For Tadej Pogacar, the third place on the Grand Colombier seems like a victory, “a victory in the battle for the yellow jersey” as he says.
The Slovenian waited a very long time on the ultimate climb to position an assault and managed to crack Jonas Vingegaard a bit within the final tons of of meters of stage 13. The yellow jersey wearer needed to yield 4 seconds to Pogacar, who additionally grabbed 4 bonus seconds.
“In the end, it was a successful day for us. We took a couple of seconds back. It was a good day for us,” Pogacar stated. “Even if it was not a victory, it was a victory in the battle for yellow a little bit, so yeah, we can take for sure big confidence from today.”
“It’s not necessarily mental, it’s more about the legs,” UAE Team Emirates sports activities supervisor Matxin Joxean Fernandez stated.
“Cycling is really simple: you don’t speak with the declarations or the interviews, you speak with the legs. Tadej was stronger today in what was the perfect area for him, the last half kilometre before the finish. He’s more of a puncher and was able to pick four seconds plus another four in bonuses. So eight seconds less.”
“This weekend is really complicated: it’s the Alps, pure Alps. These are two important days coming up, but in the last three mountain stages, Tadej has been taking seconds,” Fernandez stated.
Source link
