Pogacar collides with Visma car ahead of showdown with Vingegaard in queen stage: "Maybe he wanted to check my brakes"

Stress? It seems Pogacar doesn’t know the meaning of the word. “I slept really well,” he told Sporza. He’s well aware that stage 18 is no walk in the park and that it’ll be a nerve-wracking day. “Wearing the yellow jersey always brings pressure, maybe even more so on a queen stage like this, but I’ve been looking forward to this day since the start of the Tour,” said the Slovenian. The final climb is the same ascent, though this time from the other side, where he lost the Tour in 2023.

Not that Pogacar cares. He doesn’t focus on which name is written on the mountain. Above all, he just wants to perform. “I hope I’m ready, and if your legs are good, it’s going to be a great day. I’m honestly hyped.” Still, the world champion will likely spend most of the day riding defensively. “That’s the first thing you think of, but if I see a chance to win, I won’t let it pass.”

Jonas Vingegaard is still hoping to win the Tour. In order to make that happen, he’ll need to claw back a significant amount of time today, which means Pogacar will be under pressure from the very first climb. “They’ll attack from far out. Maybe they’ll do what they always do, sending riders into the breakaway. Then they can start attacking, but they’ll have to go early. I’m ready for everything.”

Before the start, Pogacar had a minor incident with the Visma | Lease a Bike team car: the UAE leader collided with the Dutch squad’s vehicle. “The news spreads fast,” he said to ITV, still with a smile on his face. “It was clear in the front. We were cruising behind the car, maybe a bit too close. I don’t know if he wanted to check my brakes, but I was not ready. I didn't see anyone in front, I didn’t see a reason to stop urgently, so I crashed into the car. I hit my chin. But we're okay.”

Super-domestique Tim Wellens also knows he has to deliver his best effort on the way to Courchevel. “We’ve got two brutally hard days ahead. We hope we’ll be ready.” What does the experienced Belgian expect from the rivals’ tactics? “I expect an attack on the second climb of the day, the Madeleine. We’ll see if that happens.”

The Belgian champion could well play a crucial role. “For us, the ideal scenario would be for me to get into the breakaway, but that’s not so easy,” he admitted. “It would be great though, because then I could help out in the valley before the final climb.”