After another demonstration, Pogačar keeps his stage 20 cards close to his yellow chest: 'Toughest day'

Friday’s race on Alpe d’Huez was a gala performance by Tadej Pogacar. The Slovenian rider from UAE Team Emirates-XRG broke the climb record and claimed yet another stage victory in the Tour de France. Naturally, there was joy after the race, but Pogi didn’t want to say too much about Stage 20, Saturday’s stage.

"It's really cool to win here," the Slovenian powerhouse began in his flash interview. "The atmosphere was absolutely crazy all the way up the climb. Thanks to the team, I was finally able to pull it off. I was really riding for the team, and I'm so happy to win here."

And yet Pogacar got off to a very early start. “When I heard that a few riders had to drop back because Felix (Grossschartner, ed.) was setting a very fast pace at the start, I knew… on the climb before that, we were already going full throttle. Actually, we’d been going like that all day. In the first kilometer of Alpe d’Huez, my legs felt strong and there weren’t many riders left. I just went for it. I gave it my all all the way to the top.”

After that, he got some help from Adam Yates, who was in much better form than earlier this week. “I still had Adam riding in the middle of the pack, which gave me a huge mental boost. I was really happy to have him back. He felt really bad after the time trial. I was really happy to be able to ride a few kilometers behind him now.”

In the final stretch, he still had to contend with the tenacious Richard Carapaz and Lenny Martinez. “In the end, I had to go head-to-head with some really good riders. They were playing off each other a bit at the end, so that helped me close the gap and ultimately take the win,” Pogacar calmly analyzed.

So it was a dominant victory, even though there were concerns about the UAE team due to illness. “We’re in good shape. We’re taking it day by day. Tomorrow is the Tour’s queen stage, and I hope Paris will be a beautiful, sunny day. Tomorrow will be the toughest day of the Tour,” the Slovenian added, looking ahead.

The race will finish at Alpe d'Huez once again, this time via the Col de Sarenne. With 5,450 meters of elevation gain, this is certainly the queen stage. “We’ll win today; we’ll see about tomorrow. We have our own rhythm and plan, so we don’t pay much attention to the rest. We’ll do what we do every day: stick together as a team and give it our best,” said Pogi, refusing to reveal the plan.

"We'll see what happens," said Pogacar, who was glad that teammate Isaac Del Toro was able to gain some time in his bid for the podium. "That’s good news. Today might have been my day to seize the opportunity to win; tomorrow, we’ll make sure Isaac can compete for the white jersey and a spot on the podium."