🎥 Pogacar goes down in final Tour de France stage, but loses no time thanks to sportmanship of rivals

Tadej Pogacar had a lucky escape in stage 11 of the Tour de France. The world champion from UAE Team Emirates-XRG went down just over four kilometers from the finish, after clipping the rear wheel of another rider in the group of favorites. Jonas Vingegaard (Visma | Lease a Bike), Remco Evenepoel (Soudal–Quick Step), and the others showed true sportsmanship by not taking advantage and waiting for Pogacar.

“Thanks, guys,” Pogacar said shortly after the finish to several Visma | Lease a Bike riders. To teammate Nils Politt, he whispered, “I’m okay.” He confirmed that again later through his team’s official channels. “I’m okay, just a bit shaken. But we’ve had worse days.”

“It was a hectic day from start to finish, and then came the crash,” the Slovenian reflected. “Thanks to the front of the peloton. They waited, even though the race was more or less over by then. They could’ve taken some time, and I would’ve had to go deep to come back. A lot of respect to everyone up there, thank you all!”

Pogacar had clipped the wheel of Uno-X rider Tobias Halland Johannessen, but he didn’t outright blame him. “Everyone was at their limit after that last climb and descent, Matteo Jorgenson and Jonas Vingegaard forced everyone to dig deep. Then it eased up a bit, and others started attacking, so people followed.”

“One rider unfortunately moved from left to right, I don’t know if he saw me,” Pogacar continued. “He completely cut across my front wheel, but luckily I just lost some skin. I was briefly scared I’d hit the curb head-first, but thankfully I stopped just short. We’ll see how I recover, Thursday’s a big day heading toward Hautacam, and the day after a crash is never the best.”

According to UAE team boss Mauro Gianetti, there was a moment of concern when the world champion suddenly hit the ground. “A crash is always scary, especially at that kind of speed. But when we saw him get up quickly and check his bike, we breathed a sigh of relief. He says he feels fine, but of course, you don’t want to crash the day before a mountain stage,” he told French media.

Gianetti thanked the group of favorites for waiting for Pogacar. “That was an incredible sign of respect from the champions who were in that group at the time. They always fight each other, but not when a rival has bad luck. I tip my hat to them.” To Dutch broadcaster NOS, the Swiss team boss added: “Tadej was pissed about the crash, but fortunately nothing’s wrong.”