"I almost experience Tadej Pogacar’s attack as a relief" - French Tour dark horse exposes the race TV cameras miss behind dominant UAE leader

For Jordan Jegat, a Tadej Pogacar attack at the Tour de France is not always the worst moment of the climb. Sometimes, it is the moment the race finally becomes his own again.

The TotalEnergies rider finished 10th overall at last year’s Tour, more than half an hour behind Pogacar, after three weeks spent inside the race that continues once the cameras follow the yellow-jersey contenders up the road. Pogacar and Jonas Vingegaard fight for the front of the Tour. Behind them, riders such as Jegat count losses, defend places and wait for the pace to settle into something survivable.

Speaking to L’Equipe before the 2026 edition, the Frenchman gave a striking view of what Pogacar’s dominance feels like from that part of the race.

“I wait until Pogacar attacks, so that I can finally ride at my own tempo,” Jegat said. “I almost experience his attack as a relief. I can hold a steady pace, but going with him is absolutely not possible.”

The moment before Pogacar attacks can be worse than the attack itself. UAE Team Emirates – XRG’s mountain train drags the group uphill for as long as possible, with each helper riding to the end of his own day before the Slovenian launches.

“In reality, the hardest thing is holding on when his domestiques are riding full gas uphill,” Jegat explained. “A domestique like that gives everything he has; his race will be over in ten minutes anyway.”

Jegat has learned to measure those moments by the number of UAE jerseys still in front of him. “When I am really on the limit in the wheel, I count how many UAE riders are still left to pull on the front,” he said. “I cannot wait for the last one to swing off and let Pogacar go.”

Pogacar begins the 2026 Tour as defending champion and the dominant UAE leader, with Vingegaard again expected to be his closest rival. For Jegat, the gap between those two and the next layer of GC riders is not an abstract ranking. It is a change in tempo, a different group, and a different race.

The television picture usually stays with Pogacar, Vingegaard and the few riders still close enough to influence the yellow jersey. Jegat’s 2025 Tour was often fought just outside that frame, where a top-10 place can depend less on attacks than on who is forced to chase, who can sit on, and who is defending more. “Once he is gone, alone or with Vingegaard, a second race begins for me and a few others,” Jegat said. “You do not see that race on television.”

Jegat reached Paris 10th overall, 32:42 behind Pogacar. That gap told one story, but inside the lower GC battle the margins were still being contested day after day, often by riders too close to the limit to turn the group into a normal tactical exchange.

“It is purely about limiting the damage,” said Jegat. “We do not talk to each other, everyone is riding at 100% of what they can do, we barely attack each other and we are riding for our own place.”

Mont Ventoux offered one of those moments where the chase group had its own logic. There was no need for radio debate or negotiation; the standings already dictated the burden.

“The best-placed rider does most of the work,” Jegat said. “Last year on the Mont Ventoux, I ended up with Felix Gall, who was seventh at the time. I was 11th, and he did not ask me to come through. It was his job to do the work, not mine.”

Jegat’s 10th place made him one of France’s surprise GC names at the 2025 Tour, but he is not returning with another top-ten finish as the main target. After living through the race behind Pogacar once, he wants a different route through July. “My first priority is a stage win,” he said. “Then comes the polka-dot jersey. Only third do I look at the general classification.”

That does not mean he plans to give away time cheaply. Jegat still expects to follow the best riders for as long as he can, even if his 2026 Tour is built more around opportunity than another three-week defence of a place in the lower top ten. “I will adapt to that new strategy, but you can expect me to try to hang on for as long as possible each time,” said Jegat. “It is not in my nature to just let it go.”

Pogacar begins the Tour as defending champion and the dominant UAE leader, with Vingegaard again expected to be his main rival. Jegat starts from a different part of the race: waiting for the UAE train to finish, waiting for Pogacar to go, and waiting for the moment the fight outside the cameras begins.