"I'm at a point where I ask myself why I'm still here"; Duracell bunny Pogacar struggles with empty batteries

Everyone knew in advance Visma | Lease a Bike and Jonas Vingegaard were cooking up a plan. That turned out to be a full-gas assault on the Col de la Madeleine, the penultimate climb of the day. Pogacar, however, saw it coming and followed his rival with ease, ending that storyline before it really began.

On the way to the Col de la Loze, UAE Emirates-XRG and Visma | Lease a Bike both allowed Ben O'Connor (Jayco AlUla) and Einer Rubio (Movistar) to break free, keeping their own tactics close to the vest. In the end, that gave the Aussie the win, just ahead of Pogacar, who still managed to drop Vingegaard by nine seconds in the final meters.

"I wanted the stage win, but the yellow jersey is my priority. When Visma pushed the pace on the Col de la Madeleine, I thought winning the stage might be possible. But maybe they went too hard, even on the descent," Pogacar reflected. "They attacked each other and there was no cooperation in the valley. I waited for my teammates, but that took a long time. And when we hit the final climb, I thought Visma would ride faster to catch the breakaway."

Why didn’t Pogacar go all-in for the stage win, despite expectations? "I can’t wait to climb the other side of the Col de la Loze in the Tour de France. That’s the stage I really want to win. This side was much easier, but I want to come back and take a victory from the other direction."

So while Pogacar had an answer for Visma | Lease a Bike’s attacks, he’s not counting his chickens just yet, especially with the peloton heading to La Plagne on Friday. "That’s going to be another important day. Visma | Lease a Bike tried everything, but we stayed strong. That’s the same approach we’ll take there too," he said, referring to his team’s defensive tactics.

"If the stage plays out like today, I’ll feel relaxed," said the man in yellow. "We’re just trying to survive, and I trust my teammates, but who knows, maybe we’ll go for the stage win on the Champs-Élysées?" Pogacar teased.

So, big plans for the final day? It seems as if the Duracell bunny Pogacar is unstoppable. But in an interview with Cycling Weekly, a completely different story emerges. He says that he is all done with the Tour. 'I'm at a point where I ask myself why I'm still here. It's so long these three weeks. You count the kilometres to Paris and yes, I can't wait for it to be over so I can do some other nice stuff in my life as well."

The Tour takes its toll on everyone, including Pogacar. He tries to put his statement into perspective, though. “It's still nice to ride, even in the third week when you're tired and annoyed by everybody around you, more or less, and yeah, you just want to go home," he said. "But in the end, when you ride on these big climbs and people cheer on you and give you the extra motivation, you then realise that it's not so bad. Especially if you have a good legs, then it makes everything quite good.”