.

"After such a demanding Tour, we decided it was best to take a break," Pogacar said in a statement late on Tuesday, July 29.

"The Vuelta is of course a race I would dearly love to return to. I have fantastic memories there from 2019, but now the body is telling me to rest.

"I'm excited to go back to Canada; the races are tough but beautiful, and they fit my style well. I'll be aiming to be back racing well again for that part of the season and for the World Championships especially."

Pogacar is yet to win the Vuelta a Espana, having captured three stage wins and securing the young rider classification in his only appearance in 2019.

The Vuelta runs from August 23 to September 14.

(Reporting by Pearl Josephine Nazare in Bengaluru; Editing by Peter Rutherford )