Polka-dot Pogačar can fall back on 3-second 'gain' over Vingegaard after Tour de France setback

Tadej Pogacar was far from disappointed after losing 11 seconds to UAE Emirates-XRG in the first stage of the Tour de France. The team finished third in the team time trial in Barcelona, but Visma | Lease a Bike, with rival Jonas Vingegaard, took the first yellow jersey.

Pogacar and UAE Emirates-XRG did very well, but losing time is not a very common occurrence for the world champion in 2026. “It was a good performance. Of course, you always go for the win, but I think we did very well. It was a great time trial.”

The 27-year-old Pogacar was helped into the polka-dot jersey (more on that later) and seemed relieved during the flash interview. “I’m glad this day is over, because it’s a difficult and long day. You prepare for 20 minutes with the team—that’s stressful.”

"I did enjoy it, though," Pogi continued. "It had been a long time since I'd done a team time trial, and it was a good performance. We can be happy with today and stay motivated for the days ahead."

So why the polka-dot jersey? Well, no points were awarded for the points classification or the mountains classification on Saturday, so the organizers came up with a plan. The green jersey went to the rider who was the fastest through intermediate point 1. That was Egan Bernal, riding for Netcompany INEOS.

The polka-dot jersey went to the rider who climbed the final ascent in Barcelona the fastest, with no mountain points awarded. Velon, like the organizers, timed the climb and found that Pogacar was 3 seconds faster than Vingegaard on an 860-meter stretch with an average gradient of 6.5 percent.

That way, Pogacar limited the gap to Visma | Lease a Bike to just 12 seconds, down from 15 seconds at the base of the final climb. “It’s great that I have climber’s legs,” Pogacar laughed, when asked about the mountain jersey and his climbing performance.

"It was a short climb, with Isaac (Del Toro, ed.) doing a great job," said the world champion. "The whole team went above and beyond, so thanks to them, I have this jersey. I need to recover from this now, because Stage 2 on Sunday will be a hectic ride for punchers. We have to be careful."