Tadej Pogačar almost wet his pants after a scary moment at the Tour de France: 'I could already see myself falling'

Tadej Pogačar made it through the 11th stage of the Tour de France—won by Soren Waerenskjold—unscathed. The Slovenian rider from UAE Emirates-XRG stayed out of the fray in the final stretch, but revealed afterward that he nearly crashed during the stage. “It scared the life out of me,” said the yellow jersey wearer.

The ride to Nevers will go down in history as the fastest stage ever in the Tour de France. “It was a very fast stage. Not easy, but at least it was short!” agreed the yellow jersey wearer, who, along with his team, had a relatively easy day when it came to leading the pack.

"The pace? People are starting to believe they can win stages like this from a breakaway group, and that is indeed possible," Pogačar explains how the pace could be so high in this stage. "There are a number of very strong riders in the breakaway, and that’s why we’re going faster during the stage: because the sprint teams have to catch up to them. We also had a tailwind, and that helps a lot, of course."

"The whole day was all about safety, and there was a moment when my front wheel rolled over a loose water bottle and I almost crashed. It scared the life out of me. I could already see myself hitting the ground," Pogačar sighed after the stage. “Luckily, I managed to keep my handlebars steady… so in the end, everything turned out okay. It’s nice to have days like this, but you really have to stay focused the entire stage.”

On Thursday, there will be another opportunity for the sprinters in the Tour de France, after which we ’ll head into the Vosges over the weekend. Those are the days when we’ll likely see a bit more of Pogačar again.