Tadej Pogacar considered pulling out of 'stressful' 2025 Tour de France because of knee injury before winning race for fourth time

Tadej Pogacar further cemented his cycling greatness in 2025 with another remarkable year of achievements. The finest moment of the year for the 27-year-old Slovenian came in July, when he claimed his fourth Tour de France title. But superstar Pogacar has now revealed he considered pulling out of the race in its third and final week due to a knee injury.

Cycling superstar Tadej Pogacar has revealed he had doubts about whether he could continue during the third week of this year's Tour de France due to a knee injury.

It has been another glorious year for Pogacar, who claimed his second successive Tour title in July, his fourth in all.

But he has now lifted the lid on how "stressful" the 2025 Tour was, and how things were far from smooth for him and his team, UAE Team Emirates-XRG, in the summer.

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"The Tour is really something special, tiring, long, full of stress, sometimes I just say that the Tour is a necessary evil for every team," Pogacar told Slovenian website siol.net.

"This year was the fastest Tour in history, if I'm not mistaken. Every day was stressful, an extremely demanding route in the first 10 days, full of traps, loops, final climbs, it was hectic.

"And then came the second week, where the route was written to my skin, everything went great, like butter, and then came the last week.

Pogacar was on the limit 'at some points' on Mont Ventoux

Video credit: TNT Sports

"I really wanted another Alpine victory, especially in the stage on the Col de la Loze, to avenge the defeat from two years ago, but to be honest, not everything went according to plan."

Pogacar says the knee problems became so bad, he did consider pulling out of the iconic race.

Instead, he carried on, finished second and third in the remaining mountain stages and ended up celebrating on the streets of Paris once again.

"The day after the stage with the finish on Mont Ventoux, I had problems with my knee and I started to have doubts about whether I would be able to continue at all, whether I would be able to endure the queen stage," Pogacar said.

"And then, on the stage with the finish on La Plagne, on top of that, the weather was extremely bad.

"It was cold, and my body went on the defensive. I was holding back water because my body was in shock. I had had enough of everything. I really wasn't feeling my best.

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"But I think any cyclist who has ever been on any Grand Tour knows that three weeks is no small feat. After the first week, you're already tired, and then you have two more weeks.

"I don't think anyone comes home rested, especially not after the Tour de France."

Pogacar has had another remarkable year in the sport, further cementing his greatness, with his fourth Tour crown followed by a successful defence of his UCI Road World Championship crown in Rwanda last month.

He then crowned his year in style when he won Il Lombardia for the fifth successive time on Saturday.

The 27-year-old said he had a "really cool" phone call with Eddy Merckx following that victory - but also claimed he is tired of being compared to the Belgian legend.

"I don't like that all the time you need to compare to somebody. Nobody likes to be compared to somebody all the time," Pogacar said.

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