Tadej Pogacar paints a clear picture for the Alps and Visma | Lease a Bike

“It was a fairly quiet day, but not an easy one, because it was fast and the weather was bad towards the end. I'm glad the stage is over and that we all stayed safe,” said Pogacar, who, like his teammates, managed to avoid the crash in the final and thus suffered no damage.

On Thursday, the queen stage of this Tour de France is on the program, finishing in Courchevel after the Col de la Loze. "The goal is to keep the yellow jersey, and nothing else. We can expect Visma | Lease a Bike to try to break away and go all out on every climb. Later, on the Col de la Loze, they will do everything they can to drop me," said Pogacar.

It does not scare the UAE Emirates-XRG leader, even though he knows what happened on that climb two years ago. “I'm ready for anything that comes my way. I know the Col de la Loze—it's a beautiful climb and one of the hardest I've ever done. Maybe this side is less grueling than the one we climbed in 2023...,” he said with a wink in his interview after stage seventeen.

Pogacar is defending a 4.15-minute lead over his closest rival, Jonas Vingegaard, who was unable to shake him off on Tuesday on Mont Ventoux after the hard work of his Visma | Lease a Bike team.