Pogacar praises Visma | Lease a Bike medical staff: "Probably the best choice"

Pink jersey holder Tadej Pogacar navigated the eleventh stage of the Giro, won by Jonathan Milan on Wednesday, relatively well. The Slovenian from UAE-Team Emirates briefly engaged in the sprinters' fray but saw his teammate Rui Oliveira thrown off behind him. His lieutenant Felix Grossschartner also crashed in the pre-finale.

After the race, Pogacar was glad to mark another day off his Giro calendar en route to Rome. "There was a fall right in front of me, but I always like to race from the front. I keep a close watch on where I'm riding and what's happening around me so that I don’t bump into anyone and can stay safe. That’s why I was also able to brake for that crash involving Fabio Jakobsen. That was the most dangerous moment of the day for me, as we were going sixty kilometers an hour," said the Slovenian, who saw sprinter Juan Sebastian Molano finish in the top ten.

"With the headwind, it was harder for me to help Rui and Seba (Molano, ed.)," continued the pink jersey wearer. "I tried to catch some wind for them, as they often do for me. In the final straight, however, I didn't have the legs anymore, then it's up to the bigger guys," he said with a broad smile.

"It can happen anywhere: both from the front and from the back," Pogacar commented on the risks in such stages. "I have a philosophy: you need to stay safe in the bubble you create for yourself in the peloton, without making mistakes yourself. That’s what I did this time, staying close to Rui and Molano after the other guys had done good work," the UAE-Team Emirates leader stated in the flash interview.

Pogacar on Uijtdebroeks' withdrawal: "Fever is not good for your body"

During his podium ceremony, the wearer of the pink jersey, Tadej Pogacar, noticed the absence of Cian Uijtdebroeks: the white jersey holder has gone home due to illness. "A lot of guys are sick. I myself am getting better, I'm starting to feel good. The day before the rest day, I heard a lot of coughing and sniffles in the peloton. Cian got a fever, and that's not good for your body in a Grand Tour, so it was probably medically the best decision to pull him from the race," Pogacar told Cycling Pro Net.

Finally, Pogacar commented on his crashed teammate from Austria. "How is Felix doing? I don't know, I haven't seen him yet. It looked like he was okay, but we have to wait and see what the exact consequences of his crash are."

Video: Grossschartner, Pogacar’s teammate, crashes in the final phase of stage 11 of the Giro