Pogačar makes surprising admission after Tour de France coup: “I would rather not have taken yellow yet”

Tadej Pogačar has seized control of the Tour de France. The Slovenian leader of UAE Team Emirates-XRG rode away from everyone on the Tourmalet, including his great rival Jonas Vingegaard of Visma | Lease a Bike. By the finish, 40 kilometers later, the gap between the two had already grown to 2 minutes and 40 seconds. Yet, remarkably, Pogačar admitted afterward that he would rather not have taken the yellow jersey just yet.

For Pogačar, it was already his 23rd stage win in the Tour de France. So where does this one rank? “I think definitely in the top five. During the stage, I was really having flashbacks to... which stage was it again? The one to the Tourmalet in 2023, when I had broken my hand,” he said, referring to his crash at Liège-Bastogne-Liège that year.

“That was at Cauterets. I thought about that a lot today, because the finale was similar. But man, this is truly an incredible victory. It is absolutely one of my most beautiful wins,” said the Slovenian, who rounded off what had been a perfect day from his teammates.

“Yesterday, we were sitting on the bus after the stage and the atmosphere among the guys was already really good. Everyone was already talking about today’s stage. This morning, I woke up around seven o’clock and my head was already racing. I was simply really looking forward to it. The whole team was hugely motivated, so I knew it was going to be a good day,” a proud Pogačar explained.

From Florian Vermeersch and Nils Politt to Adam Yates and Isaac del Toro, they were all there when it mattered. A Eurosport Nederland clip on X showed Del Toro and Pogačar linking up before Vingegaard, Paul Seixas and Remco Evenepoel had to let go. “We went all-in, as if we had nothing to lose. If we exploded, then so be it. But in the end, it worked out. I am super proud of everyone; the teamwork today was absolutely insane.”

Once he saw that Vingegaard had to let go, it was full gas all the way to the finish. “Honestly, beforehand I left all of that to chance. Whatever happens, happens. I was not thinking at all about calculating seconds or minutes, or about who would win. I just wanted to go full gas from start to finish.”

“And as for the yellow jersey: actually, I would rather not have taken it today,” Pogačar admitted, somewhat surprisingly, after already making up eight minutes on Torstein Træen by the top of the Tourmalet.

“I heard that Torstein crashed really hard on the descent of the Tourmalet. That descent is quite tricky and dangerous if you miss a corner. I really hope he is okay. I was actually hoping he could have kept the jersey today. I hope he recovers quickly and can continue the race,” Pogačar concluded.

Author: David Bavin-Hobbs - [email protected]