Tadej Pogačar's dominance of pro cycling was more significant than ever in 2025, yet how long he will stay in the sport, and how many more Eddy Merckx-style years he will enjoy, is a constant topic of conversation.
And now 2018 Tour winner, and newly unveiled Ineos Grenadiers director of racing, Geraint Thomas, has chipped in his views. While his team once dominated the race, winning seven editions, until Pogačar (UAE Team Emirates-XRG) ended the Sky-Ineos run in 2020, Thomas believes things at the top will change sooner than many people think.
Pogačar, who turned 27-years-old in September, has just completed his ninth season in pro cycling, and Thomas believes his grip on the Tour de France, which he has won four times, may only last for the next two to three years.
Advertisement
The Welshman said his main goal at Ineos Grenadiers is to work with team boss Dave Brailsford to win the Tour again. And he believes, with the right combination of riders, it can challenge Pogačar within the next two to three years.
“It’s no secret, it’s winning the Tour again,” Thomas said of the goal that he and Brailsford have been planning for. “I’m not totally sure on the timescale yet, or at least I can’t really say. But that’s what made us successful.
Related News
"That’s how we stayed at a really high level and kept a great sponsor after Sky, because we won the Tour however many times it was, seven. Dave B... speaking to him now about this big goal and everything we need to do to get there... it’s complicated."
It is very hard at present to see anyone, with the exception of Jonas Vingegaard (Team Visma- Lease a Bike), beating Pogačar to the Tour title, which he has won for the past two years, after also winning in 2020 and 2021.
He has won 21 stages on the race, won the mountains classification three times and the young rider classification four times. But Thomas believes the end of his Tour reign is beginning to come into view in the distance, though nobody would bet against him for the next few years.
“Pog’s not going to be around forever,” Thomas said, speaking on the Watts Occuring podcast. “In two or three years time, we want to be in a super strong position where we can really challenge for it, Pog or not. Sport runs in cycles. Right now UAE are incredible, but for me, this is the start now. We (Ineos Grenadiers) are heading there.
"To be fair, it has been a period of change and transition (at Ineos Grenadiers), for sure. But you can’t just keep talking about it. At some point, it’s happened. This is where we are, and this is where we’re going. You don’t want a team of princesses, that’s for sure. It’s about giving them ownership. With that comes responsibility and accountability.”
