Two-time Tour de France winner Tadej Pogacar (UAE Team Emirates) has decided to dabble in cyclocross and join his fellow road cycling stars, competing in the Slovenian Cup cyclocross race in Slovenia's capital Ljubljana on Sunday.

Pogacar is no stranger to the discipline, having won the Slovenian cyclocross national championship in 2018. Since then, however, he has shifted his focus to a very successful road career, taking his first Grand Tour podium at the Vuelta a España in 2019 at the age of 21 and becoming Tour de France champion in the following two seasons.

While Mathieu van der Pol, Wout van Aert, and now Tom Pidcock have found success combining cross and road, other top pros like Gorka and Ion Izaguirre like to jump into local cross races in the off-season for fun ... [Sio1.net (opens in new tab) says that while most riders will enjoy watching the first major battle between Van der Pol, Van Art, and Pidcock at the World Cup in Dendermonde, Pogacar's racing is more low-key and he is a youth development team, and to put his name to the movement to create a cycling center near the Stojice Hippodrome site, where the race will be held, in support of the cycling club in Log, which he helped create.

According to Sporza.be, during a visit to Colnago headquarters, Pogacar asked them to build a cross bike for him.

The race will also feature former cyclocross national champion Luka Mezgec (BikeExchange).