Pogacar already tired of endless Tour transfers and obligations: "Glad I don’t have to talk to the press"

After stage 9, Pogacar already voiced his criticism to Cyclingnews about the long hours teams spend on the team bus each day. Especially in the past few days, as the Tour rapidly shifted from the north to the south of France, it was extreme. “If we’re lucky, the riders get to the hotel by 10 PM,” Visma | Lease a Bike’s sports director Frans Maassen told NOS after stage 9 about what lay ahead on Monday’s stage 10.

It was even worse than that: on Monday night at 11:15 PM, Intermarché-Wanty posted a video showing the team finally arriving at the hotel by bus. “Finally at the hotel to enjoy the first Tour de France rest day,” the Belgian team wrote. “Our riders really enjoy being on the bus. They accept that by doing so, they lose an hour. That means eating later. Usually we’re at the table around 9:30 or 10 p.m. That’s late, but it is what it is,” said Maassen.

Pogacar was much more cynical when asked on Sunday about the Tour’s constant relocations, which organizers say are necessary to move from a challenging northern first week into the Pyrenees for week two. “This Tour is making me feel old. There’s no time to shave, we have so many transfers. We spend two hours on the bus before the start, and another three hours after the finish. Maybe I should bring my toiletry bag on the bus for the next few days.”

After stage 10, in which Pogacar managed to fend off attacks from Visma | Lease a Bike, the Slovenian ended up losing the yellow jersey. That meant he entered the rest day without any jersey on his shoulders. “It’s good I don’t have the yellow on the rest day. Honestly, I’m very happy I don’t have to talk to the press,” he told La Gazzetta dello Sport. On social media too, Pogacar welcomed the first rest day with a smile: “Wishing the whole peloton a great rest day. See you Wednesday.”