After an impressive Grand Tour debut at this year's Vuelta a España with three stage wins and third overall, Tadej Pogacar will make his Tour de France debut in 2020.

The 21-year-old's success in the Vuelta is just one chapter of an impressive debut season as a professional that also saw him win titles at the Tour of California and the Volta ao Algarve.

Despite the high expectations, he was cautious about his Grand Tour plans for next season, and although he was reported to be entering the Giro d'Italia, he will instead focus on the Tour de France in July.

"Together with the team, we designed two programs, the Giro and the Tour, but from all points of view, we decided the Tour was the best," Pogacar told Cycling News at the UAE Team Emirates training camp in Spain.

"The Giro program is stressful; you can't spend that much time preparing for the Giro if you want to do well in the UAE Tour [in February]. If I go to the Tour, I have more time and less stress."

Pogacar will start his 2020 campaign with Volta a la Comunitat Valenciana, followed by the UAE Tour, and then Paris-Nice in March to get used to French roads. Milan-San Remo could be run before the Tour of the Basque Country and the Ardennes Classics, where he finished sixth overall this year.

After a rest, he will prepare for the Tour de France with a high-altitude camp and the Criterium du Dauphiné. Also scheduled is the Tokyo Olympic road race, which will be held a week after the final stage of the Tour.

Pogacar tried to temper his expectations for the Tour by emphasizing team leader Fabio Aru.

"I'm going into the Tour with the same feeling I had for the Vuelta. I will try to learn as much as I can. If Aru is in really good shape, I will go for the yellow jersey and I will support him 100%."

"I like this role. There is no stress, no pressure. Results don't matter. I just look to the future and see how it goes. I can just relax and learn about the three-week adventure that is the Tour."

Despite quickly emerging as a Grand Tour contender and one of the best riders in the world, Pogacar believes he still has a long way to go to be considered a true Grand Tour contender.

"I showed leadership in the Giro, but it's still different with the Vuelta. In the Vuelta, everything came naturally. In the Vuelta, everything came naturally. I am still young and I need to learn about the role of a leader. I need more time.

"The Vuelta is quite different from the Giro and the Tour. Every Grand Tour has its own story and you can't say that if you win the Vuelta you will also win the Tour. The riders are different and there is a lot of pressure and stress. I want to see what happens. Of course I want to do my best in the best conditions, but there is no pressure."

Reflecting on his first season, Pogacar said he was "more surprised than anyone" at the immediate impact at the top level.

After a strong showing at the Tour Down Under in January, Pogacar took a stage win and the overall at the Volta Ao Algarve. After suffering a physical illness in the Ardennes, he set his sights on the World Tour event in California, which he won.

"I tried to push it off at the time, but I don't know if I will realize what I did this year," Pogacar said. He added: "I surprised myself in every race.

But a day after Greg Van Avermaat said that young talent peaks early but has a short career, he refused to get carried away and indicated he was thinking carefully about his long-term development.

"I had a really good year, but I still need to improve to be one of the top players. I think I am moving in the right direction, but there is still room for improvement." [One of them is the time trial. I think I can do better, and I'm working a lot on that right now. And tactics. I made a lot of mistakes this year. Even in the races I won, I made mistakes, but I learned quickly. I learned to be more patient and to follow my feeling.

Tour de l'Avenir winners are always expected to achieve great things, but looking back on 2019, Pogacar said his ambition for his career has crystallized.

"My ambitions are more defined. It's to win the Tour, the Giro, and the Vuelta.

"I want to improve to the point where I can't improve any more. I will do everything in my power to be the best I can be.