A long, hilly Costa Blanca loop in mid‑December – Tadej Pogačar logged a Strava ride titled “Merry Christmas and happy new year” while UAE Team Emirates’ winter camp rolled on in Benidorm.
On paper, it’s a big day out even by WorldTour training standards. The file shows 226.1 km and 4,302 metres of climbing, with 6:08:34 of moving time at an average of 36.8 kph. That’s the kind of volume that still leaves a mark in December, even for riders accustomed to long days.
The route itself sticks to familiar Costa Blanca ground, looping inland away from the coast and linking together long, steady climbs rather than anything particularly spiky. Conditions were not typical warm weather KOM territory – around 11–12°C with light winds. Photos from the ride show a sizeable group in full UAE kit, suggesting a team session where Pogačar was given free lease to make a solo effort.
The most eye-catching detail sits on the Coll de Rates, a climb that’s become something of an informal winter reference point for pros training in the area.
Pogačar logged an 11:57 ascent, the fastest time currently on Strava. For context, the next cluster of elite times on the leaderboard sit in the 12:30 to 13-minute range, which is broadly where the benchmark has lived for years. Pogačar himself has dipped under that before, in what is almost an annual tradition he snatched the KOM last year in a time of 12:21, but the World Champion nudged the record substantially lower again.
What’s perhaps more interesting than the number itself is where it appears in the file. This wasn’t a standalone effort or a short, sharp day built around a single climb, but part of a 226 km ride with a lot of vertical already in the legs - and a punchy average speed.
There’s no power data visible, and it would be a stretch to draw firm conclusions from a single Strava upload. Still, as festive greetings go, this one reads as a fairly serious day on the bike – and a reminder that, even in mid-December, Pogačar’s baseline tends to sit a long way north of “easy.”
