Tadej Pogačar has undergone successful collarbone surgery following his race-ending crash during stage eight of the Vuelta a España on Saturday, his UAE Team Emirates squad confirmed on Monday evening.
The world champion will remain in hospital in Barcelona for a few days to be monitored, however, while there is currently no timeline for what now seems to be an unlikely return to racing before the end of the season.
Pogačar crashed with around 31km to go during Saturday’s chaotic eighth stage of the Vuelta to Xeraco, when he hit what appeared to a rock on the left-hand side of the road. The Slovenian had been leading the Spanish grand tour – the only three-week race he’s yet to win – by almost four minutes when he crashed out, having won three stages during a typically dominant opening week.
According to his teammate Pavel Sivakov, who was also caught up in the crash, Pogačar was drinking from his bottle when he hit the debris on the road, causing him to lose control of his bike.
“I was on Tadej’s wheel when he crashed,” Sivakov told the Cycling Podcast on Sunday. “He was drinking from his bottle and just hit this rock or object on the road and lost his balance. There was nothing he could do from there.
“We were actually in a really good position on the side of the road. I wouldn’t say we were in a bad position or in the middle of the pack, where it’s a bit more dangerous and you can’t see what is coming up.
“I think it’s just really bad luck. And because he was drinking at the same time – maybe if he’d had two hands on the handlebars, it would have been a different crash. Because when you lose the bars with one hand, you’re really exposed and you can’t really protect yourself. It’s really unfortunate.”
After being treated by medical staff while sitting on the road, a bloodied and battered Pogačar initially attempted to remount his bike before almost immediately shaking his head. He was then taken away in an ambulance, his aim of completing the three-week grand slam scuppered in an instant.
Later that evening, UAE’s medical director Adrian Rotunno revealed that Pogačar had sustained a lengthy list of injuries in the crash, including a concussion, displaced left clavicle fracture, a stable C7 cervical fracture, and multiple abrasions.
Rotunno also confirmed that the world champion had suffered no neurological damage or any further injuries. Due to his concussion, surgery on his broken collarbone was delayed until Monday afternoon.
In a statement issued last night, Rotunno said: “This afternoon, Tadej underwent successful surgery on his left clavicle after receiving the all-clear to proceed with the operation.
“The procedure went well and he will remain in hospital for post-operative monitoring for a few days.
“When ready, Tadej will travel home to begin his recovery and rehabilitation under the supervision of the team’s medical staff. We will continue to monitor his progress closely throughout the recovery process.”
Despite the upbeat, if rather bruised, demeanour of Pogačar’s hospital bed selfie, there are now some serious question marks over the rest of the Slovenian’s year.
According to Barcelona newspaper El Periódico, the complicated nature of Monday’s surgery, which reportedly required pins and plates to reconstruct the collarbone, all but confirms that the Slovenian will not be able to defend his world road race title in Montreal at the end of September.
Heading into stage eight of the Vuelta, the five-time Tour de France winner looked on course for one of the greatest seasons cycling has ever seen.
So far this year, Pogačar has won Strade Bianche, his first Milan-Sanremo, the Tour of Flanders, Liège-Bastogne-Liège, the Tour de Romandie, the Tour de Suisse, finished second at Paris-Roubaix, and won his fifth yellow jersey at the Tour in dominant fashion.
Just seven days into the Vuelta, on his return to the Spanish grand tour following a seven-year absence, he had already built up a resounding 3.40 lead over second-place Enric Mas, taking three stage wins (50 per cent of all completed stages by that point) along the way to what looked set to be, even by the Slovenian’s ruthless standards, one of the most dominant three-week displays in modern cycling history.
Instead, the Vuelta will now be remembered as the first time Tadej Pogačar failed to finish a grand tour, or any stage race for that matter, while it is also the first three-week race he’s started that didn’t end with him standing on the final podium.
The abrupt end to his Spanish late summer also marked the first time Pogačar has crashed out of a major race since the 2023 Liège-Bastogne-Liège, where he suffered a fractured wrist, leading to a lengthy stint off the bike that left him below par at that year’s Tour de France, where he was soundly beaten by Jonas Vingegaard.
Following the Vuelta, Pogačar had been targeting a record-equalling third rainbow jersey at the world road race championships in Canada on 27 September.
He was then scheduled to take part in the European championships, this year held on home roads in Slovenia, before attempting to become the most successful rider ever at Il Lombardia, where a sixth victory would take him clear of the record he currently jointly holds with the legendary Fausto Coppi.
However, a third consecutive world title, on a course that suits him, now looks extremely unlikely, barring a miraculously quick recovery process. And even if Pogačar does manage to return to racing in early October for the European championships, his form will be severely impacted by this unexpected layoff.
In an interview with French radio station RMC Sport, UAE Team Emirates boss Mauro Gianetti insisted that it was “still quite early to say” whether his leader could return to racing before the end of the season.
“We tried to avoid the discussion, because it’s not the right time to make decisions,” Gianetti said. “First of all, we have to see the recovery and how the operation goes on Tuesday or Wednesday. From there, we will have a slightly clearer framework to know if he has time to return for the end of the season or not.
“We will be able to approach this with a little more calmness and with Tadej who will have at least recovered from the concussion. It’s not the time to make decisions with emotion, we’ll have to wait a few days.”
