Tadej Pogacar I know something about endless heartbreak Primoz Roglic The Tour de France has endured Pogacar’s struggles over the years, and in 2020 he took the yellow jersey from his compatriot in the most harrowing of conditions on La Planche des Belles Filles to claim his first Tour victory.
Roglič’s subsequent participation in the Tour was even more cursed: a year later, his rematch with Pogačar was ended before it began by a crash in the opening days, and in 2022, another crash forced Roglič to cede the leadership of Jumbo-Visma to Jonas Wingegaard.
The latest attempt was made by Roglic on Thursday to roll the rock back to the top of the mountain. Crash just 12km from the finish of the 12th stage The Slovenian finished 2min 27sec behind in the race in Villeneuve-sur-Lot. The full extent of his injury is not known, but it is already clear that his hopes of winning the overall title have been dented. Roglic, who is currently sixth overall in 4min 42sec, will not win the Tour in 2024.
Like most of the riders in the pack, Pogacar sensed the accident rather than saw it directly. In the chaos of the final stages, with all this self-inflicted antics, there was no time to assess the damage. It was only when he arrived in the podium area that he learned from a member of the UAE Team Emirates staff that a fellow Slovenian rider was the main victim of the accident.
“I heard something at the back of the group but I couldn’t look around at the time, so I just knew something had happened but I didn’t know how many people had fallen or what had happened,” Pogacar said.
“As soon as I crossed the line I heard from my mates that Primoz had crashed and lost time, which was a real shock. It was really awful, really bad news. It’s a real shame and really sad that he crashed and lost time, because he was getting better and better every day of the Tour.”
Roglic has already He fell in the final Despite being beaten by Le Riolan in Wednesday’s gripping stage, he finished uninjured and without any significant impact on the overall standings. As the crash came in the final 3km, Roglic recorded the same time as his fellow rider Remco Evenepoel, and was just 25 seconds behind Pogacar and Wingegaard.
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There was no such reprieve on Thursday. Roglic was the least convincing of the four main contenders at this point, but that didn’t mean he was completely out of the running. Red Bull Bora-Hansgrohe management had insisted his training had been geared towards the longer, mountainous races that lay ahead. That point may no longer be relevant.
“It’s really disappointing because I thought he was coming really strong until the second week,” Pogacar said. “I wish him the best of luck, I hope he doesn’t get hurt and can keep racing. We all know he’s a strong fighter. I hope he recovers and can do his best in the next stage. Maybe he can win a stage and get close to winning the overall, but we’ll see what happens.”
Vangego and the Pyrenees
Pogačar finished safely in the main pack, retaining the yellow jersey and a 1m6s lead over Evenepoel and 1m14s over Vingegaard. The early sprint stages of the race were relatively tepid, but the action got more intense on the heavy, undulating roads of Lotto. ““As far as sprint stages go, today was one of the best for me,” said Pogacar. “It was pretty fast paced, there were ups and downs and I enjoyed the roads.”
There was a lot more interest in what Pogačar had to say about a day of ups and downs of a different kind. When Pogačar attacked Puy Mary on Wednesday, he was Yellow jerseyIf anything, it seemed uncertain whether he would win the jersey, as Vingegaard closed a 35-second gap and then surprisingly came out on top of Vingegaard in a two-man sprint to take the stage.
On Thursday night in Villeneuve-sur-Lot, Pogacar revealed that he made a rare habit of watching the stage on television, and while Vincegaard’s return was undoubtedly a blow to Pogacar’s morale, he came away with a surprisingly positive assessment of his own performance on Stage 11.
“I don’t usually watch a lot of TV coverage, but I had some time in my room yesterday so I watched it and analysed it,” Pogacar said. “I saw where Jonas made saves with his foot and where he didn’t. That was one of the key moments.”
“Yesterday was a pretty good day for me, but for Jonas I think yesterday was the best day of his career, maybe close to it. I was pedalling the whole time and he had the help of Primoz on the descent after the Puy Mary. It all added up.”
After a relatively flat run to Pau on Friday afternoon, the Tour enters a new phase with a double-header in the Pyrenees this weekend. Successive mountain summit finishes at Plat d’Adet and Plateau de Beille will likely reveal a lot about the direction of the race.
“We’ll see you in the Pyrenees,” Pogačar said. “It will be a great showdown, but right now he’s pretty calm in the yellow shirt. He needs to attack. We’ll see.”
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