Tadej Pogačar Recognises Rivalry with Jonas Vingegaard in Tight Battle for Tour de France Victory
Key Highlights :
Tadej Pogačar, the leader of UAE Team Emirates, is ten seconds down from Jonas Vingegaard in the Tour de France general classification, making it one of the tightest battles for overall victory in years. However, Pogačar is content to wait for the final week of the Tour, or even the final stage in the mountains, to make decisive attacks. He recognises that neither he nor Vingegaard has the upper hand physically or mentally in the rivalry that continues to push the riders to their limits.
Last year, Pogačar was far behind at the second rest day and admitted that he was “just doing stupid moves.” This year, he is not so far behind time-wise and is not throwing all the bombs at once, but rather “just once and doing it 100 percent.” Despite facing issues such as the delay to training and pain from his Liege-Bastogne-Liege scaphoid fracture, Pogačar is still managing to push himself to his limits. He still has some pain in his wrist, but is trying to put it aside and focus on the task at hand.
Pogačar and Vingegaard enjoyed the second rest day in the Alps, with Pogačar's partner, Urška Žigart, joining him for a ride. The next showdown will be Tuesday’s time trial in the Alpine valley between Passy and Combloux near Sallanches. Pogačar sees the 22 kilometre hilly race against the clock as a step to the two most decisive mountain stages, on stage 17 over the might Col de la Loze to Courchevel and then stage 20 in the Vosges, finishing on the Markstein climb.
Pogačar denied that there was too much of a psychological war going on between himself and Vingegaard, suggesting instead that each is focusing on themselves and their own race. He believes that the physical duel will be more important than the psychological one, and that the two most decisive stages will be Wednesday's stage 17 and stage 20.
When asked why he sometimes takes his gloves off before the start of final climbs, Pogačar explained that he likes the feeling of riding without gloves, but is aware that if he crashes and scratches his hand, it can be very painful. He also answered the same question that Vingegaard had to face on Sunday, about the degree of scepticism that prevails amongst some fans when both he and the Dane are breaking time records for tackling multiple different climbs. Pogačar said he understands why people ask questions due to cycling's past, and that it will come down to their legs this year.
Pogačar is enjoying this battle with Vingegaard, and respects it a lot. He may have signed-up for the current GC situation and a ten-second deficit on the second rest day, but he is not going to accept it between here and Paris. With three complicated stages ahead, the next few days will be decisive in determining the victor of this tight battle.
