"I never thought I could fight with Tadej" - Pogacar is Jonathan Milan's main rival for Tour de France green jersey

The points classification every year is battled amongst the strongest sprinters in the peloton. In 2025, a climber is in the middle of the battle even though he is not even focusing on it: Tadej Pogacar. Jonathan Milan considers the yellow jersey his main rival.

After stage 14, with almost 5000 climbing meters, the Italian powerhouse commented on his feelings to QuiBiciSport: "It was very tough, but I took the points and tried to go it alone. It wasn't a great idea, and I hoped someone would follow me, but nothing. Like every day, I tried to survive."

Milan entered stage 15 of the Tour with 251 points whilst Pogacar sits second with 223. Pogacar has not ridden for points in any intermediate sprints in this race, unlike Milan who is currently leading the classification in them. "I never thought I could fight with Tadej, but at this point I'll do my best in every sprint and for every point."

Lidl-Trek has even worked to keep the peloton together until intermediate sprints on some occasions as their main rival stopped being Biniam Girmay, but a rider they knew wouldn't take part in it, and so they could seize the opportunity. With only one pure sprint stage (17 into Valence) left, Milan doesn't have the opportunity to gather many points.

Pogacar, without even trying, is creeping in on Milan due to his performance in the mountainous days, the hilly ones and also the time-trials. Equally, Pogacar sits second in the KOM classification only 8 points behind Lenny Martínez even though he is not trying to compete for the classification. The Tour's point system wildly favours the GC riders in this classification.

Milan also laments the team's loss of Mattias Skjelmose who was now going to be chasing stage wins in the mountains, but abandoned after an early crash on Saturday. "Unfortunately, we lost Mattias. I hope he's not too ill; we'll miss him in the coming days. He was fine and was trying to join the frontrunners because it could have been a milestone for him, as could those to come."