Pogačar in Australia in January? What's true and what's a podcast

Since Friday one sentence has been doing the rounds: Pogačar might open his 2027 season in Australia, at the Tour Down Under. If you read it as news, here is where things stand: there is no confirmation, either from him or from UAE Team Emirates-XRG. What exists is a race director trying, a friend who would not be surprised, and a manager who went to look at the hotels in January. Let's line up who said what, because the gap between a hypothesis and a fact is the interesting part, to us.

Where the rumour comes from

It starts with Stuart O'Grady, director of the Tour Down Under, a guest on the Stanley St. Social podcast. He said, in essence, that he is doing everything he can to bring the biggest names to Australia, Pogačar included. Then there is Michael Matthews, a friend of the Slovenian, who said on the Domestique Hotseat podcast that he would not be surprised to see him in Adelaide, but did not know when. It was reported by Domestique (23 October), IDL Pro Cycling and CyclingUpToDate (both 24 October).

Let's pause for a second. An organiser saying he wants the champion is doing his job, exactly as any race director in the world would. A friend who would not be surprised is joking between friends. Neither of them is him.

What is verified

There are few points, and we attribute each to whoever reports it. Pogačar's manager, Alex Carera, went to the last stage of the Tour Down Under in January 2026 to look at the race village and hotel, as O'Grady told it. Pogačar has raced this event only once, in 2019, finishing 13th, and according to IDL Pro Cycling his team kept him out in 2026 too. He ended his 2026 season early after a crash at the Vuelta: we know nothing about the details, and O'Grady himself ties any appearance to his recovery. Finally, speaking to Slovenian radio RTV SLO, he named, according to Domestique, the Tour de France, the Worlds and the Vuelta as his 2027 priorities.

One real novelty of the 2027 edition, which concerns everybody: according to the organisers, men and women will race the same routes, on the same days, in the last three stages. For anyone who follows women's cycling too, that is good news whoever shows up at the start.

What is not there

Why it matters anyway

Because an Australian start would change the shape of his year. A mid-January debut means racing weeks earlier, with a different winter build, in a season that for him runs through the Tour and the Worlds in Sallanches, which we covered in Sallanches 2027 and Pogačar's 20 times. Whether that is better or worse we do not know and will not pretend to: it depends on how he is, how his staff works and what he wants. We do have an opinion, though: a champion who has picked the Tour, the Worlds and the Vuelta as targets has little need for a January race, and a lot of need to arrive with a fresh head.

There is a practical side for us Italian viewers too. Adelaide is about nine and a half hours ahead of Italy (our own calculation, for January): you watch the stages at dawn or at night, not with your ten o'clock coffee. One more reason the Tour Down Under is a race Italians follow in pieces.

How to read a transfer-style rumour

We gave ourselves a rule, and we leave it to anyone who wants it. Three articles quoting the same podcast are one piece of news, not three. Always look at who is talking (an organiser, a friend, the team?), whether they gain anything, and which verb they use. If there is no certain verb, wait for the team's statement before sharing.

When races and calendars become official, you will find them in our 2027 calendar: until there is an announcement, we do not write dates nobody has confirmed. If you organise a winter group ride to follow the stages live, you can find meetups among the group rides.

And where do you stand? Would you like to see Pogačar in January already, even for a single week in Australia, or would you rather he arrived in March with full legs and two more months of preparation? Tell us in the comments: we especially want to know whether, for you, news like this is enough to set an alarm for three in the morning.