The news of Pogacar’s withdrawal will make Jonas Vingegaard the overwhelming favourite for this year’s Vuelta. The Dane has never won a Grand Tour outside the Tour de France, having finished second to teammate Sepp Kuss in 2023, and showed in the final week of the Tour that he is back climbing at his best level.

Tadej Pogacar celebrated his fourth Tour de France title in Paris but was denied what would have been a stunning final stage victory as Wout van Aert rode away on the wet cobbles of Montmartre to win on the Champs-Elysees.

As Tadej Pogacar relaxed on the sands of Seychelles, the 2025 Tour de France route was revealed last October. So was, it turned out, a theme of the Slovenian's pursuit of a fourth Tour title: the ghosts of Pogi's past.