"I get along pretty well with Remco and I am really enjoying racing with him" - Could Tadej Pogacar and Evenepoel form Tour de France alliance in the high mountains?

The 2024 Tour de France is heating up and we look set for an almighty fight for the Maillot Jaune between current leader Tadej Pogacar, reigning champion Jonas Vingegaard and Tour debutant Remco Evenepoel.

Notably absent from that list now is Primoz Roglic after the Red Bull - BORA - hansgrohe leader crashed late on stage 12, losing more than two minutes as a result and dropping to 6th in the GC, now 4:42 down on the Maillot Jaune wearing Pogacar. “It was a stressful final already. I heard the big crash when it happened, with 12 kilometres to go, but it’s only at the finish that somebody told me that Primoz had gone down. It is really devastating," Pogacar reflects in his post-stage interview. "He was in very good shape already, and I could feel he was getting better and better with every stage. I’m pretty sure he would have been fighting for the GC in the next few days. It’s very sad that a crash has affected him. I hope that he is well, that he recovers quickly, and that he can fight back into contention."

As far as Pogacar himself goes however, the feelings were again good on stage 12 he insists, despite the leg sapping day on stage 11. "I expected my legs to be more tired today," he admits. "It was a very fast, up and down stage. Actually, I prefer this pace to Tuesday’s super easy rhythm. At this pace, the legs keep turning and it feels better for me. The final kilometres were pretty hot, though. As for tomorrow, it’s another sprint stage that might get complicated because of the wind. It will probably end up being a stressful day out, like many others in this Tour de France."

Whilst many consider Vingegaard the main challenger to Pogacar's Maillot Jaune at the 2024 Tour de France, it is Evenepoel who remains in 2nd overall. "I get along pretty well with Remco, and I am really enjoying properly racing with him for the first time," Pogacar says, not completely ruling out forming an alliance with the Belgian. "I don’t know if we will help each other in the mountain stages… I don’t even think about that. We just need good legs for those stages."