Tadej Pogacar's season will begin tomorrow with the UAE Tour, in the United Arab Emirates, where he arrived last Friday. His program seems already defined with the Tour de France and the World Championship as major goals, and regarding the second Grand Tour, although there is no official announcement, every doubt seems to have been resolved and this time the Slovenian will race the Vuelta and not the Giro d'Italia.

Last December everything seemed clear with the pink race still attracting Pogacar, but last year's victory and the desire to do something new would have led him to choose the Vuelta, at least according to Spanish media. As weeks passed, a veil of mystery had begun to surround the world champion, who besides the Tour de France, an unmissable event for him, would have started reflecting on his preferred second Grand Tour of the year. On one side there was the desire to defend the title in the pink race, but on the other the Vuelta would open the possibility of completing the "Triple Crown" of Grand Tours. Pogacar likes challenges and therefore the idea of winning something new pushed him to choose the Vuelta, a race he has participated in only once in 2019, finishing third behind Alejandro Valverde and Primoz Roglic.

Pogi is now in Abu Dhabi for the UAE Tour and will officially announce his decision today during the press conference. According to AS, Pogacar will announce his intention not to defend the Giro's pink jersey and for Spanish media this means his choice will undoubtedly fall on the Vuelta. According to AS, the Giro d'Italia organizers would have also tried to bring Van der Poel to the pink race, but an agreement could not be found for him either.

For the Spanish press, Pogacar's absence from the Giro was already possible to predict in December, because in Benidorm in Costa Blanca, during a media day, young Juan Ayuso had confirmed his participation in the Giro to win it and that Adam Yates would have the role of co-leader of the team. Taking this news and adding it to Pogacar's packed schedule, it is quite logical to think that he will not be at the start of the Italian race. The Slovenian will make his debut on Monday, then we will see him engaged in the Classics with E3, Gent-Wevelgem, Tour of Flanders, Amstel, Flèche Wallonne and Liège. Before the Tour de France there will be the Dauphiné and then the Vuelta with an eye on the World Championship in Rwanda.