When it comes to the absence of double rainbow jersey Tadej Pogačar in the upcoming Road World Championships, almost every major squad has accepted that the race takes on a very different format and they will have to adapt accordingly. But the nation for whom Pogačar’s non-participation will change things the most is surely his own home country and the riders who usually back him there.
“Our tactics will change a lot,” Domen Novak, Pogačar’s teammate at UAE Team Emirates-XRG, tells Cyclingnews, to the point where Novak himself, a participant in every World’s since 2020 and a DNF in all of them, will not be going.
Regularly the powerhouse rider for the first part of the course for Slovenia before dropping out after his work in the first 150 to 200 kilometres are done, this time round “I’m not going to the Worlds because I’m going to the Tour of Croatia [CRO Race – September 22-27] and it’s a big change,” Novak told Cyclingnews during the Vuelta a España, where he was one of just four UAE riders who completed the stage race.
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“For us, it changes a lot, especially for me, what would I do there? We don’t have leaders, so it’s not like we need to pull all day.
“Without Tadej, I wouldn’t have the same job anyway and it’s going to be difficult to get in the breaks. I don’t think they’d let us do that much. So I’m going to Croatia.”
Whilst Primoz Roglič was an unexpected addition to the Slovenia lineup when the Vuelta was announced, Novak feels that the best options for his teammates like the veteran Red Bull racer, as well as Matej Mohorič, Jakob Omrzel and Jan Tratnik, will be trying to get in the moves “when the guys start getting dropped”, after the early skirmishes have settled down.
“We should wait all day and then start looking for chances,” the 31-year-old Novak argues.
As for who could be up there, Roglič himself has not been willing to express his plans too clearly. With his best result a sixth place in 2020 – before Pogačar logically began dominating the Slovenian team plans – Roglič also took 11th in 2025. He’s always shone on hilly Classics circuits, so he could have options.
“I decided to do the Worlds now there is some race intensity in my legs, but we have no expectations,” Roglič said after the Vuelta.
“I just want to go there, enjoy it and do my best, and the race will tell me what place I should be.”
As for Omrzel, his remarkable Vuelta a España stage win and seventh place overall mean his season is already an outstanding success, so whatever comes in the Worlds is a bonus.
“He’s growing year by year, he also won some races in the past like [Junior] Paris-Roubaix and the Giro Next Gen. He’s a guy to watch,” Novak said about Omrzel, a former teammate of his at the Slovanian Adria Mobil squad and an occasional Vuelta training partner, too, as they are neighbours.
“He races very smart when he gets in breakaways, here in the Vuelta he got in two and pulled back a lot of time overall as well as getting the win. And winning a first stage in a first Grand Tour is pretty exceptional.”
However, when it comes to examples of how to race the Worlds without Pogačar, Slovenia are also harking back to times when riders like Jan Tratnik attempted to pull off last-minute heists at the 2023 road race, breaking away late in an attempt to snaffle the bronze. Part of the move that set up Pogačar on the road to his first rainbow jersey in Zurich, Tratnik will also be back again in Canada, but this time fighting for his own chances.
“Tratnik can be good, he was nearly third in Australia but they caught him 50 metres from the finish,” Novak said. “So now he can go for more. In any case, I wish the guys in Canada all the best.”
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