Five-time Tour de France champion Tadej Pogacar will not race again this season after suffering injuries including a neck fracture when he crashed at the Vuelta a Espana.
The injuries, which he suffered last month on the race’s eighth stage, means the Slovenian will miss out on the chance to win the World Championships for a third year in a row.
He crashed out of the Vuelta from a dominant position as race leader and required surgery on a broken collarbone, and also suffered concussion, a “stable” fracture in his neck and multiple abrasions.
The 27-year-old, who was aiming to complete the set of Grand Tour titles, adding the Vuelta to his single Giro d’Italia victory and five Tour de France wins, was due to defend his rainbow jersey at the World Championships in Montreal later this month.
“Of course, this isn’t the way I wanted my season to finish,” Pogacar said in a statement released by his team, UAE Team Emirates-XRG.
“Right now, the most important thing is to recover properly and give my body the time it needs.
“It has been a season with many special moments and I’m proud of what we achieved together. Now I’ll focus on getting healthy, supporting the guys from home, and coming back next year ready for what’s ahead.”
In October, Pogacar was due to defend his title at the European Championships in Ljubljana, in his home country, and in Il Lombardia – the final one-day Monument race of the season.
The team said that the decision not to race again until 2027 would allow him to return to full health “without placing a timeline on his return to competition”.
UAE Team Emirates-XRG also announced their leading rider had agreed to extend his contract by two years, until 2032.
In Saturday’s stage 14 of the Vuelta, German Marco Brenner claimed his first Grand Tour stage victory by beating Santiago Buitrago in a sprint for the line as Enric Mas retained the overall lead.
Buitrago launched an attack from a breakaway group with about one kilometre to go just before the top of the final climb.
He quickly opened a gap from his three breakaway companions but Brenner chased down the Colombian to win the mountainous 154.5km stage from Jaen to La Pandera.
Mas holds a lead of two minutes and six seconds in the general classification, with Felix Gall moving into second place after he overtook Primoz Roglic, who drops to third.
Race organisers have shortened Sunday’s stage 15 between Palma del Rio and Cordoba because of the “high temperatures forecast”.
The stage will cover 110.2km instead of the original 189.7km, “with the aim of protecting the health of the riders and ensuring the best possible conditions for the competition”.
Meanwhile, Cees Bol claimed his first stage victory since 2022 by winning stage four of the Tour of Britain.
The Dutchman was on the back of Tim Wellens’ wheel going into the final stages and passed the Belgian to secure victory on the 165.8km run from Helmsley to Leyburn.
Wellens may not have won the stage but he moved into the overall lead as he leapfrogged Lewis Askey and holds a 21-second advantage over the second-placed Briton going into the final stage on Sunday.
