Tadei Pogachar clinched the Tour de France four days ago, but the young UAE Team Emirates rider still can't believe what he accomplished in his race debut.

Speaking at a virtual press conference Thursday morning, the 22-year-old said his post-race celebrations were low-key: rather than going out to celebrate becoming the youngest Tour winner since Henri Cornet in 1904, he was more focused on the COVID-19 restrictions and the upcoming races on the condensed calendar. He remains in his apartment in Monaco to concentrate.

And despite winning his 17th Tour victory in his two-year professional career just days earlier, Pogachar is already looking ahead to new goals.

"Of course I have to defend my Tour de France title, but I also have the world championships this week. In the future, I aim to win the Monument, the Giro, and the Vuelta."

Pogachar will compete in the UCI Road World Championships road race in Imola on Sunday. He will then take on two monuments in October, including his Tour de Flanders debut after Liège-Bastogne-Liège. But even as he plans for these races, Pogachar admits that winning the Tour is not yet a reality.

"It doesn't feel real yet," he said. Even being on the start list for the Tour de France is something I've dreamed about since I was a kid."

"In my first year, I've already had the opportunity to race with the best and I can't believe I've won. I think I need a little time to figure out what happened."

"I think it's a good thing that I've been able to do this for so long," he said.

The final result was a surprise to him and to the team, as the original plan had been for a top-five finish, and an even bigger surprise to those who believed the UAE's announcement that the experienced Fabio Aru would be the team leader in France.

"I believed in the team, but it was a bit of a surprise to get yellow in Paris. We started with the idea of aiming for the top five. That was my first goal

"Then when I got second, I tried to defend it and get some time back from Primoš [Roglic]. And in the time trial I was a little surprised with how I ran."

Pogachar beat Roglic by 59 seconds to give Slovenia a one-two finish. The last time two athletes from the same country occupied the top two places in Paris was in 2012, when Bradley Wiggins and Chris Froome dominated the race. [Only three other times in the past half-century, Laurent Fignon and Bernard Inaud in 1984, Joop Zoetemelk and Hennie Kuiper in 1980, and Jacques Anquetil and Raymond Pridor in 1964. Needless to say, Slovenia has only nine world tour riders.

"It's the first Tour de France win for Slovenia and I have to say that with the first and second places on the podium, Slovenia is on a hot streak right now.

"Everyone is very happy and celebrating, but I am now staying in an apartment in Monaco where everything is more relaxed because of the COVID-19 regulations, so it is a bit difficult to go and celebrate with everyone."