Pogi Challenge 2026: For One Weekend, Komenda Was the Centre of World Cycling
I spent last weekend at the Pogi Challenge in Komenda, a three-day cycling festival that merged the Tadej Pogačar Criterium and the S Klanca v Klanc challenge into a single event. Three days of racing, music, community and charity that put Komenda firmly on the world cycling map. Here is my look back at the weekend.
Friday: A Hero's Welcome for the Five-Time Tour Champion
Friday kicked off with criterium races on a roughly one-kilometre loop through Komenda, featuring every generation. From the youngest categories through the women's race to the men's elite. That format is one of the most beautiful things about this event: kids race the very same roads as the world's biggest stars, whom they then watch up close in the evening.
The highlight of the day was, of course, the homecoming of Tadej Pogačar, welcomed by the crowds as a now five-time winner of the Tour de France. With his latest victory, he joined Anquetil, Hinault, Merckx and Indurain at the top of the all-time list.
Pogačar brought a star-studded field to Komenda, the likes of which Slovenia has never seen. The line-up included Isaac del Toro, Michael Matthews, Matteo Trentin, Giulio Ciccone, Giulio Pellizzari, Davide Piganzoli, Pascal Ackermann, Tim Wellens, Rui Costa and Felix Großschartner. Flying the Slovenian flag alongside Pogačar were Matej Mohorič, Jakob Omrzel, Luka Mezgec, Tilen Finkšt, Jaka Primožič and Matic Žumer.
In the 8th Tadej Pogačar Criterium, it was the local hero himself who came out on top. Pogačar collected the most points over 35 laps to win his race for the second year in a row, ahead of Trentin and Mezgec.
The Comeback of Luka Mezgec
The special story of the evening belonged to Luka Mezgec. The best Slovenian sprinter of all time crashed heavily at Scheldeprijs in April, breaking three ribs and requiring surgery due to bleeding in his lungs. After long months of recovery he returned to the peloton, and in Komenda he showed that the form is back: third place in the criterium. The Kranj native will close out his remarkable career at the European Road Championships in Slovenia this October, the final race of his career.
Saturday: Family Day with Čuki
Saturday belonged to families. Komenda turned into one big cycling playground for the youngest visitors, with activities, socialising and a relaxed atmosphere that showed the Pogi Challenge is not just a competition, but a celebration of the whole community. The musical highlight of the day was the beloved Slovenian band Čuki, who made sure the mood was exactly as fun and summery as a family day should be.
Sunday: S Klanca v Klanc, 1,189 Challengers Against Pogačar
Sunday brought the highlight of the weekend: the second edition of the S Klanca v Klanc challenge. The format is unique in the world. Recreational cyclists start in the village of Klanc near Komenda, ride 9.1 kilometres in a controlled convoy, and then face 15.1 kilometres of climbing to Krvavec at an average gradient of 8% and 1,177 metres of elevation gain. Pogačar starts last and hunts down everyone ahead of him. On the very climb where, back in 2009, he took his first ever victory as a young boy.
This year, 1,189 riders took on the challenge. The fastest was Germany's Frederik Niessen, who conquered Krvavec in 45:49. Pogačar, starting with a delay and weaving through the field, finished the climb in eighth place. After the race, the action moved back down to Komenda, where ski jumper Domen Prevc flew Pogačar off Krvavec by helicopter, and the finishing touch came with the awards ceremony and the conclusion of the charity auction, with all proceeds going to the Tadej Pogačar Foundation, which supports children and young people battling serious illnesses.
S Klanca v Klanc: The Numbers
| Start | Klanc pri Komendi |
| Finish | Krvavec |
| Convoy | 9.1 km |
| Climb | 15.1 km |
| Average gradient | 8% |
| Elevation gain | 1,177 m |
| Participants 2026 | 1,189 |
| Fastest time | 45:49 (Frederik Niessen, GER) |
What an Event Like This Means for Slovenian Cycling
The Pogi Challenge has long outgrown the frame of a local event. When the German winner of Sunday's challenge says Pogačar is his great idol, and when nearly 1,200 cyclists line up at the start many of them from abroad it tells you everything: this event has become a reason for riders from Germany, Italy, Austria and beyond to travel to Slovenia, stay here, discover Krvavec and the Kamnik Savinja Alps, and experience Slovenia at its very best.
For Slovenian cycling, that is priceless. All weekend long, kids raced the same roads as Del Toro, Trentin and Mohorič, seeing up close that the dream is within reach. Recreational riders got a race that exists nowhere else in the world. And Slovenia got an event that organically connects elite sport, tourism and charity. Exactly the calling card a true cycling nation deserves.
Add to that the European Road Championships coming to Slovenia this October, and there's only one conclusion: Slovenian cycling is living its golden age, and Komenda is its beating heart thanks to Tadej Pogačar.