Pogacar corrects himself after Netflix scolding against Vingegaard: 'Didn't mean it that way'

“The past five years have been pretty intense,” Pogačar said. “There’s a great rivalry, and I think we’ll see that again this year. It’ll be interesting to see whether we can extend our dominance, but you never know — someone might surprise us over the next three weeks. I’m looking forward to racing against Jonas and all the others across every kind of terrain. It’s going to be a great month for the people watching the Tour.”

Pogačar has already had a near-perfect season in 2024, claiming victories in the UAE Tour, Strade Bianche, Tour of Flanders, Liège-Bastogne-Liège, and the Critérium du Dauphiné. His career total now stands at 99 professional wins, meaning a stage victory during this year’s Tour would mark win number 100 — at just 26 years old.

“It’s already been a really good year — perfect, even,” Pogačar reflected. “After the Dauphiné, I went to Isola 2000 with the team for a training camp. We trained really well there. Then I spent four or five days at home, which was also nice — just to have a bit of normal life before the chaos kicks in.”

When discussing Pogačar and the Tour de France, Jonas Vingegaard is never far from the conversation. “I’m honoured to start the Tour as one of the top favourites and I hope I can live up to the expectations. Are there aspects where Jonas is better? For me, he’s the strongest on long climbs — and on his day, he can also do better time trials. We’ll see during this Tour how things really stand between us.”

In the newly released second season of the Netflix Tour de France series, a scene showed Pogačar shouting “f*ck you” at Vingegaard during a tense moment. On Thursday, the Slovenian was happy to clarify the incident.

“It’s not nice to lash out like that, but in the heat of the moment, you sometimes say something you regret. I didn’t mean it that way. In the peloton, things get said when people are stressed or frustrated. It happens — and I think it’s part of the sport.”

“Visma and UAE have had a lot of battles over the years, and sometimes things happen, but at the end of the day, there’s a lot of mutual respect — and that will remain.”

Pogačar knows the opening week of this year’s Tour is bound to be hectic. “It’s going to be really nervous — and we’re prepared for that. Any stage where I can try to gain time, I see as an opportunity. But at the same time, the most important thing early on is not to lose time.”

He also acknowledged that the real difficulty of the race lies in the second half. “There are quite a few summit finishes. The last week in the Alps looks the hardest. The queen stage has 5,500 metres of climbing,” he said, referring to the brutal stage that finishes atop the Col de la Loze. “That’s the hardest and probably my worst stage — but hopefully I feel good that day. Right now, I feel ready.”

And then there’s the final stage in Paris — this year no longer a ceremonial sprint on the Champs-Élysées, but a loop more suited to the Classics specialists.

“When I heard the Paris stage was changed, I immediately thought a lot of riders wouldn’t like it,” Pogačar admitted. “For me, it doesn’t really matter. I think the GC will already be decided by then, and there’s mutual respect among the riders. But sure, it could still come down to that final stage on those narrow roads — though even on the traditional Champs-Élysées, you had to stay sharp until the end.”