Tadej Pogacar will line up at the Vuelta a España later this month, chasing the one major prize still missing from his collection: victory in all three of cycling's Grand Tours (BBC Sport).

The 27-year-old Slovenian, fresh from winning his fifth Tour de France last month, confirmed the decision on 3 August. The Vuelta — the third and final Grand Tour of the season, alongside the Tour de France and the Giro d'Italia — begins in Monaco on 22 August and finishes in Granada on 13 September, covering 21 stages across three weeks and 3,275 kilometres (La Vuelta).

It is a reversal of earlier plans. Pogacar's UAE Team Emirates-XRG squad confirmed a Vuelta line-up on 29 July without him, and the rider himself had said he would skip the race to rest after a demanding Tour victory (Reuters). A week later, he opened the door to riding, saying he wanted time to enjoy celebrating his fifth Tour title before deciding (Yahoo Sports). Now the door is fully open.

Pogacar's case for the Vuelta is built on a remarkable run of form. He won six of the seven World Tour races he entered in 2025, his only defeat a second place at Paris-Roubaix in April. At the Tour de France, he beat Belgian rival Remco Evenepoel by more than six minutes. That fifth Tour title put him level with Jacques Anquetil, Eddy Merckx, Bernard Hinault and Miguel Indurain as the joint most successful Tour champion of all time.

He already holds a Giro d'Italia title, won in 2024 by nearly ten minutes — an enormous margin in a sport where overall races are often decided by less than a minute. Victory in Spain would make him only the ninth rider in history to win all three Grand Tours. His previous best Vuelta result was third place in 2019, which was his first ever Grand Tour as a professional.

His UAE team will not be short of leadership even without him on previous plans. João Almeida was set to lead the squad in Spain, with Juan Ayuso as co-leader.

Pogacar was also expected to defend his Road World Championships rainbow jersey — the distinctive top worn by the reigning world champion — in Montreal, Canada, roughly a week after the Vuelta finishes. That schedule leaves little room for rest between three weeks of racing in Spain and the biggest one-day event of the year.

For cycling fans, the appeal is obvious. Pogacar races with a front-foot aggression that turns stages into spectacles. A three-week Vuelta with climbs through France, Andorra and Spain, finishing on the steep streets of Granada, gives him the terrain he loves. Whether the body cooperates after a long Tour and a packed spring is the only real question.